pandemic

I was in NYC but I left for the pandemic. Many shows were cancelled. Everything sucks. A few things are happening on the internet, though:

Saturday April 11 2020
Social Norms (presented my Sandy Ewen/Chris Pitsiokos/Sam Weinberg
(eastern time zone, GMT-4) https://www.twitch.tv/socialnormsbk
Nate Wooley – 8:00-8:20
Lullady – 8:20-8:50 
Ben Bennett – 8:50-9:20 
Joanna Mattrey – 9:20–9:40
Id M Theft Able – 9:40–10:10

Thursday April 16 2020
False Witness – REAL GALLERY HOURS opening reception on TWITCH
https://www.twitch.tv/FALSEWITNESS
this will have a lot of experimental videos and DJ sets, including a video of mine.

Saturday April 25 2020
I’m curating online guitar festival. Details TBA
https://www.twitch.tv/socialnormsbk

Back in NYC!

I’m excited to finally have a release date for my LP, You Win, on Gilgongo Records: April 24.

I’ve got a few New York shows coming up, please see list below. I also have a tab here on this website that updates more frequently.

Sat. Feb 15 7:00-11:00 – Aron’s Place, Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY
duo w/ saxophone playing friend at 7:30, followed by 7.30 Sandy Ewen guitar
Aron Namenwirth/Zach Swanson/Joe Hertenstein, Sarah Bernstein/Nicola Hein/Andrew Drury
https://www.facebook.com/events/795445660932030/

Feb 16 6:00-10:30 – H0L0, Ridgewood, Queens NY
w/ Jessica Ackerley, Sean Hamilton, Frank Meadows/John Bohannon, Lucia Stavros
https://www.facebook.com/events/510685816525274/

Feb 17 8:00 – Bushwick Public House, Bushwick, Brooklyn NY,
The Bushwick series with Stephen Gauci’s house band. 
https://www.facebook.com/events/529392770947806/

Feb 21 7:00-11:00 – pool apt, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn NY
duo w/ Aron Namenwirth, w/ Foster/Wesely/Costa, Borden/Motl, Sam Weinberg
https://www.facebook.com/events/474818310138478/

Feb 29 – 8:00-11:00 – Record Shop, Red Hook, Brooklyn NY
Social Norms! I’m not performing but I’ll be there. Jaimie Branch Trio, Matt Nelson/Sam Weinberg, Trae Crudup
https://www.facebook.com/events/501093310537732/

March 2 8:00 – Bushwick Public House, Bushwick, Brooklyn NY,
The Bushwick series with Stephen Gauci’s house band. 
https://www.facebook.com/events/1761698237295569/

March 16 8:00 – Bushwick Public House, Bushwick, Brooklyn NY,
The Bushwick series with Stephen Gauci’s house band. 
https://www.facebook.com/events/2546883742250813/

March 21 7:00-11:00 – Aron’s Place, Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY 
Duo w/ Stephen Gauci

March 22 – Hart Bar, Bushwick, Brooklyn NY
Duo w/ Eli Wallace

March 27 – Mirror in the Woods, Gowanus, Brooklyn NY
Solo w/ video projections, w/ TBD

Touring back up North!

I’m touring back up to New York, dates listed below. Should be a good trip. My LP on Gilgongo has been pressed and the cover art is finishing up, expect to have copies in the coming months. I’m hoping to play a bunch of NYC gigs in March/April and maybe do a bit of traveling over the summer.

Shows! kicking off tonight in New Orleans!

Jan 26 7:00-10:00 – Happyland Theater, New Orleans LA
w/ Death Posture (Donald Miller, Emmalee Sutton, Rob Cambre, Chris Robert)
https://www.facebook.com/events/197723781275261/

Jan 29 7:00-9:00 – ATHICA, Athens GA 
w/ Killick Hinds, and Kathryn Koopman
https://athica.org/event/music-by-sandy-ewen-killick-hinds-and-kathryn-koopman/

Jan 30 8:30-9:45 – Exile off Main Street, Chattanooga TN
https://www.facebook.com/events/591091761459805/

Jan 31 9:00-12:00 – Pilot Light, Knoxville TN
w/ Matt Nelson-Adam Lion Duo, Weird Ian, The Drips
https://www.facebook.com/events/491321551763123/

Feb 6 9:00-11:00 – Elastic Arts, Chicago IL
Solo & quartet w/ Josh Berman (cornet) Jason Stein (bass clarinet) Damon Smith (double bass)
https://elasticarts.org/event/sandy-ewen-solo-ewen-stein-smith-zerang/

Feb 7 7:00-10:00 – Dirty Dungarees, Columbus OH
w/ Here, Here, Mike Shiflet, Hudson Ensemble
https://www.facebook.com/events/532283574041210/

Feb 8 8:30-11:30 – Collision, Pittsburg PA
w/ Sneeze Awfull, Mixed Use, J. Offmann
https://www.facebook.com/events/457925474875386/

Feb 9 7:00-10:00 – Rhizome, DC  
Solo & group with the DC Jazz Loft series

Feb 10 7:00-10:00 – Red Room, Baltimore MD
w/ TBA (it’s my birthday)

Feb 16 6:00-10:30 – H0L0, Ridgewood NY
w/ Jessica Ackerley, Sean Hamilton, Frank Meadows, John Bohannon, Lucia Stavros
https://www.facebook.com/events/510685816525274/

Feb 17 8:00 – Bushwick Public House, Brooklyn NY, 
The Bushwick series with Stephen Gauci’s house band. 
https://www.facebook.com/events/529392770947806/ 

Social Norms, the series I help with, has a show on Feb 29th. I’m not playing but I’ll be there. https://www.facebook.com/events/501093310537732/

Tapes!

Last year I self released three tapes. I have copies if you find me in the wild, but you can check them out on bandcamp otherwise.

Two duos from live sets. Shiraishi & Ewen / id m theftable & Ewen. Side A I’m paired with Japanese avant guard saxophonist Tamio Shiraishi. High frequencies, timbral variety, good contrast of silence, texture and tone. Shiraishi is known for performing on NYC subway platforms. The B side is with Maine’s id m theftable, who can make music with arguably any object or surface. He tours frequently, check him out.

https://sandyewen.bandcamp.com/album/shiraishi-ewen-id-m-theftable-ewen

A trio and another duo, Yom, Feitzinger & Ewen / Wallace & Ewen. I’ve known flutist Michelle Yom since around 2008 or so, when we both lived in Houston. We met percussionist Paul Feitzinger at a gig out in Greenpoint about 2 years ago, and have enjoyed working as a trio and in other configurations since. Paul visited me in Mexico City back in January and we played some duo gigs. This trio recording, made live at WFMU, is pleasantly active, sonically diverse, and very focused. I am particularly fond of Paul’s percussion preparations involving a fidget spinner and canned air. The duo with Eli Wallace, playing prepared piano and sometimes regular piano, was recorded one afternoon at Eli’s apartment. Eli does a concert series there, called Outward Bound, about once a month. His roommate makes pizza for these occasions. Sadly, this was just a session and we didn’t eat pizza. This is a pleasant bit of music, with nice build-ups of density, good listening, etc.

https://sandyewen.bandcamp.com/album/yom-feitzinger-ewen-wallace-ewen

In 2009, I founded an All Female Large Ensemble. We have presented works that respond to art, landscape and architecture with movement, voice and instruments. We have written numerous suites of compositions, performing under a variety of fruit-flavored names: Durian Durian & Red Currant for the Menil Collection in Houston, Cherimoya Cherry for Los 77 Espacio de Arte in Mexico City and Lemon Lime for Salvage Vanguard Theater in Austin TX, among others. This album includes two pieces from 2017’s Red Currant performance, 2016’s Cucumber Melon, and 2010’s CDr recorded as Blue Raspberry Sour Apple. Thanks always to Ryan Edwards for his recording/sound engineering.

https://sandyewen.bandcamp.com/album/the-fruit

I also have a new tape on Blue Hole Records. Blue Hole is run by my Houstonian friend Will Csorba, who recorded me in his attic the first week of 2019. The material on this tape is great. I’ve been making some short videos with bits of this as soundtrack, you can find it on my instagram @sandyewen

https://blueholerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/sandy-ewen

New Releases!

Since my last update, I’ve released a few things.

duo with Chase Gardner:

https://marginalfrequency.bandcamp.com/album/mfcd-b-transfusion

solo recording:

https://sandyewen.bandcamp.com/track/toronto-8-21-2017

Large ensemble recordings:

https://sandyewen.bandcamp.com/album/the-fruit

duo with Weasel Walter:

https://sandyewenweaselwalter.bandcamp.com/album/idiomatic

Coming soon: solo cassette on Blue Hole Recordings, & a solo LP on Gilgongo Records.