"I think Loren Connors is an artist who happens to use guitar, like I often joke that Werner Herzog is a poet who happens to use a camera." — Jim O'Rourke
"Nothing that Loren does reminds me of other people. He's a great man — everybody knows that. And a great artist too." — Jandek
As with all arts presenters worldwide, Elysium Furnace Works has had its 2020 season drastically impacted and curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we are thrilled to announce that the final two concerts scheduled for our season at Beacon, NY's acoustically sublime Howland Cultural Center will be taking place as livestreamed events, beginning with a solo performance by the veteran experimentalist Loren Connors on Sunday, October 25 at 4 PM (Eastern Time). Called by Pitchfork "one of the world's most singular and distinctive guitarists," indie legend Connors makes his Beacon debut (albeit remotely) for this rare area appearance. ...
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"I think Loren Connors is an artist who happens to use guitar, like I often joke that Werner Herzog is a poet who happens to use a camera." — Jim O'Rourke
"Nothing that Loren does reminds me of other people. He's a great man — everybody knows that. And a great artist too." — Jandek
As with all arts presenters worldwide, Elysium Furnace Works has had its 2020 season drastically impacted and curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we are thrilled to announce that the final two concerts scheduled for our season at Beacon, NY's acoustically sublime Howland Cultural Center will be taking place as livestreamed events, beginning with a solo performance by the veteran experimentalist Loren Connors on Sunday, October 25 at 4 PM (Eastern Time). Called by Pitchfork "one of the world's most singular and distinctive guitarists," indie legend Connors makes his Beacon debut (albeit remotely) for this rare area appearance.
Tickets for the livestream are $15 and may be purchased at http://our.show/howland-cultural-center/93721. It is still being determined if the Howland can admit a limited number of audience members to the performance space for the concert — interested parties are encouraged to watch for updates.
The final livestreamed concert of EFW's abbreviated 2020 season will be a solo performance by the gifted keyboardist and storied Rasta polymath Jamie Saft on the Howland's immaculate 19th c. Steinway grand piano on Saturday, November 21 at 8 PM
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Loren Connors has improvised and composed original guitar music for over four decades. His music – which embraces the aesthetics of blues, Irish airs, blues-based rock and other genres while letting go of rigid forms – has been recorded on Family Vineyard, Northern Spy, Drag City, Table of the Elements, Recital, RoadCone and other labels.
Connors, who names abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko his most important influence, has performed with Thurston Moore, Keiji Haino, Jim O’Rourke, John Fahey, Alan Licht, Jandek, and Kim Gordon. Suzanne Langille has often appeared on Connors' recordings as vocalist, lyricist and arranger. Connors also on occasion performs with an avant blues band called Haunted House, together with Langille, guitarist Andrew Burnes and percussionist Neel Murgai.
In July 1979, Cadence Magazine noted that Connors, who had recently emerged in the scene, was “similar to others in the Advanced Guard of improvising guitarists in that he is trying to extend the boundaries of sound and pitch of acoustic guitar, but he is unique in the utilization of Blues in his work, one could almost say this is Avant Garde Blues. He’s swimming in new waters and beginning to make his own environment.”
In recent years, Connors has focused mostly on live recordings of extended blues abstractions, with occasional performances in a more avant blues rock vein from time to time through the Haunted House band and collaborations with other artists.
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Elysium Furnace Works is a cooperative project co-led by Mike Faloon and James Keepnews. EFW seeks to present the work of vanguard artists in settings as dedicated and uncompromising as the art itself, focusing primarily although not exclusively on live music performances in and around Beacon, NY. Like our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/elysiumfurnaceworks/.
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