Mon 5/12 7:00 PM Lloyd's Records [3824 Telegraph Avenue Oakland, California 94609 USA]
Wilson Shook (Pasadena) and T.J. Borden (Brooklyn) join local improvisers Fred Lonberg Holm, Chris Cooper (Angst Hase Pfeffer Nase), Aine Nakamura, and Kevin Corcoran for an evening of serene cacophony and cacophonous serenity.  More...

Mon 5/12 8:00 PM Little Hill Lounge [10753 San Pablo Ave El Cerrito]
Rewards Program

An evening of instrumental improvisation by Zekarias Thompson, Skyway Man, and Miles Lassi, and vinyl selections by DJ Andy Cabic, every second Monday at Little Hill Lounge.  More...

Tue 5/13 7:30 PM Temescal Arts Center [511 48th Street Oakland]
flatways is a rhythm band made up of no strings guitar (Sudhu Tewari), drum set (Jordan Glenn), and drum machines + live sampling (Matt Robidoux). Sudhu makes instruments for the band, such as a one stringed electric bass ("slap thwacker") that Sudhu and Matt both play. flatways is drum n bass, with numerous rhythms meshing, clashing, and nudging up against one another.

T.J. Borden (cello) + Jacob Felix Heule (percussion) + Matt Ingalls (clarinet) + Kanoko Nishi-Smith (koto) quartet

Alexandra Buschman-Román  More...

Tue 5/13 7:30 PM CSU East Bay Music Recital Hall [CSU East Bay Hayward Campus Music Building (MB) E Loop Rd Hayward, CA 94542]
Join us for the annual Glenn Glasow Fellowship Concert, featuring world premieres of new works by CSU East Bay student composers and producers. Supported by the Glenn Glasow and Yoshiko Kakudo Endowment, this year's program includes performances by guest artists pianist Monica Chew, percussionist Stuart Langsam, and soprano Chelsea Hollow. In addition to five commissioned works, the concert will showcase innovative compositions, visual art responses, electronic pieces by Music Production students, and a culminating collaborative piece led by Glasow Fellow Patricio Castellon-Serrato. A reception will follow the performance  More...

Wed 5/14 8:00 PM Tom's Place [3111 Deakin Street Berkeley]
Scott Looney (solo piano)
T J Borden (cello) + Nathan Corder (guitar, electronics) + Dave DeFilippo (electronics)  More...

Thu 5/15 7:00 PM Wyldflowr Arts [809 37th St Oakland]
RootStock @ Wyldflower: Buchla Electronic Music Festival Day 1

Buchla Electronic Music Festival Day 1
RSVP + PRESALE TIX  More...

Fri 5/16 7:00 PM 405 Shrader [405 Shrader San Francisco]
Terry Riley 90th celebration  More...

Fri 5/16 7:00 PM Medicine for Nightmares [3036 24th St SF]
Other Dimensions in Sound presents Jordon Glenn/Warren Huegel drum duo  More...

Fri 5/16 7:00 PM Wyldflowr Arts [Oakland]
Buchla Electronic Music Festival Day 2  More...

Fri 5/16 7:30 PM Hillside Community Church [1422 Navellier St, El Cerrito]
Quartet Mixus Mundi makes its East Bay debut in “Skylark: jazz, world and contemporary improv for recorder and jazz trio.” Mixus Mundi (Latin for “blended world”) is an ensemble whose voice stretches the boundaries between jazz, early music, world music, new music and improvisation. This eclectic combo unveils the jazz side of recorder, played by early music specialist Frances Feldon, in collaboration with Joyce Todd McBride, keys; Todd Larson, bass guitar; and Jeff Pera, drums. Music by JS Bach, Bela Bartok, Hoagy Carmichael, John Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Steve Kuhn, Joyce Todd McBride, Thelonius Monk, Hermeto Pascoal, Horace Silver and others, as well as an arrangement of an Egyptian melody. The show takes place at Hillside Community Church, 1422 Navellier St, El Cerrito, Friday May 16, 2025. Doors open 7:00, show begins at 7:30. Cash donations gratefully accepted at the door only. For more info: (510)527-9029.  More...

Fri 5/16 8:00 PM Mt Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church [55 Eckley Lane, Walnut Creek]
Brett Carson's Substandard Quartet

Brett Carson - piano
Cory Wright - clarinet
Lisa Mezzacappa - bass
Jason Levis - drums

EventBrite  More...

Fri 5/16 8:30 PM The Lab [2948 16th St SF]
TJ Borden / Mari Kawamura: Morton Feldman's "Patterns in a Chromatic Field"

Doors 8pm / Show 8:30pm  More...

Sat 5/17 12:00 PM Center for New Music [55 Taylor St SF]
25 years of mainly showcasing the explosive experimental world of California sounds, with gourmet pancakes!! Bring an appetite, your glassorium blankets, motorhem crashlights, plaid sock rays, & SPACE: 200 B.C.mycosynths. It's a enlightening parade of haybaker yeti scalpiscopes learning to go full nature-thighclops!!  More...

Sat 5/17 2:00 PM San Francisco Public Library, Golden Gate Valley Branch [1801 Green St. San Francisco, CA 94123]
Erika Oba & Scott Oshiro will present a flute duo program featuring flute, pedals, and electronics. Oba & Oshiro will share their original compositions and improvisations drawing on their shared interest in Japanese, Okinawan, and experimental music.  More...

Sat 5/17 7:00 PM Wyldflowr Arts [Oakland]
RootStock @ Wyldflower: Buchla Electronic Music Festival Day 3  More...

Sat 5/17 8:00 PM Adobe Books [3130 24th St SF]
flatways, Grex, Moe Staiano/Jason Levis Duo

Experimental, eldritch, and electrifying sounds with three homegrown Bay Area ensembles:

flatways - Jordan Glenn - drums/percussion, Matt Robidoux - electronics (corn synth), Sudhu Tewari - new instruments

Grex - Karl Evangelista - guitar/voice, Rei Scampavia - keys/voice, Robert Lopez - drums

Moe Staiano, Jason Levis - drums  More...

Sun 5/18 3:00 PM Oyster Bay Regional Shoreline [1600 Neptune Dr San Leandro, CA 94577]
emergent sound practices  More...

Sun 5/18 4:00 PM Chez Hanny [1300 Silver Avenue SF]
Raffi Garabedian Quartet  More...

Tue 5/20 6:00 PM Medicine for Nightmares [3036 24th St SF]
"Lost Letters from Gaza" in association with Gallery Habibi

This experimental performance is an improvised blend of music and choreography, incorporating testimonies from children and residents of Gaza about their dreams.  More...

Tue 5/20 8:00 PM Little Hill Lounge [10753 San Pablo Ave El Cerrito]
Elihu Knowles/Rent Romus  More...

Wed 5/21 6:00 PM Meyer Sound [2832 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley, CA]
Artifact Records showcase

Lorin Benedict will be performing a brief duo set with vocalist Ron Heglin.  More...

Thu 5/22 7:30 PM Wyldflowr Arts [Oakland]
Matt Muntz group: Rootstock at Wyldflowr

Described by the Guardian as “filled with a wild, distorted energy,” and by the Wire as “rare and rewarding,” the music of bassist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Mat Muntz imbues the volatile and the bizarre with an expressive, human immediacy.

with Scott Amendola (drums/electronics) and Ben Goldberg (clarinet), plus Mat's longtime NYC collaborator Xavier Del Castillo (tenor sax).

ticket link here  More...

Fri 5/23 7:00 PM Medicine for Nightmares [3036 24th St SF]
Other Dimensions in Sound presents Johnston/Mezzacappa/Ochs/Kjell/Bruckman  More...

Fri 5/23 7:30 PM Eternal Now [2419 San Pablo Ave Oakland]
Shinyband, Jerod S. Rivera, Leshydoux  More...

Fri 5/23 8:00 PM Gray Area Art And Technology [2665 Mission St. SF]
Rooted in the mystical landscapes of West Ireland, Maria Somerville conjures a vast and vivid vocal presence within mood-driven atmospheres , seamlessly blending post-industrial pulse, hypnotic drones, and folk-etched melodies reminiscent of Cocteau Twins and Julie Cruise explorations. Her new 4AD album "Luster,"which distantly akin to the melancholic tribulations of My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, is uniquely channeled through Maria's very personal ghost goth dream pop sensibilities -- the evening commences with a captivating opening set by Bay Area dark ambient artist Leila Abdul-Rauf, who weaves brass, voice, and drone into somber and penetrating passages. Presented by Recombinant Media Labs and Gray Area  More...

Sat 5/24 7:00 PM the mary sano studio of duncan dancing [245 5th San Francisco]
28th annual dionysian festival

Performing solo and duo improvisations at the 28th Annual Dionysian Festival at the Mary Sano Studio of Duncan Dancing. Mary brings a wide cross-section of movement and sound artists together each year to celebrate Isadora Duncan's birth.  More...

Sat 5/24 8:00 PM Spruce Street Concerts [send email to harry@fullplatemedia.com]
In the intimacy of a house concert, performance artist, singer, movement poet Aine Nakamura will perform the current iteration of a theme she has been pursuing for the past few years, "under a tree". In the second half, Nakamura will move on to moving between and beneath surface boundaries. In both explorations, she will focus on what would be under a tree and under human stories, or beneath surfaces where we cannot see but only sense, & intimately weave these spaces through voice and body.  More...

Thu 5/29 7:30 PM Wyldflowr Arts [Oakland]
Nora Free Liberation Quartet: Rootstock at Wyldflowr

ticket link here  More...

Fri 5/30 7:00 PM Medicine for Nightmares [3036 24th St SF]
Other Dimensions in Sound presents Francis Wong/Nora Free/David Boyce tenor sax trio  More...

Sat 5/31 7:30 PM Bird & Beckett Books and Records [653 Chenery St. SF]
Darren Johnston’s Double Scorpio  More...

Sat 5/31 8:00 PM Center for New Music [55 Taylor St SF]
LMNts Trio + Aaron Bennett  More...

Sat 5/31 8:30 PM The Lab [2948 16th St SF]
Bill Orcutt's "The Four Louies" + Gumby's Junk  More...

Sat 6/07 8:30 PM The Lab [2948 16th St SF]
Cole Pulice: Land's End Eternal (Album Release) + Julius Smack + Zully Adler DJ  More...

Thu 6/12 8:00 PM Peacock Lounge [552 Haight St SF]
Angst Hase Pfeffer Nase
Heaps of pie cutters, spinning tops, stiff brushes, long strings, and power amplifiers, gently emboldening all who, alas, must one day perish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zJMowXteNE

Shin Chida
Tapes, synths and a contact mic buried deep inside the enfleshed animated skull of an artist.
https://soundcloud.com/user-577776576/interview-with-shin-chida

Danishta Rivero
Multivalent circuits and specialized contractions of the laryngopharynx, Rivero agitates rods of Corti, gypsum, superior temporal gyrus, glass, epidermis, and concrete in stochastic sympathy.
https://vimeo.com/106718063#at=31

Seymour Glass
Surreal murk and jarring cacophony, from live electronics to varispeed tape to accompany such stage antics as cabbage-shredding, dropped ice cream, assaults upon empty pet food cans with steak knives, and various other mad-housewife-evoking delights.
https://bluespectrumtapes.bandcamp.com/album/black-confetti  More...

Sat 6/14 8:30 PM The Lab [2948 16th St SF]
John Davis / Keith Evans + Beige + Linda Izcali Scobie / Zekarias Musele Thompson  More...

Sun 6/15 5:00 PM SFJAZZ Center Festival Tent [Near 201 Franklin Street (at Fell)]
Idris Ackamoor & The Ankhestra

This show is located in the Festival Tent, located two blocks away from the nearby SFJAZZ Center. Standing room with very limited seating.

Tickets  More...

Thu 6/19 8:00 PM The Back Room [1833 Parker St.]
Celebrating our third CD, "Spires", the Actual Trio returns to its Berkeley home base, the Back Room, for an evening of original music.  More...

Thu 6/19 8:30 PM The Lab [2948 16th St SF]
Lisa Mezzacappa 5(ish)  More...