Serving the San Francisco Bay Area New Music Community

                    
Jacob Felix Heule
percussion
Jacob Felix Heule is an improvising percussionist with a special interest in friction techniques. His music is shaped by intuition, listening, and following where the sounds lead. He embraces limited instrumentation - usually playing just a single drum - as a commitment to exploring the depth of his instruments. He uses a wide array of found objects and extended techniques to create a unique and idiosyncratic sound vocabulary. He also plays drum set and electronics.

Heule has been in active in the San Francisco Bay Area music scene since the early 2000s, and has played hundreds of shows in basements, warehouses, and squats around the world, with groups such as Ettrick, Basshaters, Sult, and Voicehandler.

Heule frequently collaborates with Danishta Rivero, Kanoko Nishi-Smith, Guro Moe, Haavard Skaset, Matt Chandler, Chris Cooper, and Kevin Corcoran. He has long been active as an organizer, and since 2015 has been facilitating a monthly improvisation workshop, Doors That Only Open in Silence.

Heule's practice is unified with his work as an audio engineer. His playing explores nuances of sound with the same obsessive attention to detail as an engineer perfecting a mix (and vice versa). He does live sound full-time for Bay Area arts organizations large and small, and has also worked on albums by artists such as Keiji Haino, Marshall Trammell, and Burmese.

Click here to receive a monthly email with my local Bay Area shows.
Upcoming Events:

Thursday, November 21 2024 7:00 PM
Wyldflowr Arts [809 37th St, Oakland]
Kanoko Nishi-Smith & Jacob Felix Heule duo

Kanoko Nishi-Smith (koto) and Jacob Felix Heule (bass drum) play freely improvised acoustic noise. Raw, brutal, textural, and often very quiet, they obsessively explore the secret sounds of their instruments. The duo has been playing together since 2007, and often collaborates with others, including albums with Kyle Bruckmann, Danishta Rivero, gabby fluke-mogul, Tom Djll, and Tony Dryer.  More...
Sunday, December 1 2024 7:30 PM
Temescal Arts Center [511 48th Street Oakland]
Doors That Only Open in Silence (open participation, non-hierarchical workshop in free improvisation)

The monthly series of improvisation research at Temescal Arts Center continues. Bring your instrument or come to listen. No advance notice needed — just show up. Small groups will be randomly assembled from submitted names immediately before each group plays. We try to keep transition time between groups at a minimum. Over by 10pm. Donations for the venue rental are encouraged.  More...
Wednesday, December 4 2024 8:00 PM
Luggage Store Creative Music Series [1007 Market Street SF]
In 2006, Jon Brumit‘s ensemble realized his Vendetta Retreat score (and celebrated its release on Edgetone Records) at the Luggage Store Gallery. Collective memory of it was that it cleared not only the club but the block. This review confirms aspects of that recollection. It’s time to realize the score once more with creative and non-violent alternatives to revengeful feeling. Expect a double duo of drums (Jacob Felix Heule, Suki O'Kane) and guitars (Melne Murphy, Jas Stade), with electronicist Adria Otte.  More...
Videos
Sult, Prøysenhuset I
Addleds
Sult Octobass
Octobass
Jacob Felix Heule, Clarke Robinson, Matt Ingalls
CDs on which Jacob Felix Heule appears:
ArtistTitleLabelNumber
Bruckmann/Heule/Nishi-Smith/Rivero negligiblism
Artist: Bruckmann/Heule/Nishi-Smith/Rivero
Title: negligiblism
Label: Full Spectrum Records FS158
Label page on this site: Full Spectrum Records
Full Spectrum Records FS158
Bruckmann/Djll/Heule/Nishi-Smith Brittle Feebling
Artist: Bruckmann/Djll/Heule/Nishi-Smith
Title: Brittle Feebling
Label: Bandcamp
Label page on this site: Bandcamp
Bandcamp
Ettrick Infinite Horned Abomination
Artist: Ettrick
Title: Infinite Horned Abomination
Label: Self Produced 001
Label page on this site: Self Produced
Self Produced 001
Hodag Hodag
Artist: Hodag
Title: Hodag
Label: Self Produced 002
Label page on this site: Self Produced
Self Produced 002
T.D. Skatchit & Company Skatch Migration
Artist: T.D. Skatchit & Company
Title: Skatch Migration
Label: Edgetone Records EDT4103
Label page on this site: Edgetone Records
Edgetone Records EDT4103