Jam Session 01

Created & Conceived by Jess Ramsay
Performed by Jess Ramsay, iT Boy, Klondyke & Trevor Schlam
Curated by Untitled Queen

April 20 @ 7PM
Ars Nova | 511 W 54 St
& Streaming on Ars Nova Supra

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Jam Session 01 is at once a live performance, a meta-investigation of improvised sound, and a play on the traditional format of seeing live music, intentionally blurring the lines of performer/viewer. Jam Session is an ephemeral, improvised jam session featuring original sound objects and a mix of instruments, analog and digital. Harking back to the rich history of jam sessions in music studios, jazz clubs, listening sessions, and noise music, Jam Session aims to challenge the established boundaries of live performance and listening.

SPECIAL THANKS: This one’s for Mom & Dad, my chosen Brooklyn family, and John Cage.

Jess Ramsay is a Brooklyn-based sound artist, DJ and multimedia producer. Her work incorporates original sculptural sound objects ranging from repurposed electronics, to circuit-bent toys from her childhood, to woven microphones in fabric. ​​In her work, there is an intentional blurring of human and machine elements. She creates improvised, ephemeral live works, often occurring only once and intended to be experienced in real-time. She’s interested in exploring how the internet has fundamentally changed the landscape of information and notions of public space/sound amidst an increased weaponization of the queer body.

Her work examines the belief of sound as an ever-present sensation in our bodies and worlds – however fleeting and temporary it may be. Using a DIY approach through crafts, found audio/objects, environmental field recordings, experimentation, and thrifted materials, she aims to blur the lines of amateur/professional and creator/listener to dismantle notions of elitism, hierarchy, and gendered norms. There is a quiet subversion in her work that exists at the intersection of rave/noise/queer club culture and the practice of tinkering and choosing your own adventure.

Jess is part of the performance duo Relational Aesthetics with Untitled Queen, and part of the art/comedy duo Bunkr Collective, with Sara Aboulafia. She is the recipient of the Brooklyn Nightlife Award for DJ of the Year (2014) and has shown/performed at The Kitchen (NYC), Kishka Gallery (WRJ, VT), Spotify (NYC), and Bushwig (Berlin). In 2021 she presented a  video/sonic/drag short film, MEEBULA, with Untitled Queen as part of Ars Nova ANT Fest.

Theo Baer (aka iT Boy) is composer, performer, and maker in NYC/PVD. His work–which is channeled through the manipulation of tape loops, synthesizers, keyboards, and other, electronic voices–emerges from a diverse musical upbringing and a journey towards emotional healing as a black and trans artist. He has participated in residencies at Mass MoCA, the Anderson Center, and the Wedding Cake House. In the past year, he has been focused on classical commissions and recording demos for an upcoming full length solo (“iT Boy”) album. He looks forward to upcoming work on visual pieces, cassette design, and electronics fabrication.

Klondyke is an alien tragg*t superstar!!! Child of a black hole and a supernova, raised by a 4th dimensional rockstar. Experimental musical theatre composer and winner of Cakeboys 2021 Takes the Cake Competition they are here to terrorize norms out of existence through the great unifier: MUUUUSIIIIIC!

Trevor Schlam (haus holding) is a composer, musician, sound-designer, and engineer living in Ridgewood, Queens. Trevor brings and artful and energetic presence to his collaborations whether drumming for Brooklyn indie rock acts, guiding the sound of documentary features, or engineering recordings for the most exciting avant-garde artists in New York. Notable collaborators and clients have included Deep Sea Peach Tree, Cooper-Moore+Stephen Gauci, HBO, Quelle Rox, Rah-C, The SciFi Network, Maya Lucia, Ava Mendoza, William Parker, Sandy Ewen, and many more.

Untitled Queen (they/them/theirs) is a Filipinx and Boriquén artist, drag queen, and writer based on the stolen land of the LenapeHoking, (so-called Brooklyn, NY). Through the interplay of drag, sculpture, drawing, and installation, she tells deeply emotional stories on a continuum in a constant flux of construction and deconstruction. In 2020, She presented Untitled (World), the first global LGBTQIA+ digital drag show, with 47 drag artists each representing 1 country, and benefitting 3 HIV/AIDS organizations in honor of World AIDS Day. She has been a fellow at the EFA Project Space Gallery Shift Residency and Urban Glass Residency in NY.