Revenge is a dish best served cold, and FEaST is a sonic smorgasbord best consumed with ears wide open. The off-kilter brainchild of Iowa City-based experimental music maker and promotor Chris Wiersema, this annual festival builds on his aptly named Feed Me Weird Things live performance series — which pushes the boundaries of convention in ways that are inviting and not intended to be hipper-than-thou.
“FEaST and Feed Me Weird Things aren’t meant to be this kind of anti-music, anti-pop kind of thing, or anything like that,” Wiersema is careful to point out. “It’s just a different way to listen.”
FEaST offers a buffet of aural delights, with a multigenerational lineup of envelope-pushing artists that include the Sun Ra Arkestra, Laurel Halo, Bill Orcutt, Zoh Amba & Chris Corsano, Theon Cross, claire rousay, El Khat and Kalia Vandever, whose recent album We Fell In Turn was released earlier this year.
“Kalia is the perfect example of the kind of show that I want to present,” Wiersema said, “one that fosters a kind of deep listening that can cultivate connectedness. It requires some patience and a quietness of mind that I think we can get out of practice doing — at least, I know that I can. So, I think We Fell In Turn really benefits from kind of closing your eyes and deep diving into the album for its entirety.”
This close-listening approach is also echoed in Vandever’s solo performances, which require a great amount of grounded focus on her part. Born in North Carolina in 1995, she lived for a time in Oak Park, Illinois until her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 8 — around the time she began playing trombone.
Music was always part of her childhood while growing up, and Vandever’s parents started her and her sister on piano when they were quite young. Her father loved jazz and spun it a lot around the household, and one day she became transfixed by the sound of Delfeayo Marsalis’ trombone.
“I asked my dad what that instrument was, he told me it was a trombone, and I told him that that’s the instrument I wanted to play,” she recalled. “I think from the moment that I first started playing it, I knew that it was something I wanted to spend my time working on. The trombone resembled the human voice in a way that no other instrument had. I was drawn to the fullness and darkness of its tone, and I think that the tone that Delfeayo produced on that album is what I was originally drawn to.”
We Fell In Turn by Kalia Vandever
After graduating from Juilliard in 2017, Vandever released two ensemble albums, In Bloom and Regrowth. She also began exploring the use of electronics in music after a friend showed her how to use a piece of gear named the Memory Man with Hazarai, which she mostly employs as a delay pedal, though it also has a looper function that allows Vandever to layer and create her own world of sound.
“I’ve always focused so much on tone and melody with the trombone,” she said, “so the idea of being able to interact with my own sound was really enticing, and that’s when I began to lean into that. I started to get more immersed in ambient music, which I had heard before, but hadn’t really delved into like I have in the last four years or so.”
We Fell In Turn is fully improvised, save for one track, and what one hears on the album is the sound of an artist interacting with her own instrument through a humanistic use of technology.
“Improvising requires more focus,” Vandever said. “And it requires me to tap into what’s going on and how I’m feeling in the moment, which always leads to something really honest. Whether I’m feeling anxious, or feeling really relaxed, or I’m thinking about something, it forces me to center myself and release control.”
“Kalia’s technique of long-held tones and looping pedals allows her to create music that is reflecting on itself,” Wiersema said, “which is a perfect example of the kind of listening experience that I’m hoping people will get through FEaST. I love the idea of people coming together just for two hours, and that the music exists in that room for that moment, just for them — which is what FEaST will be, two hours a night to just quietly listen to two artists.”
Feed Me Weird Things presents: FEaST
Claire Rousay, Zoh Amba & Chris Corsano
Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.
The James Theater
Drew McDowall, Jairus Sharif
Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m.
The James Theater
Laurel Halo, Kalia Vandever
Friday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m.
The James Theater
Bill Orcutt, El Khat
Saturday, Nov. 4 at 2 p.m.
The James Theater
Sun Ra Arkestra, Theon Cross
Saturday, Nov. 4 at 6:30 p.m.
The Englert Theatre
Kembrew McLeod bought his FEaST pass, and so should you. Be there or be square! This article was originally published in Little Village’s September 2023 issue.