Amy X Neuburg & the Cello ChiXtet: CD release concert June 4, 2009

Techno-diva/composer Amy X Neuburg and her Cello ChiXtet celebrate the CD release of "The Secret Language of Subways" (on MinMax) with this special performance at the Great American Music Hall. Conceived largely while riding New York subways, "The Secret Language..." is a 13-song cycle of wildly diverse songs for voice, 3 cellos, electronic drums and live looping and processing - about the inane and perpetually unfinished businesses of love and war. Looping cellist extraordinaire Zoe Keating opens the show.

The ChiXtet are Jess Ivry, Elaine Kreston and Beth Vandervennet - 3 well-known Bay Area cellists with wide-ranging experience in rock, classical and experimental music. Amy and the ChiXtet have received standing ovations at nearly every performance of songs from "The Secret Language..." They opened for the Tubes at The Independent, sold out the Freight & Salvage, and received rave reviews at their theatrical run at Project Artaud. "A wonderful composer-performer... Neuburg's songs channel the rhythms of urban life through the seriocomic sensibility of a born entertainer. Her musical inventiveness proves a delight throughout." (J. Kosman, SF Chronicle)

The Subways songs range from intimate art-song ballads to electronics-based pop to Dada-ist meanderings to classical arrangements. A classically trained singer with a 4-octave range, Amy is known for her performances with electronic drums and live looping to build up a chorus of voices. For "The Secret Language..." she has composed intricate interlocking cello layers that are recorded and overdubbed live on stage, turning 3 cellos into a full string orchestra. At times Amy plays drums or processes the trio with electronic effects, at other times the expressive, voice-like sounds of the cellos are the only accompaniment. The result is music that is at once emotionally engaging, challenging and highly entertaining. "The whole thing was amazing, even triumphant... Ambitious and soaring." (C. Matsumoto, KZSU)

$15 advance, $18 door.

Official Website: http://www.gamh.com/artist_pages/amy_x_neuberg_060409.htm