banjer+

banjer+ is Nick Dunston’s experimental electro-acoustic solo project that seeks to explore alternative approaches and contexts to the banjo.

‘banjer’ reimagines the historically Afro-diasporic instrument by resonating it with live sound via audio transducers, and then using tools and techniques such as feedback, live sampling, and the human voice as a means of reclaiming, reembodying, and reimagining future lineages of this instrument.

COLLA VOCE

COLLA VOCE is Nick Dunston’s ongoing network of anti-operas. Placing emphasis on the human voice, alternative dimensions, and literature, COLLA VOCE originally emerged as a full length album of the same name. Following its path of non-linear and non-temporal development, as new material is incorporated in to the anti-opera network, older material is continuously transformed and re/de-contextualized through different forms of media manipulation and composition. The most recent development of the anti-opera network is a mixtape, in collaboration with SHAPE+ Platform, and across several radio stations in Europe. The COLLA VOCE Mixtape exclusively features experimental vocally-driven works of some of the most interesting voices making work to date. The next upcoming stage in the anti-opera network will be COLLA VOCE: Praylewd, an LP consisting of two 15-minute compositions made up exclusively of processed and transformed audio from the initial COLLA VOCE album.

Skultura

Skultura is Nick Dunston’s primary working band. Based in Berlin, the electroacoustic quintet employs explosive improvisations within the context of Dunston’s compositions. The group does not necessarily run away from any genres and musical traditions, but rather leans into, even exaggerates them while also hybridizing them with many different musical palettes. The rest of the personnel includes Cansu Tanrikulu on voice/live processing, Mariá Portugal on drums, Liz Kosack on synth, and Eldar Tsalikov on clarinet.

Min Yoon/Nick Dunston duo

The duo of Min Yoon and Nick Dunston uses structured improvisations within interdisclipinary contexts. Dunston plays with various forms of feedback, Yoon with butoh dance and improvisation. Notions of physicality, communication between bodies, and performativity are central to the duo.

Cansu Tanrikulu/Nick Dunston duo

The duo of Cansu Tanrikulu and Nick Dunston involves a wide array of vocal and instrumental music in electroacoustic and collaborative environments. The core of the duo can use elements such as song structures, free improvisation, and electronically-driven methods for approaching what would normally be considered acoustic contexts. Another key element to the duo is its capacity to involve other artists, particularly producers.