Battmen! – Matt Rock / Ben Russell

Ben Russell is a violinist with the Portland Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Bryant Park String Quartet and the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) in New York City. As a solo artist Ben combines technical virtuosity with deep exploration, sculpting textured soundscapes in shades of Appalachia, Jewry, restraint, and ass-kicking. Ben’s recent return to the voice as the primary source of music distills his sound to its most basic elements of craft and personal expression.



Matt Rock is an accordion activist committed to promoting spiritual development through free-reed music. Passing a slivovitz-infused sonic spliff, Matt unearths the slow elegance of a steel factory and the frenetic rage of sleep. Matt will be playing traditional Yiddish and Balkan folk music that he absorbed by mingling with Slavic communities in Berlin throughout the past two years, plus recent compositions and collaborations with Ben Russell on violin. www.myspace.com/slimstif



Matt and Ben will be joined by bassist Xar Adelberg, backbone for gypsy-jazz trio Amaranouche.