mdbr mdbr: Brian Chase & Annie Albagli

Pushing the boundaries of sound and image, experimental drummer Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Drums and Drones) presents a one-of-a-kind collaboration with Bay Area based multimedia artist Annie Albagli, developed exclusively for SFJFF46. Their performance will loosely explore the concept of 'wilderness' in its different modalities. mdbr mdbr refers to the Hebrew words medaber (speaking) and midbar (nature), which share a linguistic root. 

Brian Chase is a Brooklyn-based drummer and sound artist, often working at the fringes of rock, classical, jazz and more. He is perhaps best known as the drummer for rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs, a group which has been nominated for four Grammy awards and has toured extensively across the world. When not with YYYs, Chase works primarily on the NYC avant-garde music scene. 

Beloved to Chase is his solo project, Drums and Drones. This project, started in 2007, was created with a conceptual aim to explore the micro-tones which comprise the overall resonance of drums and percussion, and to bring forward their harmonic content as core compositional source material. The project’s 2018 release, Drums and Drones: Decade, was the inaugural release on Chase’s record label, Chaikin Records. The name for the label comes from his original Ukranian Jewish surname, Chaikin, which was changed to Chase in the early 1950’s. The label serves to spotlight leading figures of experimental music in an array of genres from jazz-inspired improvisation to contemporary classical works to current edge electronics and sound-art.

Annie Albagli's practice currently tries to locate time, history, and place in the body. She has participated in exhibitions, festivals, and residencies throughout the U.S., and abroad including: 500 Capp Street, Headlands Center for the Arts, Muzeul Zemstvei in Chisinau, Moldova, Art Prospect in St. Petersburg, Russia, and The Trash3 Festival in Bishkek Kyrgyzstan, among others. She is a 2023-26’ Lucas Artists Residency Program Fellow at Montalvo Arts Center.