James Brandon Lewis Trio. Photo by Thomas Sayers Ellis.

Playing Hooky 2016: James Brandon Lewis Trio

The free-jazz James Brandon Lewis Trio stop by the studio for a Playing Hooky broadcasted live set, with Luke Stewart on bass, Warren G. Crudup III on drums, and James Brandon Lewis on saxophone. Streamed live on clocktower.org straight from a shipping container/recording studio in the idyllic garden at Pioneer Works!

Tune in at 4PM to hear the trio live.

James Brandon Lewis is one of the modern titans of the tenor. He hass received accolades from mainstream cultural tastemakers such as Ebony Magazine who hailed him as one of 7 Young Players to Watch, and earned the respect of a diverse cross section of esteemed artists. Lewis attended Howard University and holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts.

Clocktower Radio's Playing Hooky is a bi-monthly, live in-studio performance series, streamed live on Clocktower Radio at clocktower.org. The programs are offered as a distraction from the work-week blues, and recorded, collected, and posted to this page alongside insightful interviews with the performers. Past episodes include performances from Frankie Cosmos, Helado Negro, Ikue Mori, Ned Rothenberg, and many more.

Media sponsorship from Arts for Art

Playing Hooky 2016: Horse Lords

The Baltimore band Horse Lords performs a symbiotic clash of minimalist experimentations and rock, in an ecstatic one hour set performed live and broadcasted as part of the Playing Hooky radio event series. Streamed live on clocktower.org straight from a shipping container/recording studio in the idyllic garden at Pioneer Works. Tune in at 4PM to hear Horse Lords live. Grafting the relentless repetitions of modern minimalism onto the propulsive engine of rock and roll, Horse Lords create an ecstatic forward thrust driven by dueling polyrhythms that curve endlessly past one another. The Baltimore quartet, consisting of saxophonist/percussionist Andrew Bernstein, bassist/synthesist Max Eilbacher, guitarist Owen Gardner, and drummer Sam Haberman, employs arcane tuning systems to achieve their otherworldly harmonies, made possible by guitars refretted by Gardner. The resulting sound is at once stark and lush, tightly interwoven and threatening to fly apart, making their live performances spellbinding and utterly thrilling affairs. Listen in at horselords.bandcamp.com.

Playing Hooky 2016: Guerilla Toss

The high intensity band Guerilla Toss performs brutal and inventive rock and roll dance music in a one hour set performed live and broadcasted as part of the Playing Hooky radio event series. Streamed live on clocktower.org straight from a shipping container/recording studio in the idyllic garden at Pioneer Works. Tune in at 4PM to hear Guerilla Toss live. To stay updated click HERE Ecstatic, vital, and brilliantly unhinged, Guerilla Toss promotes positive energy and twisted spirituality through brutal, intelligent, live rock and roll dance music. A Guerilla Toss concert is more of a ritual than a performance; it is the unique pairing of musical voices and backgrounds that makes them such a special party band. But they are more than that – Guerilla Toss gets real when you pay close attention. Their music is inspired by drug addiction/mental illness and the re-birth of the soul through spiritual practice and psychedelic drug healing – helping the listener overcome these mind-fuck hardships.