On the evening of Friday, February 2nd, we are delighted to present soul artist JoDavi (NC) in collaboration with electronic musician FBK (CMH) and moving image artist Krista Faist (CMH), experimental musician Adam Crawley’s (IN) solo project crawlinggiants, and experimental electronic musicians Doug Leed and Jeremy Wendling’s duo project The Swappers (CMH). Doors 7:30pm, show begins at 8:00pm sharp. $9.25 prepaid, $10 at the door.
Supporters of our 2023-2024 season include the Greater Columbus Arts Council, the Ohio Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Columbus Foundation.
About the artists:
Often referred to as “Mr. Maestro,” JoDavi fuses his soulful roots with his passion and schooling in orchestration to create live music that many call “Symphonic Soul;” a sound that likens to Earth Wind and Fire, the 5th Dimension, your favorite movie soundtrack, and his background in gospel, RnB, reggae, and funk. JoDavi has opened for Grammy award winning artists India Arie, and Anthony Hamilton. He has also backed renowned singer Alex Isley, and has shared stages with Jeremy Passion. As far as his own work goes, JoDavi has released over a dozen albums and singles, including his latest full length album, Zion, which he has premiered all over the US and beyond. Most recently, he has become a voting member of the Recording Academy.
FBK (Kevin Kennedy) is an American techno producer. Since 1994, FBK has been honing and refining his sound which has been called dark, hard, funky, extremely dance-able and hypnotic. His live show is energetic, powerful and never fails to disappoint. His minimalism continues with his setup-believing in portability and versatility over anything. His unique DJ sets are filled with unreleased material and edits, always pushing the crowd to dance. Born in Columbus, Ohio (exactly 3hr 13 minutes from Detroit), Kevin had the fortune to meet and work with legendary producers and Djs Daniel Bell and Anthony ‘Shake’ Shakir, and learn even more from Claude Young jr. and Jay Denham in his formative years-releasing on the Frictional imprint as FBK. His “Knobs and Switches” EP set dance floors alight and became a ‘classic,’ recently being reissued by Matt Edwards’ R-Tyme imprint 20 years after its initial release. 2019 was a banner year for the artist: Seeing his first album, “More Stories From the Future” released on Rekids, along with his first visit to Berlin, performing at Griessmuehle. In 2020 he had new releases on Knotweed, an album with Rekids, and released tunes from his previous album, remixed by Len Faki.
Krista Faist’s work is largely comprised of watercolor crayon and reductive wax paintings on decorative plate glass, as well as intricate sculptures made from found objects and junk store items. With both mediums, she has sought to represent aesthetic over-stimulation that leads to expansiveness of imagination and wonder, much like that experienced in childhood when one visits a candy shop. As a child, she had a strong desire to see all colors and textures at once, including colors never seen before. With each project, she sets out to re-capture this feeling of simulated desire and satisfaction. She believes that this desire to satiate our hunger for wonderment with consumerist impulses is innately human, and her aim is to bring this incongruence to light via her immersive and audio reactive works.
Adam Crawley (crawlinggiants) is a composer, performer, dance accompanist, educator, and instrument builder from Muncie, IN, where on faculty at Ball State University in the Department of Theatre and Dance. Crawley works extensively in music for dance including the American Dance Festival and Bates Dance Festival as well as composing and performing for choreographers and improvisors in many settings. crawlinggiants is focused around but not limited to creating music with modular systems built by hand by Crawley, who has always enjoyed building and modifying musical instruments and using any objects at hand to produce sound.
The Swappers are an improvisational, ambient, and psychedelic soundscaping duo from Columbus, OH consisting of Doug “Dogboy” Leed and Jeremy Wendling. They frequently like to swap instruments and gear like electric guitars and basses, touch pad synthesizers, effects pedals, and loopers during both recording sessions and live performances.