The Second Annual Philadelphia Modular Synth Fest featuring: Kevin Dal-Mare, David Taliento, Jair-Rohm Parker Wells, Kwame Johnson, Sandy James! 1pm-8pm
Kevin dal Mare: Electronic sound artist Kevin dal Mare originally hails from Detroit and cites that city as the central influence of his work. His sounds attempt to capture the strange inherent beauty and isolation of the industrial north. His former life working in factories and chemistry laboratories informs much his artistic sense. His sounds range from pure sonic textures to cinematic soundscapes, and everything in between.
Kevin dal Mare: Electronic sound artist Kevin dal Mare originally hails from Detroit and cites that city as the central influence of his work. His sounds attempt to capture the strange inherent beauty and isolation of the industrial north. His former life working in factories and chemistry laboratories informs much his artistic sense. His sounds range from pure sonic textures to cinematic soundscapes, and everything in between.
David Talento: David Talento is a Musician and Artist who has been recording and performing live electronic and experimental music since the early 1990s. His discography ranges from ambient music to power electro-noise, industrial blues, Acid Techno and psychedelia, hand held and 8bit, modular synth performances, and more. He is the founder of DAEDSound.com instruments and the HelpWantedProductions.com music label. https://davidtalento.bandcamp.com
Jair-Rohm Parker Wells Artist Biography Jair-Rohm Parker Wells is an internationally active electric bass violinist, bass guitarist, composer, improviser and educator whose work spans contemporary improvised music, experimental music, jazz and electroacoustic composition. Over a career of more than five decades, he has developed a distinctive musical voice through collaborations with internationally recognized artists while pursuing an ongoing exploration of the electric bass violin as an autonomous expressive instrument. A founding member of the avant-rock ensemble Machine Gun and a former member of the pioneering German experimental group Embryo, Wells has performed extensively throughout Europe and North America. His collaborators include William Hooker, Henry Kaiser, Mike Watt, Robert Musso, Elliott Sharp, Eugene Chadbourne, Reeves Gabrels, Ronnie Burrage, Michael Gregory Jackson, Jonathan Kane, Taji Ra'oof Nahl and many others. His recent work includes the solo performance project Resonance: Improvisation, Innovation and the Legacy of Eberhard Weber, three artist residencies at Elektronmusikstudion (EMS) in Stockholm, performances with the William Hooker Quartet and participation in Glenn Branca's Symphony No. 13 (Hallucination City) at Lincoln Center. His recordings have appeared on labels including Ephem Aural, MuWorks, Klanggold, Red Toucan, GTC, Ayler Records and others. His work has been featured by The Wire, including a feature in Issue 507 and an exclusive Wire Mix commissioned by the magazine, as well as by All About Jazz and For Bass Players Only. His current research and writing are reflected in his forthcoming book, The Resonant Tesseract, which examines improvisation, electroacoustic practice and the creative process. Wells is an Advisory Board Member of the Jerry Garcia Foundation and an endorsed artist for NS Design and Phil Jones Bass. His current work integrates performance, composition, research and education, with a particular focus on improvisation, electroacoustic practice and the expanding possibilities of the electric bass violin.
Admission is FREE
Kwame Johnson: SERIES is the procedurally generative music project of software engineer Kwame Johnson, building melodic and stylistically driven compositions through aleatoric coding and modular synthesis. Since 2025, SERIES has performed regularly across South Florida, bringing probabilistic grooves and harmonic sensibility to the tactile world of live experimental electronica.
Sandra James - Sandra James is a multi-disciplinary performer, technologist, and educator who maintains a steady, reflective practice across both electronic and Latin music. Her electronic practice balances a history of deliberate multimedia projects using software like Csound, Max/MSP, and Pd with a current, ten-year focus on live Eurorack hardware performance, quadraphonic spatialization, and custom video art. As a Latin percussionist, her range spans from percussion-only ensembles to guitar and percussion-based combos. She draws from foundational musical training at Artistas y Músicos Latinoamericanos (AMLA) alongside studies in Cuba, Panama, and the University of Rome, as well as academic work, research, and exhibitions at Temple University, the Pennsylvania
Sandra James - Sandra James is a multi-disciplinary performer, technologist, and educator who maintains a steady, reflective practice across both electronic and Latin music. Her electronic practice balances a history of deliberate multimedia projects using software like Csound, Max/MSP, and Pd with a current, ten-year focus on live Eurorack hardware performance, quadraphonic spatialization, and custom video art. As a Latin percussionist, her range spans from percussion-only ensembles to guitar and percussion-based combos. She draws from foundational musical training at Artistas y Músicos Latinoamericanos (AMLA) alongside studies in Cuba, Panama, and the University of Rome, as well as academic work, research, and exhibitions at Temple University, the Pennsylvania
Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), and IRCAM. This dedication to physical instrumentation and experimentation anchors her career at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music, where she serves as the IT Director for music technology and as an Adjunct Instructor of Analog and Modular Sound Synthesis. Through her practice of hand-building hardware and performing at Modular on the Spot, Philadelphia’s free outdoor modular synthesis picnic, Sandra actively encourages hands-on, community-driven experimentation.