"The connection between what we do in the studio and what we do on stage becomes an open question—a gap which must be consciously bridged by the artist."
Chris Madak's (b. 1983) work bridges drone and contemporary experimental electronic music, demonstrating a refined and subtle, yet accessible, musical voice. His work cultivates the relationship between studio and stage, which he says is "so fundamental to contemporary musical practice that it can only be addressed provisionally, never exhausted." Madak worked under the moniker Bee Mask from 2004 to 2013, releasing 36 limited-edition cassettes, LPs, and CDs through his own Deception Island small-run imprint and other small music presses. He has toured internationally, performing at several leading experimental music festivals and concert venues. Madak studied music and art history at Hampshire College, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Cleveland State University. Recent releases include When We Were Eating Unripe Pears (2012), Elegy for Beach Friday (2011), and Canzoni dal Laboratorio del Silenzio Cosmico (2011), all on Spectrum Spools/eMego. In 2012, Philadelphia's Bowerbird commissioned Madak's realization of John Cage's "Fontana Mix" as part of the Center-funded Cage: Beyond Silence festival.
