Double header: vegetable.machine.animal’s living plant-driven improv meets DSLB’s experimental sounds from Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington.
vegetable.machine.animal (vma) is an interspecies improvisational trio from Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. Led by drummer Kieran Monaghan [he/him] (ex-mr sterile Assembly), vma transforms the electrical signals of living plants and fungi into sound, fusing modular synths and live percussion in performances that are spontaneous, rhythmic, and unpredictable.
This is music as a living system — a real-time collaboration where non-human organisms shape the sonic outcome alongside human performers. No two sets are the same.
A Visiting Scholar at Te Kōkī / New Zealand School of Music, Monaghan brings decades of experience across punk, free jazz, and experimental scenes, with vma performing at festivals, residencies, and venues across Aotearoa and internationally.
DSLB is Chrissie Butler’s solo sound project. Beginning with the low-fi songwriting of BlokeBird in 2013, the project has evolved to encompass improvised performance, experimental film scores, and site-responsive instrumental works grounded in people and place.
In both solo and collaborative performances, Chrissie creates improvised works using analogue electronics, acoustic instruments, voice, field recordings, and found materials. Rather than following fixed compositions, each performance develops through listening, experimentation, and responding to the people, sounds, and environment in the moment.
