J.C. Combs (born 1970) is a Seattle-based new music composer. His works include “Charmed Elixirs” from 2008 (Sequenza21 described it as "antique poise and luminescence recalled in a disturbing dream from just last night"), “Bats in the Belfry” from 2009, “Safe Passage” on the premiere Russian label Electroshock Records from 2010 which has been featured on Max Shea’s “Martian Gardens” (WMUA 91.1FM Amherst and online), Don Campau’s “No Pigeonholes” program (KOWS FM Sonoma and online) “Solta a Franga”  (Netherleands), The Mystery Lesson –radio show presented by Daniel Spicer. 97.2FM in Brighton, UK, "WWSP", Program "Ambient Aether/Space Continuum",  Aural Innovations Space Rock Radio (show #249) and more; Jane Martin” from 2010 (video excerpt of a piece set to dance at BEAF), “Minstrel Nomadic” from 2010, “File Under: Misc.” (an ongoing album of misc. works featuring many artists), and “Rings of Saturn” – 2010. Combs also participated in the international event 60X60, 2010 – Magenta Mix.  In 2011, Combs released “Confessions of a Deviant Machine,” a collaboration with Lee Noyes on the label Con-V, which was included in “Spiritual Archives” magazine year-end favorites of 2011 and Acts of Silence magazine top 100 netlabel releases of 2011.

2012 brought the release of “The Chrome Castle and an Overgrown Lawn” on his independent label Cellar Door Records.

In the summer of 2013, Combs released the EP “Gazing” on the Spectropol label, which has been featured on radio programs including Max Shea’s “Martian Gardens” (WMUA 91.1FM Amherst and online) and Don Campau’s “No Pigeonholes” program (KOWS FM Sonoma and online) and Miniature Minotaurs with Kurt Gottschalk (WFMU 91.1 FM in New York and 90.1 FM in the Hudson Valley).   Gazing is also the  soundtrack for some great choreography  by Susan Haines with performances in Bellingham WA. More performances in early 2014 will include even more music from Combs.

In the fall of 2014, Combs announced a solo piano project called "Excursion" which consists of a travelogue in and around Seattle.  10 works composed between October and November.  In March 2014 Combs returned to his private label after a two year hiatus and released "Every Junkie is a Recording." , a piece which travels in and around ambient, drone, accidental sounds, mystery synthesis and melodic noise.

Combs focused on ambient music for a large part of 2017 and after a two year hiatus released "Northern Lights." 

Combs has also been involved in several compilation projects, including “ImprovFriday Volumes 1. and 2.” and “For Japan” on the “Amaranth Records” independent label.  He has also made appearances on the “Three Legs Duck” label and “Spectropol” label via compilation projects.

Combs founded and is actively involved in the serious musician's social network “Sound-In” 2009-present.

xenharmonic bass music

Sevish (aka Sean Archibald) is an electronic musician from London, UK. His music is fast and atmospheric. The style mainly gravitates around drum & bass and other electronic dance music varieties, although even ambient and chilled works have been released under this moniker. Sevish sidesteps pop structures and familiar "EDM" tropes, instead trying to capture the essence of something flowing and meandering. It's the perfect music for blocking mind-altering radiation.

Since his album Golden Hour, Sevish's technique has included a dark art known as microtonality/xenharmonics. For short, we can call this xen. Simply put, the xen aesthetic tries to achieve new musical ideas by making things more or less in-tune than normal music. For something that is so easy to describe, you would think that every musician was doing it. Sadly, the technicalities of (ab)using musical tunings to create xen music are too much for most musicians to muster at this point in time. Perhaps 3D printing will change that in the future, allowing new instruments with crazy tunings to be developed quickly and cheaply. Until then, it's the domain of a few tinkerers and madmen scattered across the globe. One of those being Sevish, who blends xen with his own brand of experimental dance music.

The xen movement is still small but growing rapidly. It has a lively facebook group, its own wiki (deeply incomprehensible to all but the initiated), and about as many dedicated record labels as you could count on one hand.

In 2010, Sevish launched his own netlabel to get together the scattered artists composing xen music. Called split-notes, this label is known for its focus on xen-with-a-beat, and most of its releases are free to download with Creative Commons licensing. While the output of the label has slowed down due to other commitments, it's still alive with new releases showing up from time to time.

Sevish's music has been put out by the Dutch label Dubbhism Deluxe. In 2011, Sevish, Tony Dubshot and Jacky Ligon released an album called Subversio to online music shops and popular streaming services. This project lies somewhere between being a band album and being a compilation, as each of the 3 artists provided 3 solo tracks each. So it's more of a musical triptych than either of those things. Certainly a form of collaborative album that can (and will) be explored further. Each of the musicians on Subversio combine xen with beats and bass, but their individual styles contrast and compliment. Tony Dubshot excels at trippy electro dub with lots of analog processing. Jacky Ligon's style is often described as oceanic or panoramic, with fluid and rotating beats and deeply moving atmospheres and melodies. And Sevish's style... well, you already know by now.

In 2014 Sevish, Tony Dubshot and Jacky Ligon followed with 23, something of a mini-album in the same stylistic ballpark as 2011's Subversio. Numerology, conspiracy and ancient knowledge is something that the trio is attracted to, and 23 is inspired from that.

Followers of Thuselem