Arrington de Dionyso and Ben Bennett channel the ecstatic moment through strikingly limited physical and musical materials. Saxophonist Arrington de Dionyso’s perpetually touring moniker THIS SAXOPHONE KILLS FASCISTS is a recombinant performance of touring and local musicians, with the aim of channeling Albert Ayler’s recognition of music as the healing force of the universe. Percussionist Ben Bennett works with a deconstructed set of drums and resonant objects intended to fit in a backpack for bicycle tours and easy transportation. In addition to his live performance practice, Bennett is known for his more than 200 four-hour livestreams of himself called “Sitting and Smiling,” which The Atlantic described as “an extreme version of engagement with the present.”
Arrington de Dionyso
Arrington de Dionyso is an artist, musician, linguist, and instrument inventor based in Olympia, Washington. From 1995 until 2008 he was the leader of OLD TIME RELIJUN, a beloved art-punk combo that released eight albums with K Records. In 2009 he founded MALAIKAT DAN SINGA, melding free associative Indonesian translations of William Blake with dancehall rhythms and postpunk angularity. Now in 2018, THIS SAXOPHONE KILLS FASCISTS would not exist were there not a need for it. The project is a militant response to the ___________
Ben Bennett
Benjamin Bennett has worked as an improvising percussionist for 10 years, touring North America and Europe as a soloist, in various ensembles, and ad-hoc collaborations. He developed a unique approach to percussion which took the lineage of free-jazz, free-improvisation, Berlin reductionism, and extended technique playing as its foundation. In searching for an expanded sonic palette, and more fluid movement between various techniques, he distilled the drumset into a small collection of drumheads, stretched membranes, and other objects which offered a wide variety of unconventional sounds from very few materials, which could be rearranged into different combinations during a performance. This aesthetic development also translated to a practical advantage, in that this setup was small enough to fit into a backpack, freeing him from using a car to transport heavy percussion gear. He began touring by bus and bicycle, even completing a 7-day, 7-show bicycle tour through New England.
Continuing on this path of aesthetic and practical dematerialization, or doing more with less, he has found ways to extend his performance practice into movement, voice, and video. While these newer outgrowths are a result of a radical and perhaps esoteric interpretation of the history of music, they have proven to be readable and accessible outside of the sphere of music.
In 2014, Bennett began a YouTube series entitled “Sitting and Smiling”, in which he sits cross-legged on the floor, smiling directly at the camera without moving, for four hours at a time. It can be viewed live, and is recorded for playback. His channel went viral in January of 2015, creating an internet/media buzz and getting coverage from The Atlantic, VICE, Gawker, TechTimes, and other outlets. It was live-streamed at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, and has received more than 11 million views worldwide.
Benjamin tours actively from his home base in Philadelphia, where he also continues his internet-based performances.
THIS SAXOPHONE KILLS FASCISTS
THIS SAXOPHONE KILLS FASCISTS IS NOT A “BAND”- IS NOT A “PERFORMANCE”- IS NOT TRYING TO “PROMOTE” A “NEW ALBUM”- IS NOT “PREACHING TO THE CHOIR”
This Saxophone Kills Fascists opens the gates and calls upon the heavy medicine of MUSIC as THE HEALING FORCE OF THE UNIVERSE (Ayler) because we need this medicine now more than ever before. A Music of Resistance is found in the templates of Spiritual Free Jazz- through the guttural delivery of ancient horns and stretched skins a resounding echo cracks the foundations of the walls built to divide us.
THIS SAXOPHONE KILLS FASCISTS
THIS SAXOPHONE GROWLS LIKE A PANTHER
THIS SAXOPHONE SCREAMS LIKE AN EAGLE
THIS SAXOPHONE CREATES IN THE FACE OF DESTRUCTION
THIS SAXOPHONE WAILS FOR THE FREEDOM OF ALL PEOPLE
THIS SAXOPHONE FLIPS THE MIDDLE FINGER
THIS SAXOPHONE IS POWERED BY THE SUN AND THE MOON
THIS SAXOPHONE REARRANGES ATOMS
THIS SAXOPHONE BRINGS DOWN THE WALLS OF JERICHO
THIS SAXOPHONE MARCHES ON WASHINGTON
THIS SAXOPHONE SOMETIMES WHISPERS
THIS SAXOPHONE SINGS WITH SEVEN VOICES
THIS SAXOPHONE SPITS FIRE IN SEVEN LANGUAGES
THIS SAXOPHONE NEUTRALIZES POISON
THIS SAXOPHONE TURNS SWORDS INTO OTHER SAXOPHONES
THIS SAXOPHONE IS A LION NOT A LAMB
THIS SAXOPHONE TURNS WATER INTO WINE
THIS SAXOPHONE TURNS OIL BACK INTO DINOSAURS
THIS SAXOPHONE IS TUNED IN TO ANTI-AUTHORITARIAN FREQUENCIES
THIS SAXOPHONE IS A COMPLETE AND TOTAL REPUDIATION OF ALL HIS LIES
THIS SAXOPHONE IS A WAR CRY FOR INDESTRUCTIBLE LIFE
THIS SAXOPHONE SEPARATES A SEA OF REEDS
THIS SAXOPHONE IS THE DARLING OF THE UNDERGROUND
THIS SAXOPHONE IS THE ESOPHAGUS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
THIS SAXOPHONE BLOWS SWEET DEFIANCE
THIS SAXOPHONE IS POSSESSED BY THUNDER
THIS SAXOPHONE FLIES LIKE A FALCON AND STINGS LIKE A SCORPION
THIS SAXOPHONE IS THE SOUND BETWEEN SOUNDS
THIS SAXOPHONE FLIPS THE SWITCH
THIS SAXOPHONE IS TOTALLY LIT
THIS SAXOPHONE CURSES AND SPITS
THIS SAXOPHONE IS THE TINCTURE OF RESISTANCE
THIS SAXOPHONE IS AN EARTHQUAKE AND A MONSOON
THIS SAXOPHONE FLOWERS IN THE CRACKED PAVEMENT OF CORRUPTION
THIS SAXOPHONE’S OTHER SAXOPHONE IS A BROOMSTICK
THIS SAXOPHONE IS AN ENERGY, NOT AN INSTRUMENT