Thu 8/21 7:00 PM Black Cat Jazz Supper Club [400 Eddy St San Francisco, CA 94109]
Seamlessly blending a deep lineage of American jazz traditions with global rhythms Two-time Grammy nominee Benito Gonzalez performs live at Black Cat!  More...

Thu 8/21 8:00 PM Temescal Arts Center [511 48th Street Oakland]
The new August Return the Gift curated series at Temescal Arts Center continues with two great sound artists featuring Zachary James Watkins and Jean Carla Rodea.

Zachary James Watkins has performed in numerous festivals across the United States, Mexico and Europe and his band Black Spirituals opened for pioneering Minimal Metal band Earth during their 2015 European tour.

Jean Carla Rodea (b. Mexico City) is a research-based interdisciplinary artist and educator. Her/their work involves a variety of disciplines and mediums such as music, sound, vocal performance, poetry, performance art, photography, video, movement, and sculpture. Her artistic practice deals with spaces and instances where problematic socio-political and cultural constructs are rendered visible through multimedia installations and performances.  More...

Fri 8/22 7:00 PM Medicine for Nightmares [3036 24th St SF]
Other Dimensions in Sound Presents Dahveed Behroozi(vocalist) and Ark Of Bones with special guests Chris Evans on cello and Evelyn Ficarra on sound design.  More...

Fri 8/22 8:00 PM Tom's Place [3111 Deakin Street Berkeley]
Tom's Place presents

Kra Pao 6
(Kyle Bruckmann -- oboe, engish horn
Thomas Dimuzio -- synthesizer
Philip Gelb -- shakuhachi, Buchla Music Easel
Motoko Honda -- piano
Fred Lonberg-Holm -- cello
Kanoko Nishi -- koto)

Kra Pao 6 is a new ensemble featuring texturally based improvisations from an all-star list of veteran Bay-Area performers: Kyle Bruckmann (oboe, engish horn), Thomas Dimuzio (synthesizer), Philip Gelb (shakuhachi, Buchla Music Easel), Motoko Honda (piano), Fred Lonberg-Holm (cello), and Kanoko Nishi (koto).  More...

Sat 8/23 7:30 PM Bird & Beckett Books and Records [653 Chenery St. SF]
Darren Johnston  More...

Sat 8/23 7:30 PM Center for New Music [55 Taylor St SF]
Dimuzio/Frith/Goldberg/Ochs/Amendola

Joining forces for the first time, get ready for some sonic adventures. From the pulse to the stratosphere.  More...

Sun 8/24 5:00 PM Spruce Street Concerts [send email to harry@fullplatemedia.com]
Ron Heglin (trombone and voice) and Tom Djll, two stalwarts in the Bay Area experimental music scene for decades, perform a house concert in a home overlooking the San Francisco Bay. These artists create a unique sound world that will be captivating in the intimacy of a house concert. Ron Heglin is a trombonist and vocalist performing extended technique on the trombone and performing a spoken and sung fictional language as a vocalist. Tom Djll concentrates on electronics which employ feedback to create human-like sounds and crude AI-driven events in real time. The aggregate sound-space that ensues has the air of an unfathomable hermetic ritual where meaning floats in the air, momentarily, before evaporating just on the limb of understanding. Djll and Heglin's work directly confronts the idea that meaning through communication is necessary or even possible.

All attendees will receive a free CD + digital download to the duo's recently release, "Duos for Voice and Runglers".  More...

Sun 8/24 5:00 PM DFM Radio TV International [streaming (free) live internet radio]
Streaming only:Click for stream  
UB Radio Salon no. 919
experimental sound-art session with
Big City Orchestra, featuring:
Cheryl E. Leonard, Cliff Neighbors, dAs, Ninah Pixie
LIVE on DFM Radio TV International (DFM.NU)  More...

Sun 8/24 7:15 PM West Oakland Sound Series [2201 Poplar Street Dresher Ensemble Studio Oakland]
WEST OAKLAND TAPE MUSIC FESTIVAL: SFTMC presents their summer east bay festival of fixed media works projected live over a 16-channel Meyer Sound System. Featuring a wide range of works by international composers and collective members. Classic musique concrète pieces will be presented alongside newly created acousmatic compositions, including a new release of the 4-track version of BERNARD PARMEGIANI'S iconic "La Création Du Monde."  More...

Wed 8/27 7:00 PM Mr Tipple's [39 Fell St SF]
Jenny Scheinman & Friends

7:00 pm - 8:15 pm
and
8:45 pm - 10:00 pm  More...

Wed 8/27 8:00 PM Gray Area Art And Technology [2665 Mission St. SF]
Max Cooper On Being 3D/AV Live  More...

Thu 8/28 8:00 PM Temescal Arts Center [511 48th Street Oakland]
The new August Return the Gift curated series at Temescal Arts Center continues with two great sound artists featuring Merlin Coleman and Ava Koohbor.

Merlin Coleman is a multimedia artist making work ranging from a Gargling Chorus to a layered piece about a local quarry’s environmental degradation. Coleman holds an MFA in Composition from California Institute of the Arts.

Ava Koohbor is an experimental sound artist and instrument builder. Through an undetermined process she transforms the acoustical properties of everyday’s objects to create an immersive experience of sound in space.  More...

Thu 8/28 8:00 PM Noisebridge Hackerspace [272 Capp St, San Francisco, CA 94110]
Streaming and in-person:Click for stream  Click to make donation  
Resident Electronic is a monthly electronic audio-visual open mic event started in 2017. Resident is casual and cool, and the community you’ll find is like no other for aspiring electronic musicians in the Bay. No judgments, no bullshit, just positive support and openness to new ideas.  More...

Thu 8/28 9:30 PM Gray Area Art And Technology [2665 Mission St. SF]
Max Cooper On Being 3D/AV Live  More...

Fri 8/29 7:00 PM Medicine for Nightmares [3036 24th St SF]
Other Dimensions in Sound Presents David Boyce (reeds and efx)  More...

Sat 8/30 5:30 PM Piedmont Piano Company [1728 San Pablo Ave Oakland]
Carmen Staaf

"Sounding Line" Album Release Preview  More...

Tue 9/02 7:30 PM Temescal Arts Center [511 48th Street Oakland]
Improvisation Workshop hosted by Lewis Jordan: Inviting musicians, poets, dancers, to a non-hierarchical setting to improvise together. Improvisation is the key.  More...

Fri 9/05 7:00 PM Gray Area Art And Technology [2665 Mission St. SF]
Screening of "The Secret Life of Plants" (1979) and Plant Music Performance  More...

Fri 9/05 8:30 PM Bird & Beckett Books and Records [653 Chenery St. SF]
The Actual Trio  More...

Sun 9/07 2:00 PM The Tiger Garage [private studio in south Berkeley, near Ashby BART]
Improvising the Afternoon by Gusty Winds May Exist: Sound and silence rooted and blossoming in the Deep Listening tradition of Pauline Oliveros.
We’ll perform structured and free improvisations, including Domine dirige nos by Tom Bickley and Labyrinth Walk by Nancy Beckman, using shakuhachi, recorder, electronics and more.  More...

Sun 9/07 2:00 PM Center for New Music [55 Taylor St SF]
Harold Carr + Bruce Ackley, Andrew Voigt, Cervino-Wood, Derek Coombs  More...

Sun 9/07 2:00 PM Center for New Music [55 Taylor St SF]
Bassist Harold Carr has primarily been known as a sideperson (e.g., Lightnin' Hopkins, Bobby McFerrin, Crystal Gayle, Steve Lacy). He is excited to share his compositions in this album release concert featuring long time friends Andrew Voigt (sax & flute), Bruce Ackley (sax), Flavia Cervino-Wood (violin) and Derek Coombs (piano).  More...

Sun 9/07 7:00 PM Mills College Littlefield Concert Hall [Richards Rd Oakland, CA 94613]
Other Minds welcomes pianists Sarah Cahill and Joseph Kubera to present a two piano recital of the music of “Blue” Gene Tyranny (1945–2020) and Robert Ashley (1930–2014) on Sunday, September 7, 2025, at Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland. This concert is part of Other Minds’s PastForward series, presented in cooperation with the Center for Contemporary Music, Northeastern University and Mills Performing Arts.  More...

Sun 9/07 7:30 PM Temescal Arts Center [511 48th Street Oakland]
Doors That Only Open in Silence (open participation, non-hierarchical workshop in free improvisation)

Monthly series of improvisation research at Temescal Arts Center. Bring your instrument or come to listen. Movement and other disciplines encouraged. No advance notice needed — just show up.  More...

Mon 9/08 7:00 PM SFJAZZ Center [201 Franklin Street (at Fell) SF CA]
Kasey Knudsen Leads the Community Jam Session at SF Jazz  More...

Thu 9/11 8:00 PM The Back Room [1984 Bonita Ave Berkeley]
Scott Amendola’s SticklerPhonics  More...

Thu 9/11 8:00 PM Peacock Lounge [552 Haight Street, SF, CA]
Bruce Ackley & Fred Lonberg-Holmes
The Anti-cellist arrives at the gate of the Peacock Lounge on Sept. 11. Pupils ablaze with unholy mastery of harmonics, timbre and scale, summoning our own neighborhood druid, Bruce Ackley, weilding the sonic sceptres known as clarinet, soprano and tenor.

JETZTAHORA
From the blind-beyond a fantasy supertrio of Danishta Rivero, Sandy Buschman-Román, and Kyle freaking Bruckmann appears to your ears.

Theresa Wong
Nowhere do past and future comingle more clearly than in Theresa Wong's musical embrace. By voice, cello, light, and through composition new possibilities unfold.

Headboggle
Derek Gedalecia's acoustic/electronic performance-art research utilizing his very own kitchen sink which at any moment might uncork with Moog, Harmonica, Banjo, Harpsichord, Irish Harp, EMS Synthi, Violin, Drums, Clavinet, Serge Modular, field recordings, or your very own squirming brain.  More...

Sat 9/13 12:00 PM Center for New Music [55 Taylor St SF]
25 years of sculpting soundscapes that dissolve the boundaries of auditory perception - a gourmet banquet for the third ear. Compositions caramelized dissonance glazed in universal abyss harmonics, each experimental trajectory fizz-candied into razor-sharp shards of destabilized madness. The deliciousness of working with these experimental sounds manifests as reality itself phases into criminally perfect audio ventures, creating exhilarating new senses... all served with the huge boon of maximum vegan gourmet pancakes - because what better accompaniment to top-notch sonic experimentation than flapstacks heating the creative edges???  More...

Sun 9/14 7:30 PM Center for New Music [55 Taylor St SF]
South Bay flutist Meerenai Shim will perform works from her latest album, The Audacity, including “Vermont Counterpoint” by Steve Reich, "Whispers on the Wind" by The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker, and world premieres from Brent Miller and Janice Misurell-Mitchell.  More...

Fri 9/19 8:00 PM Indexical [Tannery Arts Center 1050 River St. #119 Santa Cruz]
Luke Wyland + Briana Marela  More...

Sat 9/20 7:00 PM BKUMC Church [451 MORAGA Way, Orinda CA 94563]
Ensemble ARI, a professional classical group, presents Schumann’s Piano Trio alongside vibrant contemporary works by California composers.  More...

Sat 9/20 8:00 PM Center for New Music [55 Taylor St SF]
Alex Heigl presents a concert of original compositions augmented by historical images and recordings drawn from the Library of Congress' collection "California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties."  More...

Thu 9/25 8:00 PM California Ballroom [1736 FRANKLIN ST. OAKLAND, CA 94612]
Click to make donation  
Award-winning composer and record-holding one-man band, Samson Y Hiss, brings his psychotic ooze of circus horror, opera, and theatre to Oakland. The theatrical experience features an original story, art song, an avant-garde quartet (organ, sax, tuba, percussion), circus performers and overhead projectors. Synopsis? Patient 51 escapes an insane asylum, falls headfirst into a traveling carnival and flees across the desert from the authorities—a wake of vultures. Carnival of Psychos isn't a place, but a theatrical escape hatch into terror and lunacy.  More...

Fri 9/26 7:00 PM California Ballroom [1736 FRANKLIN ST. OAKLAND, CA 94612]
Click to make donation  
Award-winning composer and record-holding one-man band, Samson Y Hiss, brings his psychotic ooze of circus horror, opera, and theatre to Oakland. The theatrical experience features an original story, art song, an avant-garde quartet (organ, sax, tuba, percussion), circus performers and overhead projectors. Synopsis? Patient 51 escapes an insane asylum, falls headfirst into a traveling carnival and flees across the desert from the authorities—a wake of vultures. Carnival of Psychos isn't a place, but a theatrical escape hatch into terror and lunacy.  More...

Sat 9/27 8:00 PM Indexical [Tannery Arts Center 1050 River St. #119 Santa Cruz]
Rick Walker + David Tristram + CHATT3R  More...

Sun 9/28 8:00 PM Center for New Music [55 Taylor St SF]
Featuring Northern California’s most versatile and innovative musicians—Motoko Honda (pianist-composer), Cory Wright (multi-woodwinds), Jordan Glenn (drums), and Matt Small (bass)—the Simple Excesses Quartet delivers a bold blend of classical chamber music, jazz, free jazz, and experimental sound. Intricate, dynamic, and full of surprises, their performances take audiences through shifting sonic landscapes, captivating both performers and listeners alike.  More...

Sat 10/04 5:00 PM Indexical [Tannery Arts Center 1050 River St. #119 Santa Cruz]
Whitney Johnson - FIAT  More...