Composer and multi-instrumentalist Joshua Abrams has released eight albums, collaborated on over a hundred recordings, and composed soundtracks for Steve James’ Life Itself, the Emmy award winning The Interrupters, and Bill Siegel’s The Trials of Muhammad Ali. The New York Times describes his 2012 record, Represencing (Eremite) as "music that hints at the ceremonial without losing its modern bearings" and The Wire named his record Natural Information (Eremite) one of the top 50 recordings of 2010. The Village Voice picked his record Unknown Known as “one of the top 10 jazz albums of 2013”. He was a founding member of the “back porch minimalism” collective Town and Country and with Matana Roberts and Chad Taylor, the trio Sticks and Stones. Primarily known as a bassist, Joshua’s performances and recordings include work with Fred Anderson, Roscoe Mitchell, Hamid Drake, Peter Brotzmann, Bill Dixon, John Tchicai, Toumani Diabate, Joe McPhee, The Roots, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Nicole Mitchell, Jeff Parker, Mike Reed, Rob Mazurek, Gerald Cleaver, Henry Grimes, Bobby Broom, Dana Hall, Axel Dorner, Neil Michael Hagerty and the Howling Hex, Prefuse 73, Savath and Savalis, Sam Prekop, Jandek, Rhys Chatham, Damo Suzuki, Theaster Gates, Craig Taborn and Earle Brown. His latest record “Magnetoception” is due out in the fall of 2014 on Eremite records.
Natural Information Society is the name of Abrams’ group that formed in the wake of his records for Eremite. Live the music center around the sound of the guimbri (a Gnawan lute), integrating composition and improvisation to create hypnotic, highly rhythmic, psychedelic environments with an orientation towards uplift. This incarnation of Natural Information Society will also feature Lisa Alvarado on harmonium and Frank Rosaly on drums.