Desert Drone, Tucson, AZ (2025)

04/24/2025

Saturday, April 26th, at the downtown Wooden Tooth Records on Congress. Oryx comes through on tour alongside locals Manguera and Black Baptist. Doors 7:00pm, music starts at 7:30, $12 at the door.

ORYX is a doom/sludge metal band hailing from Denver, Colorado. Their music is a
monolithic force, characterized by crushing riffs, pulverizing drums, and devasting vocals. Their latest release, Primordial Sky (Oct. 2024, Translation Loss Records), showcases the trio’s mastery of heavy music, with a focus on deeply expressive songwriting. Prepare for a sonic journey into the depths of despair and intensity.

04/23/2025

Out now on our bandcamp: Deep Meadow, a collaborative piece by Chelsey Lee Trejo and Zack Hansen.

04/20/2025

Saturday, April 26th, Oryx levels downtown Tucson. The powerhouse Denver sludge/doom trio returns to Arizona for what will surely be the heaviest night of the year. With support from Tucson locals Manguera and Black Baptist.

Wooden Tooth Records 108 E. Congress St.
Doors 7:00pm $12 adv tickets in bio

04/18/2025

Colin Stetson hits Tucson and Phoenix May 6th and 7th with Desert Drone alums Ryan Alfred and Karima Walker providing local support at Club Congress and Walter Studios. Tickets at bestlifepresents.com .

Multi-instrumentalist Colin Stetson’s extensive saxophone techniques covers advanced circular breathing, percussive valve-work and growling. Accomplished in clarinet, French horn and flute as well, Stetson has worked with artists such as Tom Waits, David Gilmour, Lou Reed and The Chemical Brothers; and composed the score for 2018 film, Hereditary, which The New Yorker described as having been seemingly “scored for violins, percussion, a humpback whale, and bats”..

Colin has collaborated with Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Tom Waits, BadBadNotGood, and composed soundtracks for movies/series such as Hereditary, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Menu, and many others.

04/17/2025

FRIDAY April 18th at Wave Archive in downtown Tucson, MSHR transports us to a different realm.

MSHR's performances revolve around their handmade electronic instruments in feedback systems of light, sound and movement.

The duo act as elements within the system, navigating its visceral audiovisual environment through a tangle of agency and circuitry.

April 18th Wave Archive
197 E Toole
With
7:00pm doors
$12-$20

04/14/2025

Friday, April 18th, at Wave Archive, we have a special performance from MSHR. They'll be joined by Alluvium.

MSHR is an art collective that collaboratively builds and explores sculptural electronic systems.

Their performances and installations integrate electrical signals and human presence, weaving dense networks of causality to form audiovisual environments that babble with life-like current.

They explore intuitive and technical gradients between sonic and sculptural forms, using analog circuitry and open-source software to sculpt mutually resonant hyperobjects.

MSHR was founded by Brenna Murphy and Birch Cooper in 2011 in Portland, Oregon.

04/12/2025

Really excited to hang with our friends at Wooden Tooth Records on April 19th for their 10th anniversary. We'll be at their anniversary bash at Dragoon Brewing selling shirts, tapes, and records and celebrating 10 years of the best record store in Tucson while spreading the good word of Desert Drone.

04/07/2025

QUEST MASTER - Tuesday, April 8th, at Linger Longer Lounge in Phoenix. $12 adv in bio, $15 at the door. 21+ 7:30pm.

In the shadows of the contemporary consciousness, lies a web of 'Obscure Power'. Quest Master's latest album is an aural excavation of the hidden structures and energies that underpin reality. From the gleam of corporate crystals to the whispers of ethereal plazas, join in the exploration of the unseen force that shapes our landscapes and resonates within our souls.

Building upon the sonic blueprint of 'Sword and Circuitry', 'Obscure Power' expands the Quest Master universe by incorporating influences from 90's electronica. Blending the atmospherics and pulsing rhythms of that era with the signature Quest Master sound, the result is a richly textured and immersive soundscape that propels the listener deeper into the heart of the Quest Master's mystifying realm.

"A broken lock, a fragile key,
Your exit to a skybox dream,
Imprisoned by the crystal towers,
That resonate OBSCURE POWER"

04/04/2025

Christopher Alagna makes their solo Desert Drone debut Sunday, April 6th, at Wave Archive with Matthew Ryals and Mess.a.lina. Doors at 7:00pm, $12-20 entry.

Christopher Alagna is a multi-instrumentalist musician and creative coder living in Tucson, Arizona. Currently exploring improvised melodies with custom-designed keyboard sounds over evolving, layered sonic environments.

You might have seen Christopher improvising at the Sine & Symbol festival, we're excited to see their solo set!

04/03/2025

Darkness falls over Tucson on Saturday, April 5th, at the downtown Wooden Tooth Records, with Su***de Forest, Malevich (ATL), and Through A Glass Darkly. A full night of black metal, sludgey grindcore, and beautiful noise.

"Malevich sit contentedly at the centre of a disgusting Venn diagram of black metal, death metal, grind and sludge".

Doors open 7pm, $12, all ages entry.

04/02/2025

Sunday, April 6th, at Wave Archive, we welcome Matthew Ryals.

Matthew Ryals is an award-winning synthesist and composer-improviser based in New York. Working primarily with modular synthesizer, his music explores improvisation, generative composition, cybernetics, and experimental archiving. Recognized for his tactile approach to synthesis and innovative use of esoteric techniques, Ryals’ recent accolades include a ’25 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant, a ’22 -’23 New Music USA Award, and a ’21 IEA Electronic Media Residency. He has released music on Oxtail Recordings, sound as language, SØVN, and other labels. He co-curates the Brooklyn experimental music series Artifact. In 2025, Matthew will release three new projects: the final installment of his Generative Etudes series on 3OP, a live album debuting in summer 2025 on Infrequent Seams, and a collaborative album with composer Jacob Sachs-Mishalanie on Oxtail Recordings

04/01/2025

Quest Master ventures forth to Linger Longer Lounge on Tuesday, April 8th, in Phoenix, AZ. The Australian fantasy and dungeon wizard will be joined by Weston Smith and Ruin Dweller on this adventure. A mystical and unforgettable night lies ahead. $12 adv in our bio, $15 tickets at the door. 21+

03/31/2025

We’re thrilled to welcome Walt McClements to Desert Drone on Wednesday, April 30th, at Pidgin Palace. Walt will be joined by Karima Walker, Ryan Chavira, and K***a Quartet.

Walt McClements is an accordionist and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. His compositions focus on processed accordion, creating patient and emotional meditations that nod to drone and ambient music.
Walt will be celebrating the release of his latest album “On a Painted Ocean” out April 4th on Western Vinyl.

On a Painted Ocean: a suite of searching accordion and pipe organ-led pieces that travel a steady course, swelling and expanding with a tide of tender emotion. The composer and multi-instrumentalist takes the title of his second album from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous epic The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and its depiction of a boat that’s stalled at sea—As idle as a painted ship/Upon a painted ocean. It’s an impression that mirrors both the process and the product of McClements’s Western Vinyl release, from the gentle unfurling of a raw reed tone on opener “A Painted Ship” to the gritty ebb and flow of effects-laden drone on “Washed Up,” and the closing flutter and signal interference that noisily builds toward triumphant euphoria on “Clattering.”
On a Painted Ocean emerges at a confluence of events and inspirations that have shifted and changed like the weather itself.

03/21/2025

Really exciting show to announce at Wave Archive on April 18th, brought to you in collaboration with Tucson Noise Symposium. We’re happy to welcome MSHR alongside locals Alluvium.

MSHR is an art collective that collaboratively builds and explores sculptural electronic systems. They explore intuitive and technical gradients between sonic and sculptural forms, using analog circuitry and open-source software to sculpt mutually resonant hyperobjects. MSHR was founded by Brenna Murphy and Birch Cooper in 2011 in Portland, Oregon.

Alluvium will be performing on the heels of their MOCA Tucson installation “Dry Spell” that opened February 28th as part of the “Frequencies” exhibition. Dry Spell is a ceremony for a watershed in drought. Held beneath an underpass along Julian Wash, this site-specific piece was performed in winter 2025. Through sound, video, and the presence of those witnessing, the wash was ephemerally refilled. Its installation at MOCA will be a second iteration of the work, which includes documentation of the site-specific performance and a cassette tape recording of the audio that deteriorates over the course of the exhibition as it passes over sandpaper.

Doors 7:00pm $12 - 20 no one turned away from lack of funds.

03/19/2025

Oakland coldwave post-punk duo 55CASTLES performs at Slow Body Beer Thursday March 20th.

This duo seamlessly shapeshifts between EBM, dark/ coldwave, industrial, and post-punk with a heavy emphasis on punk.

They're on tour with Mind Mirage (Oakland experimental ambient electronics) with support from locals Dollblood. Free show with music starting around 7:30!

03/17/2025

Coming up Thursday, March 20th, at Slow Body. Mind Mirage, with 55CASTLES, Ren, and Dollblood.

Mind Mirage is Ana Cuevas’ Ohlone-based (Oakland CA) ’underworld uprising,’ often described as dark and dreamy. She unveiled this solo-embodiment live Spring 2022 and started regularly touring Spring 2023. Psychic Eye Records released her album Chaos Carousel in Spring 2024; Ritual in private, offering in public.

This is a free event, 7:00pm doors, music starts promptly at 9:30. Donations encouraged for the locals. See you there!

03/13/2025

Friday, March 14th at Wave Archive, Beck Rose and Skincage join Mitchell Keaney for a night of experimental music. Doors 7:00pm, $12-20 admission, no one turned away from lack of funds.

We can't wait for the first show in a busy spring for Desert Drone.

03/11/2025

Sine & Symbol is pleased to announce our full artist line up! Many wonderful local and regional musicians and artists will be sharing their creative gifts via solo and ensemble performances, collaborations, and presentations of work. We are beyond grateful to all of them for wanting to join us in making this festival happen, this kind of community love and collaboration keeps the world spinning 🤍

🎟️ Full festival passes 🎟️available in bio for $35 per pass including fees. This includes all three ticketed nights (March 28th-30th). March 27th is a FREE show and artist mixer!

Tickets for the individual shows will be available night of at the door for $12-20 dollars.

Hope to see you there!!

Featured song on this post by She will be joining us on Sunday night 3/30 at Wave Archive!

Desert Drone