On July 6, at Strange Grounds in Denver, The Expanding Music Project opened with an improvised experimental music set. Skilled musicians Anthony Giannotti (bass), Howard Ostrow (guitar) and Joe Sorcic (drums) came together to set the stage for the following “Freak Out Open Mic” which invited audience members to come up with their instruments and voices to experiment themselves.
With music that came directly out of the styles and genres that informed each player, new music was formed. At times, it seemed that the musicians worked to break out of the molds that inform them. Sometimes that meant that very recognizable patterns came to the fore; arpeggios and jazz, blues or rock licks, for example, or a march for a rhythm punctuated reverbed loops that sometimes became a drone. Sometimes musical ideas came up against what might in other settings clash. Disparate melodies and even sonal textures brushed up against players who went back and forth between their own meditations and playing along with those on stage who found themselves amidst an ever changing musical experiment.
Strange Grounds as a venue allows for inclusiveness. There are keyboards and pianos ready to be played, as well as violins, hand drums, guitars, accordions, music making toys and many other instruments. It is fun to watch as people, perhaps tentatively at first, grab a set of brushes or a toy guitar from one of the instrument walls and then begin making sounds with the other players. Electronics devices and adaptors, unsheathed from their packs and bags start appearing on the venue’s tables, readying for a solo or impromptu collaboration in the second set.
As the event’s attendees become more comfortable, some of them began taking the stage. Sean Patrick Faling of Distance Research was one of those attendees. He performed a short set of music composed of drones, electronic scrapes and outer space bleeps that reminded of Devo if the band had fallen through a time warp. Giannotti played along with one of Faling’s homemade oscillating telephone synthesizers. Experimental artist Charles Simpson (Winter Mute) also performed a solo set. His music incorporated a recording of an apropos passage for the night from the cyberpunk novel, Neuromancerby William Gibson. Other artists of note in attendance included Eve Orenstein (Distance Research,Opera on Tap Colorado) and Pete Bell (Kid Mask).
The format of The Expanding Music Project / Freak Out Open Mic is similar to the Denver Avant-Garde Music Society’s once monthly SOLOS /DUOS open mic which is hosted by local avant garde groupAnimal / object. SOLOS / DUOS meets up every third Monday at Strange Grounds while the Freak Out Open Mic meets every first Monday. Both gatherings feature some of the best and most innovative experimental artists of Denver's underground music scene.

*originally published at AXS.