Last year's performances at Lola's Sixth in Fort Worth marked the first time the improv/experimental music No Idea Festival came to the North Texas area. This year the event will be held in Dallas at a far grittier venue, the home base of the non-profit art- and music DIY collective known as Phoenix Project, at 406 S. Haskell St.
Austin experimental percussionist Chris Cogburn and Philadelphia electronics/guitar improviser Jesse Kudler will collaborate to open the show. Headlining will be Mexico City free jazz saxophonist Remi Alvarez, with support from the sibling rhythm section of Yells At Eels and Akkolyte fame, bassist Aaron Gonzalez and drummer Stefan Gonzalez.
But perhaps the most intriguing set on the lineup falls in the middle. The Dave Dove/Lucas Gorham Duo's Screwed Anthologies is a free improv collabo that uses amplified trombone and guitar with effects, loops and screw tracks in homage to the Houston godfather of chopped-and-screwed remixes, the late great DJ Screw. Ironic that such a blatantly codeine-inspired form of music will be honored at a drug- and alcohol-free space, but maybe if you can keep it cool nobody will ask what that purple stuff in the Styrofoam cup is.
The all-ages show starts at 8 p.m. Sunday, January 17, and is $8 or $5 for Phoenix Project Collective members.