FUND ONGOING GUSHES PRODUCTIONS INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ALBUMS, ROCK OPERAS, MOVEMENT CYCLES, & VIDEO.
GUSHES
is guitar loop-driven performance art-prog spanning
MUSIC, MOVEMENT, RITUAL, & CRAFT
BY FILIPINX BROOKLYN-BASED ARTIST
JENNAE SANTOS
gushes makes guitar loop-driven progressive art rock, philosophically lead by emergent concept (& the artist’s former moniker) WSABI— Warped Sangot And Boss Interior. In Bisayan, Santos’ matrilineal tongue, “Sangot” refers to a handheld sickle—a farming tool appropriated into a weapon of resistance against colonization often used by women and farmers to protect their kin. As a student of herbalism and decolonized Kali inspired by the Babaylan—Indigenous Filipino community figures trained in plant medicine, combat, and conflict resolution, the sangot represents the Harvest and the Fight. The Harvest of love, community, and pleasure autonomy paired with the Fight for collective liberation of marginalized people encapsulate the spirit of gushes performance happenings, for which the aim is playful, sensual freedom against all forms of patriarchy. “Boss Interior'' represents the paradox of inner strength in trauma survival and the unlearning of harmful capitalistic self-dominance. gushes as a bandleader persona moves between these Harvest and Fight themes, portrayed sometimes as a healer-facilitator and other times as a warrior, alchemizing the influential practices of Babaylanism into rock concert and intermedia ceremony.
gushes takes the shape of various incarnations across the forms of rock band, percussion ensemble, durational ritual, tea ceremony, movement cycle, collaborative installation, and hand-crafted pieces supporting and/or rooted in kapwa, personal healing practices, food justice and Indigenous landback movements across Santos’ significant territories: the Philippines (Liyang Network, Sabokahan), New York (Red Hook Farms, Star Route Farm), and the Bay Area (Sogorea Te’).
Their musical approach is influenced by prog rock, dance punk, soul, kulintang in conversation with Afro-Latin diaspora rhythm patterns, and cinematic sound design. Their compositions layer colorful guitar loops that range from dense, angular and polyrhythmic to minimal, ambient and groovy. Further realized songwriting and heightened performance emerges from this loop foundation by way of lyrical storytelling, movement, live visuals, and further instrumentation: drums, percussion, electronics, bass, piano, synths, strings, woodwinds, and field recordings.
gushes has performed in DIY spaces, music venues, and indie theaters on the East and West coasts of North America, and livestream channels including C’mon Everybody, Trans Pecos, TV Eye, Union Pool, National Sawdust, Movement Research at Judson Church, Under St. Marks, Basilica Hudson, O+ Festival, The Vulcan, Thee Stork Club, Eli’s Mile High Club, Coaxial Arts, JACK and RAAH Fest.
Jennae Santos is a mostly self-taught guitarist and songwriter, trained in theatre at Fordham University. She is a recipient of the Bagri Foundation’s “At Home in the World” commission for her movement video series set to loop compositions, Loops for Bedroom Dancers, and Audiofemme’s The Agenda grant for an ongoing community mixtape project exploring harvest work field recordings in collaboration with various food justice-oriented New York farms (Red Hook Farms, Star Route Farm). Santos is a movement resident alum to Rhizomatica Residencias #1 led by choreographer, estrellx supernova.
Other past productions include Karen O’s (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) psycho opera Stop the Virgens at St Anne’s Warehouse in Brooklyn and The Sydney Opera House directed by Adam Rapp, Spooky Death Ride Sister Wives band with Yuka C Honda (Cibo Matto), Satomi Matsuzaki (Deerhoof), Jen Goma, and Noga Shefi, Dronechoir by Arone Dyer (Buke & Gase) at Basilica Hudson, Wave Hill, and O+ Festival, repairing permissions with Accidental Movement choreographed by Marigangela Lopez at Gibney Dance Center, and Life and Times: Episodes 1-4 with Nature Theater of Oklahoma at The Public Theater (NYC).
COLLABORATORS
SOCIAL ADVOCACY INITIATIVES: Land Revolution Gloves for Karapatan via Liyang Network, Hand-dyed tees for Kids 4 Kids PH, Anakbayan Philippines, & Liyang Network. Hong’s Kong Salon, RAAH Fest, Red Hook Farms, The MF Stream benefit for C’mon Everybody, Stay Home Music Fest for NYC Health + Hospitals, Bernie Sanders Benefit Show presented by Café Beit, My Slutty Valentine for Planned Parenthood, THREE HOUSES EP for Sogorea Te’, Cut the Snake Prints for Water Protectors Legal & RAICES, Star Route Farm food justice fundraiser show, From on RESIST COLONIAL POWER BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY compilation on PTP for Cultural Capital Haiti, Urgent Support for Medical Professionals in Gaza.
GRANTS, COMMISSIONS, RESIDENCIES: Rhizomaticas Residencias #1 with estrellx supernova and the School of Tender Angels, At Home in the World by The Bagri Foundation (2020), The Agenda grant by Audiofemme (2020), LENORE {POE} for the Culprits (2019).
MUSICIANS: David Palazola (drums), Jory Dawidowicz (cello & upright bass), Allyson Clare (viola), Lathan Hardy (bari sax), Ruben Sindo Acosta (drums), Emma Sky (electric violin), Ricky Petraglia (drums), Matt Chilton (tenor sax, flute, & upright bass), Jason Nazary (drums), Eva Lawitts (upright & electric bass), Gabriel Zucker (synths & piano), Alex Goldberg (drums), Chris Connors (bass), Dizzy SenZe (rapper & producer), Vicente Hansen Atria (drums), Katie Jacoby (violin), Marta Bagratuni (cello), Micaela Tobin (vocals), Sondra Sun-Odeon (vocals), Ethan Woods (vocals), Danny Siuba (vocals), Alice Tolan-Mee (vocals), Johnny Butler (saxophones), Domenica Fossati (flute), Matt Evans (percussion), Robby Bowen (percussion), Evan Lawrence (bass), Jess Tsang (percussion), Nick Cowman (drums), Ida Belisle (bass).
DANCERS: Sam Shin, Leslie Gauthier, Grace Weiss, Jen Galipo, Ruben Sindo Acosta, DeeDeeDame, Meaghan Adawe McLeod, Marielle Young, Mackenzie Jones, Kate He, Ashton Muñiz, Elizabeth Ibarra, Zoë Laureta, Kate Victor, Jazz Goldman, Jessica Ray, Christine Kazanchian, Caressa Casasos, Emma R Brown.
PRODUCERS: Peter Bartsocas (Tall Pine Studios), Carlos Hernandez (Gravesend Studios), Oliver Ignatius (Holy Fang), Sarah Register (mastering), Chris Connors (Concrete Sound), Ruben Sindo Acosta (remix), Public Speaking (remix), Eternal Garb (Remix), Alex Goldberg (engineering, mixing, mastering), GENG PTP (sonic finessing).
VISUAL & PERFORMANCE ARTISTS & DESIGNERS: Daniel McKleinfeld (live visuals & music video), Sam Shin (costume & soft sculpture art installation), Lucid Dream Minigolf (installation), Ana Vásquez (Tree & Oyster), Colleen Dougherty (lighting design), James Bennett (sound design).
PRODUCTION COLLECTIVES & CURATORS: Home Audio Series, Live From Quarantine, ThrdCoast, FEAST, The Culprits, The SchoolHouse, Urbano Street, Floordoor Records, Attn Everybody, Jupiter Nights Basilica Gallery, 24-Hour DRONE / Le Guess Who / Sarah Van Buren / Basilica Hudson, PTP Vision, Testu Collective, JACK, Flux Factory, Movement Research
“SIMPLY ONE OF THE MOST POIGNANT PROGRESSIVE ROCK BANDS AROUND TODAY”
“EMBODYING SLUDGY PSYCHEDELIA, WARPED POST-ROCK, AND CLOUDS OF GLITTERING AMBIENCE, SANTOS’ INDULGENT APPROACH TO SONGCRAFT ON GUSHING HELD SPACE FOR BOTH THRILLING PROGRESSIVE JAMS AND HEALING SELF-DEVOTION.”
“ONE OF NYC’S MOST EXCITING AND BOUNDARY-PUSHING GUITAR ACTS”
“‘YES MA’AM’ IS SIMULTANEOUSLY A DELIGHTFUL NIGHTMARE AND A HEADBANGING ASSERTION OF POWER. IT’LL WORM ITS WAY INTO YOUR HEAD AND REFUSE TO LET GO.
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