2024 SCHEDULE! NEW BIG EARS MUSIC! WRISTBANDS IN THE MAIL…
2024 Schedule Coming Soon
Next week, we’ll start to unveil the full Big Ears 2024 schedule—day-by-day, hour-by-hour, venue-by-venue. Stay tuned!
Some New Music for Big Ears
claire rousay Announces New Album
For many listeners, claire rousay has been one of the most fascinating and rewarding underground artists for a few years now. Last week, she announced sentiment, her first album for the great experimental-leaning Chicago indie label Thrill Jockey. It features guest spots from Hand Habits and Lala Lala, and it’s out in April. claire rousay is at the Big Ears Festival on Friday, March 22.
Read: “claire rousay – “head””
aja monet Release Now Poem / Single
After releasing her debut single “Give My Regards To Brooklyn” in 2022, surrealist blues poet aja monet released her first album, When The Poems Do What They Do, which was nominated for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album at this year’s Grammy awards. She returns with “For the Kids,” a poem “dedicated to the children within each one of us so that we may honor the selves we were before the versions of us manufactured by adulthood.” Welcome aja monet to the Big Ears Festival on Saturday, March 23.
Read: aja monet: “For the Kids”
Fred Frith
Fred Frith talks with The Quietus about the upcoming release of Guitar Solos / Fifty, a double album re-releasing influential and acclaimed Guitar Solos from 1974, and a new solo album called Fifty, recorded, well, fifty years on. He plays solo at the Big Ears Festival on Saturday, March 23, following an ensemble performance with visual artist Heike Liss for ‘Drawing Sound’ on Thursday, and a duo with the amazing sound artist (and 2023 MacArthur Fellow) Ikue Mori on Friday. A little long-overdue Fred Frith festival during Big Ears.
Read: The Quietus: “Fred Frith – Guitar Solos / Fifty”
Jlin Announces New Album
Electronic producer and Pulitzer finalist Jlin has announced the new album Akoma, on the heels of last year’s release, Perspective. Akoma features collaborations with Björk, Kronos Quartet, and Philip Glass, and sees Jlin meld various classical, minimalist, and jazz influences, among other sounds. Jlin joins us Thursday, March 21, at Big Ears Festival.
Read: “Jlin Unveils New Album, ‘Akoma’”
Pass Update:Wristbands Shipping This Week!
If you have already placed your order for Big Ears passes, your RFID-encoded wristbands will be arriving in your mailbox in just a few days. Keep an eye out for your shipping confirmation email, including your tracking number, that will be emailed to the address associated with your account from our partners at Front Gate Tickets once your pass has shipped. We strongly encourage you to register your wristbands on line once you’ve received. With your wristband, you will be set and ready to hit the ground running when you arrive in Knoxville. No in-person registration or check-in will be required and you can proceed immediately to the first event on your festival schedule. One exception: Any orders for passes placed after March 11 (assuming passes are still available at that time) will be picked up on-site at the festival box office.
Sales and attendance for Big Ears 2024 are once again on record pace. As noted back in September, we are capping attendance for the 2024 festival at last year’s levels, so there is a strong likelihood that the festival may sell out in advance once again this year. We urge everyone planning to attend this year’s festival who have yet to purchase a pass to act as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
We have another amazing weekend planned, March 21 – 24, and look forward to seeing you!
Purchase your pass here.
