Photo credit: Peter Gannushkin

“T.J. Borden is a multifaceted sound shaper, noise maker, collaborator and community organizer. As an interpreter, he brings his technical brilliance to his cello playing by working closely with composers in solo works and in group formations like the [Switch Ensemble~] and the Mivos Quartet. As an improviser, he can be found piling into a shitty car with his bandmates and touring across the country to play in broom closet sized venues and sleeping on strangers’ floors. As an organizer, he can be seen putting together shows for experimental artists, most notably co-founding High Desert Soundings, a multi-day festival located in the desert of Southern California’s Wonder Valley.” –Michelle Lou

Christopher Riggs is an autistic person who plays experimental music on the electric guitar. The Chicago Reader says they are, "dragging their guitar to the brink and inviting us to hear the results."

They received their Bachelor of Music in 2007 from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Master of Arts in Music Composition from Wesleyan University in 2012. They studied guitar and composition under Marc Michaud, Anthony Braxton, Alvin Lucier, Ross Feller, Randolph Coleman, and Ronald Kuivila.

They live in Chicago with their wife and two children and teach music for Chicago Public Schools.