DANIEL WYCHE
Daniel Wyche
Daniel Wyche is a Chicago-based guitarist, composer and improviser. Working with a wide range of physical preparations, extended techniques, and pedal instruments, his solo recorded work and live performances are characterized by long-form structured improvisations. Recently, this approach has become increasingly integrated with the exploration of multi-channel performance and the spatialization of sound, including new compositions for quad- and 16-channel guitar.
Daniel's 2016 record "Our Severed Sleep" (with Ryan Packard) was called “a blowout to wake the dead” by the Wire, “reverent music,” by Decoder, and “an infinite swansong of bliss” by Tiny Mix Tapes.
Along with his solo work, Daniel is highly active in the improvised and experimental communities in Chicago and beyond, including a number of ongoing collaborations. The 2017 self-titled release by the trio of Wyche, Ben Baker Billington (Tiger Hatchery, ONO, ADT), and Mark Shippy (US Maple, Invisible Things) on Astral Spirits was referred to as "flat-out exhilarating improvised mania" by Marc Masters. Both the trio’s Astral Spirits debut and follow-up on No Index were praised by Byron Coley in the Wire. In 2020, he released a live trio record with LA-based improvisors Patrick Shiroishi and Ted Byrnes on Astral Editions, and new music with Lake Mary is forthcoming, among other projects in process.
Daniel’s work as curator and producer with the Elastic Arts Foundation in Chicago since 2013 has been described as “crucial” by Dusted and “vital” by the Chicago Reader. In March of 2020, Daniel co-founded The Quarantine Concerts in collaboration with Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio. The series has been widely praised as a model for online/streaming live music, and has raised around $100,000 which has gone directly to artists and performers who have lost income during the pandemic. A documentary short on the series, by director Brian Ashby, can be seen online at The Wire.
