The experimental music and performance group Bastard Assignments have been meeting during lockdown via video conferencing software in a continued effort to create music. Recording and posting the outcomes by way of a new series called Lockdown Jams, the short experimental encounters allow for participants to share ideas across a wide range of disciplines in fields of composition, performance, theatre and dance.

As well a short composition and improv session, the series also include long form pieces, for example a recent hour-long edition by Alexander Schubert described as a “multi-screen odyssey across the internet”, Browsing, Idling, Investigating, Dreaming. Future performances come from Marcela Lucatelli on 6 July and Bastard Assignments on 20 July, while choreographers Lea Anderson and Thick and Tight; composers Jennifer Walshe, Neil Luck, Elaine Mitchener, Id M Theft Able, Michael Brailey, and Mocrep; and theatre makers Alan Fielden and Oliver Dawe, are also confirmed.

Bastard Assignments are Timothy Cape, Edward Henderson, Caitlin Rowley and Josh Spear, four composer-performers who met at London’s Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2012. Originally producing a series of live events, they began touring as an ensemble in 2017 with dates at hcmf//, Aldeburgh Festival, Spor Festival, LCMF, and elsewhere.

Watch Lockdown Jams sessions on their website.