Bending Brains

Hana Fujisaki is an award-winning pianist/organist/composer originally from Japan. She is a performing musician specializing in jazz, R&B, samba, salsa, and J-pop; as well as a choir director and an avid music educator in the city. Her biggest musical influences include jazz/fusion music and movie soundtracks of studio Ghibli, both of which are uniquely reflected in her creation. She is the keyboardist of several Chicago based bands including McNary Experience, Chicago Samba, Los Perros Cubanos, Hitched and Vox Maris. Her newest project with a violist Olya Prohorova, Orihana, features Japanese rock/pop music.

Mitchell McLaughlin is an indie folk artist from Chicago, Illinois. He currently writes, produces and performs in Nashville, Tennessee.

Thaddeus Tukes is a multi-instrumentalist from Chicago, IL. He is the Jazz Big Band Director for After School Matters and the Vibraphonist for the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic. He is a graduate from Northwestern University where he majored in Jazz, Music, and Journalism.  

Eliy Orcko is a black American lyricist, song writer, and entertainer born in Elyria, Ohio and raised in Coral Springs, Florida. In their later years, Orcko became a solo act putting out singles, mixtapes, and EP’s under multiple aliases until they landed on the name “Eliy Orcko '' in 2019. It was then that they independently dropped their first album Only Human which laid the foundation for their expansive and ever-changing sound and aesthetic. Orcko’s latest release Idiot focuses on their blues and jazz influences while using the blueprint that hiphop lays out for songwriting.

Orcko is an introspective anarchist that embraces their own chaos as well as the world’s and tunes it into their detailed lyricism and catchy melodies. As the years grow, Eliy continues to transform their music into a more cohesive sound, but is always shifting with their musical influences and lifestyle changes.

Chloé Chanel is a Chicago native and creative artist specializing in visuals and music.

Chloe’s creative journey began in childhood as she participated in theater, band and dance from the age of eight all the way into adulthood. She was first introduced to photography as a college sophomore when she joined a campus fashion/ modeling troupe and fell in love with capturing images. A few years after earning her masters degree in education and working as a teacher for four years, Chloé made the decision to leave the education field and pursue her more creative passions.

Today, you can find her creating album art, shooting at shows and live events, capturing portraits, mixing beats, and creating amazing visuals with her unique style. She is currently servicing clients in her hometown of Chicago, as well as the Phoenix Metro area. Chloe’s art studio, Art Lab Chicago, is a space where she invites others to come collaborate, explore and experiment with their creativity. Her lifelong passion for the arts is what inspired her to share that passion with others and create a safe space for upcoming artists.

DrxQuinnx is a multi-talented artist, producer, emcee, and DJ based out if Chicago. He is also one third of the Midwest trio "Bullies" (with Denmark Vessey and Azarias) and one half of the Chicago duo "The Citizen (with Lil Kydd). Growing up, Quinn was heavily influences were Madlib, Kanye West, J Dilla, Lupe Fiasco, and Mos Def to name a few. All of whom inspired his heavily samples production and rap style. DrxQuinnx is known for his unorthodox rap and production style which melds 90s boombap/breakbeat, jazz, 8 bit, edm, and contemporary sounds.

Lil Kydd is a rapper, beat producer, visual artist and graphic designer from out of Hazel Crest, IL. His approach to music and art takes the four tenets of hip hop and uses them to portray his evolving view of his surroundings. Taking elements of Chicago Juke, Jazz, Trap, Trip Hop, Deconstructed Boom Bap, and a few nods to anime, gaming, and internet culture sprinkled in and it’s the formula for the Lil Kydd!? sound. Having been born in the South Side of Chicago and relocated to its Southern Suburbs as a youth, Lil Kydd!? likes to think he has a faraway seat to the epicenter of what he maintains is the second renaissance of Hip Hop.

Joshua Powell is an artist from Indianapolis with a literate brand of psychedelic indie rock that is simultaneously socially conscious and spiritually turbulent. With over 900 shows under his belt, Powell blends the narrative richness of folk with a dose of hallucinatory swirl and notes of ‘00s-vintage bedroom indie, all highlighted in ethereal falsetto by his purposeful, kaleidoscopic poetry.

Kyle Lang is an Illinois musician who has fronted bands Easter and Special Death.

Damon Hankoff is a multifarious musician, making music in a wide variety of settings: improvisational ensembles, early music consorts, string bands, church choirs, straightahead singer-songwriter groups, and his own Out of Sight of Land, an ever-evolving songs project that draws on all of these. He was born and raised in New York City and has trained hard on jazz piano and choral singing, but looks forward towards the mystery.

Bobby Wooten III is a Grammy & Emmy-nominated, Tony Award-winning composer/producer/instrumentalist raised in Chicago, IL. He  credits his family’s gospel Wooten Choral Ensemble as his main influence & inspiration. Bobby has performed and/or recorded with David Byrne, Jennifer Lopez, Mac Miller, Jennifer Hudson, Rick Ross, among others. Composition and Production credits include Empire TV series, Google, Adidas, Lebron James, Machine Gun Kelly, Jake Troth, ESPN, among others. Broadway credits include, Moulin Rouge! & David Byrne's American Utopia. Bobby is an instructor at NYU's Clive Davis Institute

In 2020, Bobby launched the internet series "America, Learn Your History". In 2 minute episodes, he retells history as seen through a minorites lens. Revisiting stories that have been misunderstood, misled, or lied upon in American education. @americalearnyourhistory @bobbywooten3