Christopher Sean Powell (aka Pow Pow, aka Pay Pow, aka Powserati) is a self-taught rhythm scholar, producer, and electronic music-maker living in Philadelphia, PA.  As a main contributor in the Philadelphia art and sound collective Need New Body, which fused improvisation with popular song structures, Powell began a career of international recording and performance, creating music at the nexus of art and entertainment. Since 1999, he has collaborated, recorded, and toured worldwide with a diverse spectrum of artists and musicians, including the Sun Ra Arkestra, Yoko Ono, and the Boredoms.  Powell’s work in the eclectic and high energy Philadelphia band Man Man has helped focus his talent as a leader in the live performance context. Together with Griffin Rodriguez, Powell explores popular music based on jazz and non-Western rhythms as the Los Angeles production duo Icy Demons. His latest music projects include Adventuredrum, a conceptually-based performance Powell composes for an ensemble of drummers, GRANT$, a hip hop duo with artist Tim Fite, and Modular On The Spot, a worldwide synth collective which performs improvised musical sets on modular synthesizers in various outdoor locations. Powell’s body of work has most recently expanded to creating instruments for NYC/Philly based synthesizer company Critter & Guitari’s Organelle keyboard.

Photographer: Jessica Kourkounis

CV 2019