Delirious, intense and uplifting, prepare to be carried away to a distant shore of your imagination with Flamingods. The captain of the five piece multi-instrumental band is Kamal Rasool, who, along with fellow band members, was inspired to write 2014’s excellent LP, ‘Hyperborea’ after new Visa laws forced him out of the UK. ‘Hyperborea’ is the namesake of a mystical island of Flamingods’ own creation, affirming the imaginative boundlessness of their musical and aesthetic universe. Explorative both thematically and aurally, the music addresses themes of identity, belonging and alienation whilst also day dreaming of leaving to foreign far away lands. Now based in the UK, the band is often described as ‘ethnic pop’, which refers to a heady and utterly unique mix of noise, psychedelia, tribal and freak folk.
Seeking to create both vivid and vague scenes inspired by foreign cultures from different ages and to take influence from wherever they can find it, we think Flamingods will be a truly inspiring addition not only to Supersonic’s core programme, but also to our special Kids’ Gigs series, which aims to introduce children to the joys of experimental music. And we haven’t even mentioned their matching psychedelic robes yet!

Flamingods bandcamp link

Come and spend some time in the aural forest of Portland, Oregon’s Eternal Tapestry. This band of  ‘psych-hikers’, as one critic memorably describes them, have always drawn inspiration for their music from the dense native forests that surround their hometown. Delicate keyboard and synth lines cast dappled sunlight on their verdant, psych-rock sound-scape; looming organ drones and pentatonic guitar riffs have a lusciousness that is met with interweaving drums and bass of just the right heaviness. The whole sound ebbs and flows organically in alternately meditative and exuberant space rock surges, flecked with earthy, stream of consciousness-inflected vocals.

Aptly, newest release for Thrill Jockey, ‘Wild Strawberries’, was recorded in a cabin next to the delightfully named Zigzag River. Prior to the recording session drummer Jed Bindeman came across 700 Phish cassette bootlegs, and it was on these cassettes that the sessions for Wild Strawberries were taped, using an eight-track recorder, a palimpsestic approach that reveals much about their vision. Whilst Eternal Tapestry encompasses the joy of meandering and improvisation, this band is not formless or overgrown: there’s shape and purpose to their explorations. Perfectly judged embellishments of improvisatory saxophone add to the contextualisation of the band within an even richer seam of American aesthetic and music traditions, rooted in the West Coast and beyond, including funk, Americana and traditional folk as well as the more lysergic glades of rock. A golden heritage indeed. This is a band dreaming of a magical path to the Sun, and we’re following on their tails.

Alfie Birds  – Custard Factory 1pm – 2pm  Saturday 31 May Free
Join Supersonic and Birmingham Loves Photographers for a discussion about the ‘Collective Memory‘. The way in which we experience live events these days is changing, with the vast majority of portable electronic devices possessing some form of recording device and we are often seen to experience events through a viewfinder or screen, rather than simple living in the moment. In this open, drop-in discussion we will be taking several perspectives into account and discussing how we experience  live events and how photography plays a part in these experiences.

For more information about Birmingham Loves Photographers, visit www.birminghamlovesphotographers.com

Ryan Jordan

Ryan Jordan conducts experiments in derelict electronics, possession trance, retro-death-telegraphy and hylozoistic neural computation. He builds crude instruments that replicate fundamental electronic components which are the foundation of current digital technologies. Performing these live alongside high powered stroboscopic light he attempts to induce the hallucinatory and trance like states of the (oc)cult arts.

In this presentation/performance he will demonstrate his self constructed hardware built with raw minerals and metals and then spiral sideways into theories of cybernetics, neuroscience, art, music and physiology in an attempt to piece together our fragmentary daemons and split the nine-fold reality layers of human perception; from communing with the dead to disturbing the holographic brain; from trance states to opening flicker portals in optic nerve fibres; these practitioners practice dark hypnosis in psychoactive hyperventilation clubs.

http://nnnnn.org.uk/

Swoomptheeng is a collective of costumed characters who through the elements of Rave Craft, Zombie Bass and Ritualised Punk Technology, seek to create twisted and dynamic live performances, Supersonic are delighted to welcome this colourful collective to host our Saturday night party.

The first commission to come out of the Capsule Lab series in collaboration with Warwick Arts Centre Descent, meaning a flock of woodpeckers, a new sound based installation created by artist duo MortonUnderwood. A series of electronic woodpeckers will be positioned within the public realm. You spot a colourful button. You press it and a note resonates across the space. You press it again and realise that a bird is perched overhead, which percusses the surface of a post as you press the button. You spot other buttons, each triggering a bird that percusses a surface. You get it; someone has exposed the musical potential of this space. You play. The work will be shown as part of Sonic Gorilla at Warwick Arts Centre and then at Millennium Point from 30 May – 14 June

The other ‘Super’ festival Supernormal, present a programme of selected music videos and footage from the Supersonic archives. (also catch the SN team playing some rad tunes from Supernormal’s bill as one of our guest DJ’s)

Over the past two years, Quietus co-editor Luke Turner and director Ethan Reid have wandered the UK making a series of films about the non-musical habits and hobbies of some of The Quietus’ favourite cult musicians. We love them for their art, but what do these people get up to in their spare time, and what can we learn about them from it?

Premiering at Supersonic 2014 are two short films from this series, Steve Ignorant needs no introduction: a righteous son of Dagenham, he was the voice of Crass for years, and with new band Paranoid Visions continues to fly the flag for no compromise punk rock. It’s an attitude that extends to every area of his life – now living in North Norfolk, Steve has managed to find himself on the crew of an autonomous, non-RNLI lifeboat. You might not ordinarily associate indie rock with the macho rough and tumble of American Football, but Alan Sparhawk is a lifelong enthusiast for and player of the sport.

In addition we’ll be screening two further films: Cosey Fanni Tutti (COUM, Throbbing Gristle, Carter Tutti) on vegetable gardening and striving to attain self-sufficiency without using pesticides, and Stephen Morris (Joy Division and New Order) demonstrating and discussing some of his collection of military vehicles

KAREN GWYER is a US-born Londoner with a small bunch of divine releases to her name on both Opal Tapes and No Pain In Pop. Gwyer casually summons the feeling of a warmer, more futuristic Popol Vuh, other comparisons including Motion Sickness Of Time Travel, Cabaret Voltaire, Cluster or even an instrumental, more rhythmic Fever Ray.

“Rather than making straight club music, Gwyer assimilates house and techno tropes into oozy, hypnotic slow burners, as in album opener ʻSugar Totsʼ. African beats herald the action, joined by molasses-thick synths and glassy bells that chime finely somewhere in the distance. Similarly, on ʻPikki Kokkuʼ, steamy, diaphanous whispers and minimal drum patterns overlay molten synths and subtle low end. Thereʼs little resolution here; instead we have an internal lambency thatʼs warm and satisfying…. The result is an intimate and beautiful record” – Factmag

karengwyer.com

Backwards. Two basses, drums, voice and electronics. The fag end of No Wave meets the ugly monotone of Hate Sludge. From Birmingham, featuring ex-members of Beestung Lips, Una Corda and Napalm Death. Disappointment Guaranteed.

Backwards soundcloud

Kaila Whyte plays guitar and sings. Adam Haitof plays bass guitar. Marcus Perks plays drums. Collectively, Youth Man storm through a venue like a bull in a china shop, levelling everything in sight. Youth Man are all about unbridled X-Ray Spex-tinged passion and the high velocity punk energy of legendary Welsh trio Mclusky mixed with an artistic edge that leans towards The Dead Kennedys’ trippier moments – throwing caution to the wind and smashing your guitar into a thousand sweat-soaked pieces.

Sly & the Family Drone are a primal orchestra of drum rhythms, radiophonic oscillator noise and electronically-abstracted vocals. Sly’s reductionist take on music is literal: they split their drum kit to its singular base units, passing individual drums to the audience who maintain the beat while they free themselves for more noise and freestyle mayhem, ultimately eliminating any boundaries between spectator and performer. This egalitarian approach propels audience and band together into a shamanistic setting of catharsis and anarchic celebration.

“designed to blow out the fug of your enfeebled minds” – The Quietus

Bandcamp

Facebook

If the idea of a band consisting of just 2 drummers brings to mind a hippy bongo nightmare then you’ve obviously never heard Rattle. Comprising of 2 of Nottingham’s most unique and recognisable drummers (Theresa Wrigley of Fists and Katharine Brown of Kogmaza) and aided by Kogumaza’s Mark Spivey they create a hypnotic and danceable music form that recalls This Heat or ESG even whilst remaining completely their own.

Loud, visceral, imposing, intelligent. Based in the creative hub of Bristol, UK, ANTA formed in early 2010 and quickly set to establishing a fearsome live reputation. The last eighteen months have seen the band’s sound evolve from the lurching, exploratory doomscapes that defined their debut, into something considerably more concise, focused and sonically aggressive. ‘Centurionaut’ is the culmination of a year’s worth of writing, playing, refining and honing. All of the band’s hallmarks are present: kinetic, inventive drum work, guttural, throat-rattling bass, beautifully intertwined synth and organ lines and filthy, driving guitar. This time round though, the immediacy and urgency in the songs’ execution leaves you short of breath. A heavy band for whom considered songwriting and catchy hooks are as important as bruising riffs. Expect

“Centurionaut appeals to the inner headphone space cadet and outer sweaty rock ogre equally. Through celestial drones and echolocations it explores sonic spaces, rhythmic symmetry and the spiritual singularity that can only be reached via the repeated application of an unabashedly muscular riff.” – The Quietus

Webpage: ANTA

Four bassists, a singing drummer and a baby’s head Theremin. This in short is Evil Blizzard.

Mysterious, masked merchants Evil Blizzard have achieved a lot in a relatively short period after being ‘discovered’ by Manchester music legend Mark E Smith at an early gig. He immediately signed them up to tour with his band The Fall stating that Evil Blizzard “…give me hope that music is alive and kicking”. Playing a kind of grimy doom rock, the mournful vocals and psychedelic electronics veer at times towards a trippy Black Sabbath. But by and large Evil Blizzard are just the perfect storm of …oddness. Live the band employ tried-and-tested confrontation tactics such as onstage fights and pig masks. Every generation needs its own shock-rock panto, but all too often this is at the music’s expense. Not the case here. The bass riffs are both impending and hypnotic, beckoning the audience in to their own weird and dangerous world. Evil Blizzard need to be experienced, words alone just don’t do them justice.

Evil Blizzard bandcamp

Chris Brokaw is a singer/songwriter, film composer, accompanist, and rock band member living in Seattle, Washington. He has been making records and touring internationally for 20+ years, beginning with his bands Codeine and Come, who made landmark records for Sub Pop and Matador in the 1990’s. Since 2002 he has made dozens of recordings: solo albums of instrumental and vocal music, and with his bands The New Year, Dirtmusic, The Lemonheads, The Martha’s Vineyard Ferries and Wreikmester Harmonies.

He has recorded and performed live as an accompanist to Thurston Moore, Rhys Chatham, Evan Dando, Christina Rosenvinge, Jennifer O’ Connor, Steve Wynn, GG Allin and Johnny Depp.  He has composed for the Dagdha Dance Company (Frankfurt/Limerick) and Kino Dance (Boston); and scored five films, 2 of which (“Now, Forager” and “Taken By Storm”) screened in 2013 to packed houses at MOMA in New York City. His score for “ROAD” won the award for Best Original Score at the Brooklyn International Film Festival in 2005. He played as one of 77 drummers in the Boredoms’ “77 Boadrum” in Brooklyn; as one of 200 guitarists in Rhys Chatham’s “A Crimson Wave” at Lincoln Center, NYC; and The Festival in The Desert in Essakane, Mali in 2008 with his band DIRTMUSIC. He has duos with Geoff Farina (ex-Karate) playing pre WWII country blues, and with Stephen O’Malley (Sunn o)))), playing improvised abstract music.

chrisbrokaw.com

Opium Lord had a busy 2013, releasing a now sold out debut EP, playing numerous UK appearances and headlining a tour of mainland Europe. It’s safe to say they made some pretty bold statements in what was only their formation year. The band make desolate doom-sludge with a coal black heart. Filthy grooves meet abrasive noise to convey a menacing atmosphere akin to the dodgiest drinking establishments that only a band from Birmingham could make. Made up from the ashes of History of the Hawk and Stinky Wizzleteat, Opium Lord are certainly on a different level from previous ventures. Blending genres into a sonic chokehold, they will make you re-evaluate what doom can be.

Opium Lord Facebook

Khünnt features Richard Dawson, as well as members of pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs pigs and Blown Out.

Formed in 2006, Khünnt have fervently explored the boundaries of esoteric music, from minimalist noise, cack-rock and ESP screams to live improvisation, fog-beat and psychedelic city mantra. The latest incarnation of the band sees them spiralling down a long hole howling a gale of blighted sustain, aggravated nowhere-isms and chunks of sheer bedlam, finally splashing heavily around the bottom of the mirrored well.

Khünnt worship as one at the toes of a tortured and hopeless entity, utilising no-tune guitars, primal riffs, freeform noise, savage vocals and unrelenting repetition to manifest their perpetual entrapment in the illusion of modern life

Khünnt bandcamp

For One Night Only, the two kings clash – on one side the king of obscure oddities from London – The Duke Mitchell Film Club. On the other – the king of rare sounds from all across the globe – Death Waltz Recording Company – a boutique label specializing in obscure, rare-to-find and brilliant soundtracks.

The result can only be brilliant chaos.

For a special, one-off Supersonic event the minds behinds these two labels are putting their heads to create a one-of a kind evening stuffed with wall-to-wall madness – taking over the cinema tent at supersonic on 31^st May 2014, they will be presenting a programme of cinematic and audio-visual madness the like of which is never to be seen before or after.

There will be VHS tapes, an ever-decreasing quality of carbon copy films,  their respective inspirations, the worst music videos in mind, weird shorts and more than a fair share of crap horror music as well as rare and secret clips, videos, shorts and more. Nothing will be sacred, nothing will be off-limits – this will not be your usual film slot, that’s for sure.

If you want to experience something alternative, if you’ve had your fill of the bands, the tents and the music, come and join Spencer Hickman, Alex Kidd and Evrim Ersoy as they bring down the house for what promises to be a super-special event.

Richard Windley’s Stroh guitar; Run What Ya Brung – If Wet #4. Photo: Pete Ashton

If Wet at Supersonic will be extending their usual Run What Ya Brung feature. In collaboration with Stryx, they will select people to show and tell by providing a platform for short, informal presentations of your sonic delights; The theme of the day is ‘Extraordinary Objects‘ you can bring anything along from a Stroh guitar you might’ve made yourself [pictured] to a dolls head theramin…

Call out: Due to anticipated demand we are running this as a call out, so if you fancy showing something for a few minutes in an informal setting then please pop us an email to discuss what you might present and we will be in touch  hello[at]ifwet.org.uk. Four artists will be selected by If Wet/MortonUnderwood to show work alongside artists selected by Stryx.

Stryx are delighted to present Racket, our first appearance at Supersonic Festival and afternoon feast of noise, experimental and live sonic art offerings from a diverse roster of sound artists who utilise extraordinary objects and techniques to inform their practice.
Serving up a taste of some of Manchester and Birminghams’ most exciting sound artists, the bill includes; Graham Dunning, Sarah Farmer, Manoli Moriaty , Rosanne Robertson , David Birchall , Debbie Sharp with many of them participating on Saturday’s If Wet Salon.

Racket will be taking place on Sunday 1 June from 2pm at Stryx (Unit 13, Minerva Works, Fazeley Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 5RS) £4 entry on the door or £3 with Supersonic ticket.

www.stryx.co.uk
Stryx is an artist led studio, project and exhibition space in Digbeth, Birmingham.

Formed by Fine Art graduates in 2012, Stryx is formed of individual practitioners who work together to foster a diverse range of events, exhibitions and projects both in and outside their studio space. Furthermore, Stryx seeks to initiate and develop regional and national artistic collaborations in order to promote and strengthen an accessible and vibrant network of ideas and practices.

Stryx is run by Sophie Bullock, Aly Grimes, Karolina Korupczynska and Emma Leppington.

The 17
Saturday 31 May, 2-4pm
Eastside Projects, 86 Heath Mill Lane, B9 4AR
34 places are available email caroline[at]capsule.org.uk with ‘BILL_17′ in the title – first come first served and for Supersonic Festival ticket holders only.

Bill Drummond will be leading a re-enactment of  two historical performances given by The17. The first was in Moscow on the 28 September 2006, the second in Saint Petersburg the following day. The re-enactment will involve 34 people, 17 of whom will act the part of those that were The17 in Moscow, the other 17 will act the part of those who were The17 in Saint Petersburg.

If you want to take part in this re-enactment you need to have a voice, two ears. And an ability to use your imagination. We need 34 people, no more no less.

Presented in partnership with Eastside Projects as part of ‘The 25 Paintings’, the first stage of Bill Drummond’s World Tour 2014-2025 and the culmination of the life’s work of Bill Drummond, artist, legendary music maker and infamous myth maker.
Exhibition continues to 14 June, Wednesday–Saturday 12-5,

Alien Whale is an improvising rock group comprised of three bulwarks of the Brooklyn underground music scene. Matt Mottel (of Talibam!) plays keys, Colin Langenus (of USAisaMonster) plays guitar, and Nick Lesley (of Necking) plays drums. The three members work across music genres and art forms and have individually collaborated with luminaries of the musical avant-garde such as Rhys Chatham , members of Fluxus, Boredoms or Sonic Youth. Alien Whale takes them back to their roots in free-form rock ‘n roll with ecstatic energy. Supersonic will mark the release of their first record, a 10” EP, on London -New York label care in the community recordings.

Alien Whale

Supersonic Festival wants to inspire the audiences and musicians of the future through our Kids Gigs programme. This year we will be hosting a Kids Gig event on Friday May 30th. This is a free event and recommended for children under 10 and their families. It will take place in the foyer of Symphony Hall at 10:30am.

Leading this Kids Gig is artist Sarah Kenchington who  makes, designs and adapts acoustic musical instruments. She performs on a semi mechanical pedal powered orchestra, designed to be slightly beyond her control, creating a mixture of dirty noise and plaintive almost tuneful melodies.

As well as her solo performances Sarah has performed and recorded with a range of musicians from Glasgow’s vibrant experimental music scene including Daniel Padden, Mark Vernon and Luke Fowler. She also builds large scale instruments and installations, including ‘Wind Pipes’ for Edinburgh art festival, made from salvaged church organ pipes. And ‘Sound House’ for Modern Art Oxford, an instrument made from a house.

Supersonic’s Kids Gig on May 30th will be at Symphony Hall