http://www.myspace.com/ruinsband
SWLLWS is the dream-based solo project of Midlands artist Sian Macfarlane. Channelling electronic transmissions from the owl house, swathes of synths, found sounds and whispers interact with delicate melodies and choirs of ghostly vocals.
SWLLWS arrives at the Supersonic festival after a trail of limited edition tapes and cd-rs and well received slots at the Rammel Weekender, Nottingham, Radio Black Forest’s Fell Foot Festival, and support slots for the likes of US Girls, Josephine Foster, Peaking Lights and Grouper, where she performed a specially commissioned piece ‘SÉANCE”. The Supersonic performance will continue to explore these themes.
http://swllws.bandcamp.com
Warm Digits is the krautophonic blizzard-wave duo of Andrew Hodson and Steve Jefferis, based either side of the Pennines in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Manchester. Warm Digits make a semi-improvised brew of metronomic rhythms, snowstorm guitar and radiophonic electronics, dual-laptop electro, swathes of no-wave guitar and frantic free jazz drumming, taking their cue from the hypnotic repetition of Neu!, the textural overload of My Bloody Valentine, the glacial otherworldliness of Emeralds, and the sensuous modernity of cosmic disco; there are hints in the mix too of Eno, Giorgio Moroder and Holy Fuck.
Dragging themselves towards their tenth anniversary like a sloth in a heavy metal parking lot, Mothertrucker are no strangers to the almighty riff. They’ve crafted a sound built on thick dirty distortion, menacing atmospherics, head bopping tempo changes and rewarding climaxes. Not content to sit alongside the navel gazing, post-metal, Neurosis wannabes so prevalent this century, Mothertrucker have evolved their sound into something far more unpredictable without losing sight of what brought them together in the first place – the power of the riff. Once you have found yourself trapped in the headlights of the Mothertrucker, you can but only lay back, stretch your sack & make peace with your maker.
Thomas Ankersmit is a musician and installation artist based in Berlin and Amsterdam. His main instruments are the Serge analogue modular synthesizer, computer and alto saxophone. He frequently works together with New York minimalist Phill Niblock and electroacoustic artists Valerio Tricoli and Kevin Drumm.
“The sense of menace is generated with huge energy by the belligerently brilliant Norwegian guitarist Westerhus who coaxes a plethora of tortured sounds from his axe, bowed notes elongating into harmonic dismemberment of epic proportions. (…) This is heady, sometimes heavy, otherworldly stuff, fuelled by jazz but never hindered by it. Welcome to the new century of improvised music.” JazzWise Magazine
This performance is produced in partnership with Jazzlines http://www.jazzlines.co.uk/
Ufomammut is a power trio formed in 1999 in Italy by Poia, Urlo and Vita, worldwide recognized as the creator of a unique brand of psychedelic sludge. With long songs, droning vocals and massive effects the band combines a monumental riffing attitude with the psychedelia of the more visionary Pink Floyd. Ufomammut’s live show is supported by the internationally acclaimed graphic and video art of Malleus.
“If someone commissioned you to write a history of noise music in the last 20 years and not mention Kevin Drumm, you’d have to reject the offer. Since the mid-90’s, Drumm has recorded for almost every experimental label you can think of, from Erstwhile to Mego to Hanson, and played with almost every experimental musician you could namedrop, from Jim O’Rourke to Lasse Marhaug to Aaron Dilloway. Most importantly, he’s made every sound imaginable. Primarily with guitar, but also synthesizers and laptops, Drumm has created his own musical universe in which no sonic stone needs to go unturned.” The WIre
It would be near impossible to celebrate 10 years of Supersonic without PCM. This duo have been at the heart of the Birmingham electronic/dance music scene for many years but have managed to keep their music and ethos resolutely underground.
PCM draw from their wide-ranging influences from metal to Krautrock, 60s psychedelia and hardcore to create a unique take on Drum & Bass/electronica. By combining nitrous-fuelled beats and filthy subsonic basslines with alien soundscapes and horror movie unease, PCM continue Birmingham’s heritage of producing dark, heavy music but with their eyes firmly on the dancefloor.
My Disco is a musical collaboration between Liam Andrews (bass, vocals), Rohan Rebeiro (drums) and Ben Andrews (guitar) that formed in Melbourne, Australia in 2003. Named after the Big Black song, they create almost euphoric, trance inducing guitar music.
Masami Akita performs as Merzbow. Since 1979 he has been a hugely influential practitioner on the fields of sound art, noise and extreme music. Abrasive and restrained in equal measure, Merzbow is considered to be the most important artist in noise music.
Tokyo based KK Null (Kazuyuki Kishino) is a multi instrumentalist and experimenter. As well as being part of a number of influential progressive rock bands, KK Null has played an important role in the relationship between rock and extreme music/noise.
A unique energy, Jarboe’s music draws from a variety of charged sources. Her 14-year involvement with Swans cemented her place as an icon in avante garde music and she has worked prolifically as a solo artist and collaborator since. Her delivery has been described as voice acting and also channeling. A primary objective for Jarboe is to close in on the gap in the audience/performer relationship via complete submission and vicarious experience through her performance.
Jarboe will be bringing her “Intimate Indemnity” tour to Supersonic Festival 2012. This tour will feature Jarboe and classically trained pianist Renee Valentine Nelson performing songs of Swans and World Of Skin and solo Jarboe songs from her newest records entitled Indemnity 1 and 2 and will focus on singing, melody, intimacy.
“We don’t know who they are, or how many of them there are, because articles about them are generally accompanied by celebrity photo montages, or by a shot of them with a T-shirt pulled over their heads. Enigmatic and elusive, they may have named themselves after the US video director because they enjoy his work, or it may be a wry comment on something or other. We have seen them spoken of as an “18-year ‘relay project'” in which members pass on the baton one to another once their endeavours are complete. We really haven’t a clue.
Hype Williams take elements from the past and turn them into something new. You’ve heard that said of many artists before, right? This time it’s true. We like to let our imaginations run riot and think of them as a latterday Throbbing Gristle, a bunch of art terrorists doing abusive, subversive things to mainstream pop culture from the margins.” The Guardian
“Hookworms fling themselves headlong into classic 80’s/90’s psych-rock like they’re trying to break something. Hailing from Leeds and cramming themselves giddily within the well established formal properties of the genre, they walk the scorched road behind Loop, Spectrum, and any other titan of two-chord songs who’s ever slowly wah-ed a chord until they saw colors.” – Cameron Stallones (SunAraw/Sun Ark)
“Hey Colossus are the closest thing the UK has to inheritors of the crown of the Butthole Surfers…. like the whole Texas Chainsaw Massacre family drunkenly shouting along to Neu! and Loop during Ragnarök” Stool Pigeon
Apathy is everything to these five losers who’ll just about manage to turn up and play without being sick.
Lo-fi grit and metal maledom are fractured and recombined into monotone slabs which reference distaste for modern life as much as they poke fun at the traditions of the punk/hardcore idiom. Still barely functioning after four years of staring at the walls and occasional live performance, the band will finally have their debut album and a split 7″ record with Kilslug in tow with them for the latter part of 2012. All proceeds will be spent on plastic surgery.
You know who these men are. They have been other men. Who they were before does not matter. What matters most is who they are now. These men, with two menacing guitars, violent drums, and wild words will fill that void in you. They will build bunkers out of your bones. They will make weapons out of your teeth. They will drink your tears and feed on your meat. Born from the ashes of Arab on Radar, Doomsday Student come from that untouchable tradition of noise rock from Providence, Rhode Island.
Clifford Torus is Anders Hana (Moha!, Ultralyd & Noxagt) on drums and electronics with Leon Barnett (Horacio Pollard, Neigh%Music) on guitar & vocals.
Heavy, hypnotic, drenched in feedback and driven by a super charged rhythm, Clifford Torus deliver a mesmerising multi-layered rhombus harsh noise, rattle your brains to pieces drums and shamelessly long effects boards to spawn boundless intertwining grooves of pure honey-gore.
For this performance, Clifford Torus will be bringing the mighty Kjetil D Brandsdal of Noxagt for bass duties.
http://cliffordtorus.blogspot.co.uk/
We’re thrilled to announce a whole host of exciting artists to the 10th anniversary festival. Supersonic favourite Merzbow will perform a solo set as well as the ever changing Jarboe, Italian psych metal group Ufomammut and one of the most exciting live acts around at the moment – the inimitable Hype Williams.
Also added to the line up is Doomsday Student (born from the ashes of Arab on Radar), Norway’s Stian Westerhus, noise legend Kevin Drumm and Birmingham’s finest PCM. Add to that the frantic Clifford Torus, the ethereal sounds of SWLLWS and the crushing Mothertrucker along with electroacoustic artist Thomas Ankersmit, psych band Hookworms and noise rockers Hey Colossus!
We’re also excited to invite back the filth of Drunk in Hell, and special appearance from KK Null and Ruins Alone. To keep you dancing all weekend we’ve got Australia’s My Disco and the kraut/electronica duo Warm Digits and for those calmer moments, the gorgeous, stripped back songs of Richard Dawson.
Believe it or not, there are still some more very special additions to add to their already mega tenth birthday line up which we shall unveil soon, as well as more information about the art exhibits and film programme which is still taking shape behind the scenes. But for now, please enjoy this Supersonic Festival mixtape, featuring a selection of the line up so far, for your listening pleasure. Please feel free to host this on your site and help us to spread the word.
As a reminder, here is a list of the line up as it stands; Body/Head/Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore/Carlton Melton/Clifford Torus/Dope Body/Drunk In Hell/ Dylan Carlson/Flower-Corsano/Goat/Hey Colossus/Hookworms/Hype Williams/Jarboe/JK Flesh/Kevin Drumm/KK Null/Lichens/Merzbow/My Disco/PCM/Rangda/Richard Dawson/Ruins Alone/Sir Richard Bishop/Six Organs Of Admittance/Small But Hard showcase/Stian Westerhus/SWLLWS/Thomas Ankersmit/Tim Hecker/Ufomammut/Warm Digits / Mothertrucker / Zeni Geva.
We’re looking for a designer/illustrator to work on this year’s Supersonic Festival. We’re looking for a creative and innovative team or individual to create a brand new look and feel for the festival, helping us to celebrate the 10th anniversary of one of the most dynamic arts events in the world.
The deadline is looming – please send your expression of interest to us by 5pm on Wednesday 30th May by sending a covering letter, CV and links to examples of work to [email protected]. Shortlisted candidates will then be invited to tender.
Read more about the position via https://supersonicfestival.com/info/jobs/
Unpredictable guitar combo pairing Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and free-noise guitarist Bill Nace.
KIM GORDON
A founding member of Sonic Youth – where she plays bass and guitar and sings, Kim Gordon has also been involved in numerous collaborations with other artists and musicians including Julie Cafritz and Yoshimi in Free Kitten, Mirror/Dash with Thurston Moore and others including Lydia Lunch, Vincent Gallo, and Yoko Ono. With an extensive history in the world of art, both as an artist, writer and curator Gordon has maintained ongoing creative relationships with visual artists such as Dan Graham, Raymond Pettibon, Mike Kelley, Jutta Koether and Richard Prince and exhibited her own installation work across the US, Japan and Europe.
BILL NACE
Guitarist Bill Nace has ripped a new black hole in the free rock universe as a constant, energising presence in the Boston area performing with Chris Corsano in Vampire Belt (and together with Jessica Rylan as Vampire Can’t), Thurston Moore in Northampton Wools, x.0.4 with Jake Meginsky & John Truscinski and a coruscating duo with free reed player Paul Flaherty. His collaborations even extended to a short-lived association with Brighton noiseniks Dylan Nyoukis & Karen Constance (aka Blood Stereo) under the Ceylon Mange moniker.
Since announcing the initial line up for Supersonic Festival’s 10th birthday, early bird tickets have sold out (and in record time) and the event is really starting to take shape.
Supersonic now proudly announce an extremely special collaboration of the unique and unpredictable guitar pairing of the iconic Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth and free-noise guitarist Bill Nace. Together, they are known as BODY/HEAD.
So far they have only played a one off UK show, released a limited cassette on Ecstatic Peace and included a cover of ‘Fever’ for an Ultra Eczema compilation. Given the credentials of both musicians, Supersonic are confident that BODY/HEAD will deliver a mind-melting performance.
Tickets are available via https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/
There are other ways you can support the festival. We have set up a We Fund campaign to help us to deliver the festival this year, allowing us to continue this ambitious event. We’d truly appreciate your support.
There will be another announcement to follow in a few short weeks with more acts joining this celebratory event.
Supersonic Festival celebrates its 10th year in 2012, and we are looking for your support to make it the best yet.
Capsule truly appreciate the support we receive from Supersonic Festival’s loyal audience. We wanted to acknowledge this by keeping Early Bird tickets at the same price, despite costs rising each year. Early Bird tickets remained at £70 for a weekend bursting at the seams with exciting music, performance, film, talks and more.
Due to rising costs, we are increasingly looking for new ways to continue what we do. We have created a ‘We Fund’ campaign to allow people, if they are in the position to, to support us further by making a donation to the festival this year. Your donations will help us to continue to put together a highly ambitious festival programme, allowing us to take risks on emergent artists and unique collaborations. We are hoping our loyal audience can help us further our ambition for this unique event.
£20 or more pledge – Thank you for your support! You will receive a festival brochure, badge and personalised thank you letter.
£50 or more pledge – Thank you for your support! You will receive a festival brochure, badge and personalised thank you letter. As a further acknowledgement of your generous pledge we will invite you to a Supersonic Tea Party.
£150 or more pledge – Thank you for your support! You will receive a festival brochure, badge and personalised thank you letter. As a further acknowledgement of your generous pledge we will invite you to the Sonic Feast, join us and a number of performers for a special sound led dining experience.
£500 or more pledge – Just cos you can. Thank you for your support! You will receive a personal thanks in the festival brochure of which you will receive a copy, plus a badge and personalised thank you letter. You will also receive a token of Capsule’s sincere appreciation. Your generous pledge will help us to realise the festival this year.
Click through to the Supersonic Festival We Fund campaign
There are other ways you can support and enjoy the festival. Each year we recruit a number of volunteers to assist us in the delivery of Supersonic, where you can gain real insight into the running of a live event, and enjoy it! For more info go to https://supersonicfestival.com/info/volunteers/
Supersonic is produced by Capsule:
Unit 317, Zellig
Gibb Street
Birmingham UK
B9 4AT
