On site at the festival is Ideal Skate shop & ramp, a skater owned store that has been supporting Birmingham skateboarding for the last 18 years.
For more info check: http://www.idealbirmingham.co.uk
Workshop: John Richards and the Dirty Electronic Ensemble – FULLY BOOKED
Build your own Sudophone and join the Dirty Electronic Ensemble for a performance at Supersonic Festival. This DIY instrument changes pitch through using the conductivity of the human body. The workshop explores the idea of self made electronics and interactive environments for music and performance. Richards encourages participants to seek new ways of creating electronic music & will culminate in a performance of pieces devised by the workshop participants.
Capacity for this workshop is limited to 25 places therefore it is essential that you book in advance, no knowledge of electronics or previous experience at building electronic musical devices is needed.
TO BOOK A PLACE email info[at]capsule.org.uk with DIRTY ELECTRONICS in the subject heading, this is free to all SUPERSONIC FESTIVAL ticket holders, there are only 25 places so its a first come, first served basis!!! SORRY FULLY BOOKED
John Richards completed a doctorate in electroacoustic composition at
the University of York in 2002, and he is currently part of the Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre at De Montfort University, Leicester.
Following from the Dirty Electronic Ensemble performance will be a screening of Motherboard, a new technology show, with a big twist. It’s about the human side of technology, and technology’s place as humanity’s and culture’s great enabler. Initial subjects include: the video game pioneer and cosmonaut who spent $30 million to fly into space, a research facility where human decomposition after death can be scientifically studied and robotics pioneers who are developing their own version of the exoskeleton from Aliens.
Expect jetpacks, rocket bikes, head transplants, artificial intelligence, pretty girl robots, plants that can play music, submarines and technologies used for smuggling drugs and hundreds more amazing stories from the future that is happening now.
Motherboard is produced by VSB TV
Goblin – Italy
Throughout their career which spans from the early ‘70’s, Goblin have soundtracked around 20 films, with ‘Profondo Rosso’, ‘Suspiria’ (a film that became the benchmark in 70’s gore flicks) and ‘Dawn Of The Dead’ that really form the basis of their legendary reputation as they perfectly showcased their vast stylistic repertoire from the prog-flavoured rock they’re best known for, through tribal rhythms, electronics, orchestration which seamlessly fitted and added to the impact of the on-screen action.
Recent years have seen a huge resurgence of interest in the band’s work, particularly amongst the alternative rock, goth and horror film communities, with very well received reissues of their classic soundtracks and DVDs of the films they worked on, plus the compilation cd ‘The Fantastic Voyage Of Goblin – The Sweet Sound Of Hell’. 2005 also saw the publication of the book “Goblin – La musica la paura il fenomeno”, written by Giovanni Aloisio, and there is even a band in the US made up of Goblin fanatics and calling themselves Zombi.
“The legacy of Goblin is vast and full of surprises, and they’ve had a great influence on how rock music can be used in film scores. And, as such, Goblin can claim to be not only one of the most important of Italian rock bands, but also creators of some of the finest Italian film soundtracks alongside the redoubtable Ennio Morricone!” Alan Freeman
Goblin Q & A Theatre Space/Sunday
hosted by Alex Fitch, deputy editor at Electric Sheep
It is with great honor that Supersonic presents Italian legends GOBLIN, their first UK show in over 20 years.
The name Goblin first appeared on the map in 1975, when the band recorded the soundtrack for Dario Argento’s “Profondo Rosso”. This was the starting point for a decade long, highly creative and widely influential collaboration between the eccentric film maker and Goblin, that made the group become the aural signifier of the Italian horror film movement of the seventies and the eighties, creating sound tracks to such cult classics as “Suspiria” (1977) and “Dawn of the Dead” (“Zombi”, 1978). Goblin created some of the most thrilling pieces of soundtrack music ever made. While Argento undisputedly masters color and composition, Goblin’s suggestive and complex symphonic scores evocated dark atmospheres, suspense and stirring drive. In combination they create the unique, highly stylized, surreal and psychedelic experience, that made the movies become cult classics.
SUNN O))) – US
It is with great pleasure we present our good friends SUNN O))) at this years Supersonic Festival. The band will be playing material from GrimmRobe demos exclusively.
Expect pure, raw, uninhibited invocations featuring O)))’s core members: Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson and accompanied by 2 Les Paul guitars, 4 Sunn fullstacks and 4 Ampeg bass stacks. No guests, no vocals, no keyboards.
www.southernlord.com
65daysofstatic – UK
Initially, the band interspersed heavy, progressive, guitar-driven instrumental sections with live drums and off-beat sampled drums akin to those of Aphex Twin, although since their second album they have developed their work to include keyboard parts.
http://www.myspace.com/65propaganda
Celebrating Independence! Saturday/Theatre Space
Over a quarter of the UK’s independent music stores went out of business last year, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association, in the record store heyday of the 1980s there were 2,200 stores; by 1994 there were 1,200, today only 305 remain in the UK. Another recent blow to the independent scene has been the sudden closure of Plan B magazine; Supersonic brings together a panel of guests including the manager of Rough Trade East Spencer Hickman, Allison Schnackenberg of Southern Records and former editor of Plan B Louis Patterson to discuss the future of independent music.
Chaired by Emma Petit editor of the book Old Rare New: The Independent Record Shop
Followed by a selection of music shorts chosen by the multi talented Norwegian electronic musician, graphic designer, illustrator & filmmaker KIM HIORTHØY
Army Of Flying Robots (UK)
Playing live once again after an 18-month hiatus before they get too geographically scattered, AOFR sound is playing hide and seek with established styles, marrying hardcore hypervelocity, metallic discordance and hidden melodies. After close to a decade of DIY splits 7”s, 10”s and a single masterly album (2007’s “Life Is Cheap” on Superfi/Feast of Tentacles), and numerous UK and European tours (with Daughters and Taint among others) AOFR is still the UK underground’s best kept secret.
www.myspace.com/armyofflyingrobots
Arbouretum – US
Arbouretum first began in late 2002 as a vehicle for singer/guitarist David Heumann’s songwriting. Since their debut album, Long Live the Well-Doer, there have been several lineup changes that have included musicians such as Ned Oldham (Anomoanon), Walker Teret (Cass McCombs’ band), and Jennifer Hutt, as well as drummers Mitchell Feldstein (Lungfish) and David Bergander (Celebration). The sweeping, atmospheric textures of the first record soon gave way to a more visceral, elemental approach. Amplifiers were turned up, drums were hit harder, and songs crescendoed into spiraling, noise-soaked climaxes on the second full-length, Rites of Uncovering.
Released on Thrill Jockey in early 2007, the record garnered much attention and critical acclaim. XLR8R called it “the best doom-folk record of all time” and Uncut referred to it as an instant “cult classic”.
http://www.myspace.com/arbouretum
Atomized – UK
Atomized is the what occurs when you combine the tribal percussion and bellows of Lovely Feyde Rautha (Russell McEwan of Black Sun) and the electronic-vocal attack of Lea Cummings (Kylie Minoise) as they reinterpret some well known pop songs from the 80s, or as they describe – “Raped versions of pop classics by Madonna, Visage, Howard Jones, Haircut 100, & Culture Club.” As you can imagine, the songs sound nothing like the original chart toppers, dwelling in a nocturnal grey area between Mummy and Daddy era-Whitehouse (especially on their Madonna and Visage cover) and Swans at their minimal best.
Equal parts industrial, noise and no-wave – it’s a heavy and merciless release from these two, the audio equivalent to Boy George’s night terrors in the clink. This will be released from Lea’s Kovorox Sound label in the not so distant future, be sure to catch their debut performance of this material at Glasgow Implodes this March.
www.kovoroxsound.com/
Chris Herbert – UK
Chris Herbert lives and works in Birmingham, UK. He is inspired by urban field recordings, a neon-drenched world of darkness and rainfall, mis-judged glances and rude altercations – this is a sub-aquatic soundtrack to the underbelly of city living, bringing to mind the darker moments of Stars of the Lid or William Basinski for starters, and giving a nod towards Deaf Center at their most atmospheric.
Making music in a vacuum and with decidedly low-tech methods, Chris’s pieces are improvised intuitively leaving just a trace of melody or the implication of rhythm. A swampy, gaseous, and even dirty, crumpled sound that embraces the ambiguity of faraway broadcasts. Clouded, melancholic music of indistinct color.
Recording for kranky, live performances are rare. Chris will be accompanied at Supersonic with visuals by Dom Murphy.
Caribou – Canada
“a perfect slice of bedroom psychedelia from someone for whom melody and emotion are ten times as important as collectible obscurity”
http://www.myspace.com/cariboumanitoba
Corrupted – Osaka Japan
Corrupted is THE absolute reference in terms of monolithic and experimental funeral doom.
The band has become legendary: consistently refusing interviews and photo shoots, the band has only been seen in Europe during a discreet tour in 2000 and a couple of appearances last year, this will be their first show in the UK.
Corrupted’s music is bleak, monumental and slow as a pachyderm… Extraordinary brutal riffs-drones played in a very low guitar/bass duo, as well as a drummer who maintains a brontosaurus like striking force on improbable slow tempos serve as a morbid box for a singer with an inimitable tone: guttural and abysmal at will, he declaims apocalyptic texts in Spanish (!!!). The band sometime uses long instrumental, melancholic breaks that admirably contrast with the force of their sound.
http://www.dxmxtx.com/corrupted/
Diagonal – UK
A seven piece from Brighton, all in their mid twenties. They all had a shared love of Kyuss and the stoner rock bands of the mid nineties but this soon developed into an obsession with space rock, prog rock and even Jazz rock bands such as Coliseum. Word has spread about their incendiary live show which manages to combine the righteous indignation of bands such as the MC5 and The Sex Pistols with the cosmic jams of Gentle Giant and Can and the experimental noise of bands such as Battles and Lightning Bolt.
http://www.myspace.com/diagonalband
Drum Eyes (UK/JPN)
Drum Eyes, featuring DJ Scotch Egg and friends, combining numerous drumkits & gameboy action – expect chaos!
www.myspace.com/drumeyes
Earthless – US
Earthless is a psychedelic rock band from San Diego, California that is known for their unusually lengthy instrumental songs. Its members are Isaiah Mitchell (guitar), Mike Eginton (bass), and prolific drummer Mario Rubalcaba. Rubalcaba has played for such staples of the San Diego scene as 411, Rocket from the Crypt (alias Ruby Mars), Clikatat Ikatowi, The Black Heart Procession, Hot Snakes, Sea of Tombs, the Sultans, Pinback.
http://www.myspace.com/earthless
Esoteric – UK
Avant-garde doom from the depths of Birmingham, Esoteric promise you the ‘sonic ride of your life’. A bold statement maybe, but what else from such a bold sound? A deep, brooding band with a cinematic and poetic edge, they have previously played with Final, Jarboe and Guapo.
Head Of David – UK
Rising from the landlocked Black Country of England in the early 80’s, Head Of David were a genetically modified product, bleeding clogged metallic arteries into the densest industrial smog. Signed to Blast First – first live show in 23 years as original line up.
http://www.myspace.com/headofdavidofficial
Glatze – UK
A musician, circuit-bender and all-out live music nutter, hailing from Kernow and now based in the West Midlands. His sets are an orgy of customised electronic equipment, with circuit-bent kids’ dolls sitting alongside doctored loudspeakers, squealing guitars and a fun-at-all-costs mentality!
www.mrunderwood.co.uk
Growing – US
“A kaleidosope of prismatic tones and juddering electronics forming a series of mesmeric constellations.” – Mojo
http://www.myspace.com/growingsoundnyc
Flower/Corsano Duo – US/UK
As a powerful and loud guitar/drum duo, Lightning Bolt comparisons come cheap….the Flower-Corsano Duo are something else – more like a white-punk-jazz-trash Konono No.1 or an Eastern sound, opiate-fixated Harry Pussy. As a duo they have that special power to elevate through noise, rhythm and primal harmonix. An exhilarating sight/sound that shudders the body and cleanses the mind. Obsessive stuff.
http://www.myspace.com/chriscorsano
Home Of Metal – Theatre Space/Saturday
For too long Birmingham and the Black Country have failed to celebrate what is rightfully theirs, to claim the city and the region as the birth place of Heavy Metal.
‘Home of Metal’ aims to create a legacy to celebrate the innovators of the genre and those that continued to develop it: Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Napalm Death and Godflesh. Bringing people together to share their passion for the music by creating a digital archive, heritage tours, exhibitions and ultimately a permanent collection dedicated to telling the story of Metal and its unique birthplace.
Its time to start celebrating!!!
Join Kerrang! Radio DJ – the legendary Johnny Doom, a stalwart of the Midlands Metal scene who will be accompanied by special guests Sunn 0))) duo Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson discussing both the project & the influence of music from the region.
Metal and the Male Monster presented by Dr Niall Scott
Niall Scott is Senior Lecturer in Ethics at the University of Central Lancashire and the co organiser of Heavy Fundametalisms, the first global conference on heavy metal. As part of our Home Of Metal series he will be presenting a talk that explores the notion of the monstrous male figure within Heavy Metal culture, the boundary between the imaginary and the real, the irrational and the rational.
Followed by a screening of the controversial VSB TV documentary TRUE NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL
Home Of Metal acknowledges support from the Heritage Lottery Fund
Iron Lung – US
“For those uninitiated, IRON LUNG are a two-man band from Seattle, WA that specialize in a brand of audio violence. Bearing marks of grind, thrash, and even old-school hardcore, they are one of the handful of bands that have applied new and innovative approaches (arrangements, chords structures, thematic unities, etc) to their underground musical machinations. Their rumbling, yet raging, take on CROSSED OUT meets SWANS power violence is medically thematic in both lyrical and musical delivery. With the precision of a surgeon and the devastation of an unchecked disease IRON LUNG wreak havoc on any listener smart enough to tune them in and turn them up. It blows my mind that a band can sound both so primitive and so precise at the same time.” –Jeb Branin
www.myspace.com/lifeironlungdeath
Jarboe – US
Jarboe is a solo artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with the New York City based group Swans. With founder Michael Gira, the duo was the core of Swans until the group broke up in 1998.
http://www.myspace.com/jarboeliving
Supersonic is produced by Capsule:
Unit 317, Zellig
Gibb Street
Birmingham UK
B9 4AT
