Taint  – Of South Wales
Something of an enigma. Many have striven to place their sound within a handy genre definition, only to find themselves wondering whether a band so dynamic and full of surprises can really be called ‘sludge’, or whether music so antithetical to boredom can justifiably be termed ‘post-hardcore’. Taint’s 2005 full-length debut for Rise Above, ‘The Ruin Of Nova Roma’ was a crafty beast that revelled in contructing such riddles for the listener and, of course, the critic. Pigeonholes are for pigeons, after all. It’s the purpose of great rock groups to not quite fit in.
http://www.myspace.com/taintuk

Tartufi – US

TARTUFI is Brian Gorman and Lynne Angel. They are friends. They are brother and sister. They are musical husband and wife. They are tar and feather. They are thunder and lightning. They are Salt N Pepa (sans Spinderella).

“Tartufi VOTED BEST INDIE BAND of 2007 by the San Francisco Bay Guardian based on their superb ’06 release, Us Upon Buildings Upon Us, the duo of Lynne Angel and Brian Gorman hew a rich, fractured world out of looped guitars, keys and voices, shape-shifting time sigs, and crashing percussion. They can go from Slint-inspired explosions or Built to Spill epic to Joan of Arc-like baroque or Breeders chug in a measure or two, the shifts revealing unassailable logic as they unfurl. Nine out of 10 buzz bands don’t deserve it; Tartufi does.”
-A. Schacht, Creative Loafing (Charlotte, NC)
http://www.myspace.com/tartufi

The Accused – US
Formed in 1981 in Oak Harbor, Washington by bassist Chibon ‘Chewy’ Batterman, Dana Collins and guitarist Tom Niemeyer. John Dahlin was the vocalist from 1982-1984. The addition of Blaine Cook (frontman of Seattle hardcore punk group The Fartz) fit nicely into the group’s migration towards a more heavy metal-based sound. In 1984, The band dubbed their style “splatter rock,” in homage to their favorite genre of horror films. Their hybrid musical formula was distinguishable by Blaine’s unusual choking-sound vocals, Niemeyer’s muted, choppy, buzzsaw guitars, dark metallic riffs, and rapid-fire drumming. The band are also responsible for creating the wild, zombie mascot Martha Splatterhead, whose likeness (created by Niemeyer) adorns most of their albums and many of their promotional items. The Accused recorded five albums, three EPs, and over 100 songs between their 1981 inception and 1990s hiatus.
The current line-up consists of Brad Mowen (also a member of Master Musicians of Bukakke and former member of Burning Witch and Asva), Dorando Hodous (also a member of Lesbian), Mike Peterson and Niemeyer.
http://www.myspace.com/kingsofsplatter

Theo – UK
Theo, the work of one Sam Knight, is one for the math rock fans. Taut, chugging guitar loops layer up with frenetic tapping patterns that interweave in spiralling complexity before near sub-atomically precise, powerhouse drumming clatters and builds each song into juggernaut of riffs and rhythms. To achieve something like this recorded is one thing, but to see Theo perform live is quite another as each song blurs into the next and the dazzling guitar and drum acrobatics leave jaws sagging on the faces of all who bear witness to the talent on offer.
http://www.myspace.com/theo1000

Dialed In – Bobby Previte vs VJ Benton-C Bainbridge (US)

Bobby Previte maverick and electrifying drum style has won him accolades and respect from the rock and jazz world and this unique project joins him with Visual  Jockey VJ Benton-C Bainbridge creating a live improvised audio visual experience. A prolific performer New Yorker Previte has played concert venues such a Lincoln Center and the New York EMPAC. Previte triggers every sound with live- no loops, no laptops and no overdubbing. VJ Benton-C paints with light, spilling off the screen and onto the performers. Using obsolete and forgotten technology scavenged from the tech dump, Benton-C warps video into strange shapes not seen since Electric Company, while Previte whips sonic fragments into powerful songs.
 
This eclectic  project will have you mesmerised and their performance at Supersonic 2009 will be the only UK date.
 
“Previte’s records often sound like soundtracks to an imaginary movie, with a multiplicity of characters, an enigmatic story line, and no particular axe to grind.” — The Penguin Guide

“Fantastic video images by Benton-C Bainbridge depicted suspended human figures, floating abstract patterns, looming godlike figures and flickering city buildings.” — NY Times
 
www.bobbyprevite.com
Dialed in movie

This performance is presented in collaboration with Birmingham Jazz & Supersonic Festival.
Birmingham Jazz is a promoting organisation and development agency which presents and commissions around 100 contemporary jazz in the city on a year-round basis.
For more information the full programme go to www.birminghamjazz.co.uk

The Memory Band play music and songs from The Wicker Man

As a tribute to the magical work of Paul Giovanni and friends The Memory Band will be performing songs such as Gently Jonny, Willow’s Song, Corn Rigs and many more from the soundtrack to the classic 1973 film The Wicker Man, The musical line up will be the usual Memory Band alignment of talents both known and emerging led by producer Stephen Cracknell.

From the county of Rutland comes young guitarist and singer Sam Carter whose second album “Keepsakes” is being released in August. From the heart of Wessex we have Sarah Scutt a multi-instrumentalist and our musical arranger recently returned from touring with James Yorkston and Lisa Knapp. From The Accidental whose album “There Were Wolves” was released  last year we have London born singer and video-maker Hannah Caughlin. Also singing with us all the way from Sunderland is Jess Roberts who as well recording tracks for the next Memory Band album is recording her own solo album. Long-time Memory Band member Rob Spriggs and his fiddle are on board as is Quinta who released her own solo album “My Sister, Boudicca” this year and has also worked with the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Bat For Lashes and Orphans and Vandals.

Thought Forms (UK)
Thought Forms are Charlie Romijn (guitars / vocals), Deej Dhariwal  (guitars / vocals) and Guy Metcalfe (drums). Hailing from England’s rural South West, the trio were brought together amongst the ley-lines and ancient vibrations by a shared love
of guitar abuse and pedal worship.
The band take influence from luminaries Sonic Youth, Slint and My Bloody Valentine, blending their structure with inspiration from modern experimental noise bands like Boris, Double Leopards and  Emeralds; It is this which gives rise to a more psychedelic sound.
They have fun; watching them onstage, they exude charisma with their emotion-fueled chiming guitars and gloriously euphoric songs. They create an intense and haunting atmosphere that mentally takes the audience with them to a higher plane.

FULLY BOOK NOW – Apologies

With split screens, 16mm projections and incorporating the techniques of early cinema, Filmficciones dark collages are stalked by a special live performance by Pram, creating an eerie musical nightmare – think creepy Victoriana, tropical analogue and tumbledown funk.
www.myspace.com/pushthepram

This unique collabortaion premieres at Supersonic & takes place on Sunday 26th
Places are limited in a seated theatre space – you must book in advance by emailing info[at]capsule.org.uk with ‘Pram‘ in the title – this is free to weekend & Sunday ticket holders only!
FULLY BOOK NOW – Apologies

Thorr’s Hammer – US/NORWAY/UK

Greg Anderson & Stephen O’Malley presents their maiden voyage into darkeness: the cult recordings by the black doom act Thorr’s Hammer. Thorr’s Hammer is raw nihilistic doom featuring the unbelievable vocals of Norwegian goddess Runhild Gammelsæter. Presented in her native Norwegian tongue, Runhild Gammelsæters’ gutteral dark vocals are contrasted by beautiful singing creating a huanting atmosphere. Funeral dirge is provided by the collaberation of Stephen O’Malley (ex-Burning Witch/SUNN0)))) and Greg Anderson (ex-Engine Kid/SUNN0)))/Goatsnake) Jamie Sykes (ex-Burning WitchWardrums, ex-CODENAME F.A.D.G.E.) and Guy Pinhas (Beaver, The Obsessed, Goatsnake, Melvins, etc) (Subharmonics). This union is raw, low and heavy as fuck, reminiscent of elder gods HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST,SABBATH, AND VENOM. The material contains the original three demo tracks (from 1995) and a recently unearthed live recording (“Mellom Galgene”) all originally created in the stoned winter of 1994-1995….. grim melancholy.
http://www.myspace.com/thorr39shammer

Venetian Snares – CAN
Aaron Funk (aka Venetian Snares) hails from Winnipeg in Canada. Since his debut 12″ in 1999 on a small Minneapolis label he has risen out of the drill’n’bass/breakcore mire to become one of the most astonishing (and popular) musicians working in the experimental electronic sphere (alongside Squarepusher, Aphex Twin and Boards Of Canada).
http://www.myspace.com/venetiansnares

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.

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.

www.myspace.com/chrisherbert

Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan
Does Your Contemplation Of The Situation Fuck With The Flow Of Circulation

86 Heath Mill Lane Birmingham B9 4AR UK
Opening Times:
4 July – 6 September 2009
Thursday 12-7pm, Friday to Sunday 12-5pm
www.eastsideprojects.org

Eastside Projects proudly presents a solo show by Glasgow based artists Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan. The collaborative duo have made a new work which through its very naming, clearly, eloquently and aggressively, introduces the duo’s playful, provocative and interrogative art practice.

Eastside Projects is artist run space as incubator of new ideas and forms for the City of Birmingham and beyond, proposing the development of a new type of physical space for the gallery combined with a complex evolving programme of commissioned works and events based on radical historical positions. Eastside Projects aims to commission and present experimental contemporary art practices and exhibitions, importing and exporting, in order to support and develop the cultural life of the city.

Special Events
You are invited to be part of a new film by Keith Wilson called Moon Landing. In slow motion the film will capture the landing moment of a sequence of people’s backsides sitting down onto moon boot fabric yoga mats. Filming will be taking place on Saturday at the Custard Factory during Supersonic Festival. Don’t miss out on the chance to go down in history and to see the first screening of the rough-edit of the film on Sunday at 5.45pm.

Zu – Italy
Zu, the Roman metal/math/no-wave/free noise/punk/jazz trio.
“…combining the abstractions of Sonic Youth with the out-there explorations of the best free jazz” – The Times
http://www.myspace.com/zuband

Raqs Media Collective
When the Scales Fall From Your Eyes
23 July – 6 September 2009
Open Thursday–Sunday, 1–5pm, admission free
Ikon Eastside, 183 Fazeley St, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 5SE
Tel. 0121 248 0708 / www.ikon-gallery.co.uk

 
New Delhi based artists Raqs Media Collective present an ambitious new installation considering the abundance of measurement in society.

Special Events as part of Supersonic Festival

Artists’ Talk
Friday 24 July, 6–7pm Places are free, but should be reserved by calling Ikon 0121 2480708
 
Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula and Shuddhabrata Sengupta from Raqs Media Collective talk about their work, with particular reference to their installation at Ikon Eastside.

Simon & Tom Bloor
Hey for Lubberland!
Launch Event, Friday 24 July, 7-9pm
The Bond, 180-182 Fazeley Street, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 5SE
 
Join Ikon and the Bloors in Eastside to launch Hey for Lubberland!, their specially adapted canal boat, utilising geodesic design and dazzle camouflage. Music by Khyam Allami.
 
As part of the Supersonic Festival Simon & Tom Bloor’s boat will be moored at The Bond on Saturday 25 & Sunday 26 July. Open 1-5pm, admission free.
Visitors can make short journeys, accompanied by soundtracks selected by artists performing at the Festival. Boat trips leave The Bond promptly on the hour, limited to 12 places per trip, booking is strongly recommended – please call Ikon on 0121 248 0708. 
Children must be accompanied at all times.
 
Ikon Eastside features work by artists from all over the world often made in situ on an ambitious scale.

Bunny Bissoux – Petting Corner
Located in the Market Place

Keen to have a petting corner at the festival but not able to have a real life one, we’ve gone for the next best thing by inviting artist Bunny Bissoux to create an exhibition incorporating this years ‘Best In Show’ theme. Bunny is an artist, illustrator, collector, fanatic, musician and aspiring wresting valet. Bunny continues to follow her interests and obsessions as inspiration for her work which generally features 80s metal, wrestling, pop idols, imaginary friends and small dogs, she makes fanzines, costumes, plush toys and cupcakes and created last year ‘Creatures of Corpse Paint’ illustration as well as the ‘Home of Metal’ map illustration. Look out for her Wonderleague stall full of vintage treasures & trinkets.
www.wonderleague.co.uk/

zZz – Netherlands
zZz is a Dutch band from Amsterdam, founded in 2001. The instruments of the band only consist of an organ and a drumkit. The duo makes dark danceable rock. The single “Ecstacy” was used in the soundtrack of the film Phileine zegt sorry. In 2005, the band won an Essent Award and opened for Anouk in a few shows.
http://www.myspace.com/zzz

Tim Wright – UK
Tim Wright is a musician, composer and video artist based in York. He is perhaps best known as a producer of peculiarly individual electronic dance music released under his own name and the pseudonym Tube Jerk. His music has been released by some of the key labels in the field including Tresor, Novamute, Sativae and GPR. His recordings in the early 1990s as Germ for GPR are considered to have been pioneering in the then nascent IDM scene. Innovative and uncompromising, surreal and often disorientating, Germ offered glimpses of possible musical futures which have never been fully realised.
In recent years Tim has in some respects returned to his experimental roots and has been exploring generative and algorithmic approaches to audio visual composition.
http://www.myspace.com/tubejerk

Participation The Film & Video Workshop Movement 1979 – 1991

140 Heath Mill Lane  Birmingham  B9 4AR
Opening Times:
Thu 02 July – Sat 01 Aug 2009 | open Thu-Sat, 12-5 PM | admission FREE
www.vivid.org.uk

Participation is an exhibition and archive project centred on the emergence of new film forms, politics and practices in the 1980s. Unearthing the archives of challenging, polemical and oppositional groups operating during a period of economic and social upheaval, the works presented react to and document the rise of Thatcherism and the social and cultural events the period from 1979 engendered: inner city disturbances, the miners strike, and increasing social disparity.

Presented in two parts, Participation brings us rarely seen works from key film and video workshops and groups who, motivated by a desire to effect social change, forged new approaches to political and social themes that emerged nationally. The show includes works by Amber Films, Black Audio Film Collective and Sankofa amongst others, and has a special focus on the Birmingham Film and Video Workshop.

VIVID is a leading media arts agency committed to the development of media arts practice through research, production and commissioning programmes.

 VIVID’s space is open to the public for a wide range of activities including exhibitions, talks and screenings and the programme aims to reflect the development of artist’s film and video through a juxtaposition of historical and contemporary practice.

The Outcrowd are a group of like-minded image-makers. There work can be seen as an expression of these artists compulsion to create. Fundamentally, the artists all share an essential motivation to explore the possibilities of enhancing everyday life by making magic from the mundane. There work utilises modest and direct means including works in pencil, paint and ink along with photographic works, which record and celebrate everyday happenstances.

Specifically, what comes to the fore are common concerns and a positive interest with dipping into the past and championing seemingly long-forgotten notions such as thriftiness and a delight in the ordinary everyday detritus of life.

This year their process is applied to exhibiting in sheds, modifying and re-claiming these gentle relics over the duration of the festival.  Come join them as they attempt to cheekily subvert the traditional gallery setting.

www.outcrowdcollective.blogspot.com

Ex members of Burning Witch, Mr Bungle and the legendary Accused together they create the heaviest, sludge-doom known to man and destroy all pretenders in their path. This really is the sound of hell breaking loose and swallowing everything around it, until there is a black nothingness…
www.myspace.com/asvaband 

Their music is beautiful and at the same time desolate featuring the sound of lonely highways, wide-open spaces and the occasional slide guitar. They are so far ahead of the pack it will take years for people to catch up with them. This is music to get totally immersed in; it’s melodic, powerful yet understated and reserved.
www.myspace.com/earthofficial

Members of Godflesh and Sally in a powered up shoegaze band. This is blissed out pop with nods to MBV, Mary Chain, as well as post rock flourishes and the odd bit of Sister era Sonic Youth. Nice intricate time changes with nods to 20th century composer Steve Reich but with a sense of urgency missing from most so called post rock bands.
www.myspace.com/einstellung

Spazzy math rock meets new wave and electronica. These aren’t some glum bedroom; chin stroking boys with a downer on life. They want to dance and they want to make you dance to their synth heavy, post rock disco party and dance you will my friends, dance you will.
www.myspace.com/weareerrors

As monikers go, none could be more fitting for this group of individuals than Fucked Up. Front man Pink Eyes has been known to maim himself with bottles, microphones, and light bulbs, bleeding from his head as frenzied audience members throw themselves at the stage – and each other – with reckless abandon.