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.

www.myspace.com/chrisherbert
www.taktak.net

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.

http://www.esotericuk.net

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

Kim Hiorthøy – Norway

Norway’s Kim Hiorthøy is a multi-faceted artist whose work has included painting, illustration, graphic design, film, photography, and writing in addition his music, which is primarily electronic-based. In any given field of creative endeavor, and certainly in his musical explorations, he tends to defy conventions and rigid definitions, taking an unstudied and deliberately amateurish approach with typically curious and sometimes whimsical results.
www.myspace.com/kimhiorthoy

Khyam Allami – UK
Khyam Allami was born to an Iraqi family in Damascus, Syria, in 1981 and brought up in London from the age of 9. His passion for music began at a tender age in Syria when he played the role of a young violinist in an art house film. Currently, Khyam Allami is performing as an ‘Ud (Oud) soloist and is concluding his studies in Ethnomusicology at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. Meanwhile he is working on original compositions, that lean more towards the contemporary as opposed to tradition, under the artistic influence of Frank Zappa, Naseer Shamma, King Crimson, Secret Chiefs 3, Riyad Al-Sunbati, Philip Glass, Jaz Coleman and many others.
http://www.myspace.com/khyamallami

Kylie Minoise  – UK
ABID ONE-MAN AURAL AGGRO-SITUATIONIST TINNITUS VENDING HEALTH AND SAFETY VIOLATION, DISHING OUT GUERRILLA RITUALS OF FIERCE FEEDBACK SHRIEK, CRIPPLED TONE, RHYTHMIC  MANGLE,  DISTANT CREEPING THREAT, INDECIPHERABLE BLASPHEMIES, SMASHED MICROPHONES, CUTS , BRUISES AND EXCRUCIATING SKULL FUCKERY…IS WATCHING YOU WHILE YOU SLEEP…IS PROBABLY IN LOVE WITH YOU…WILL PROBABLY KILL YOU…
www.myspace.com/kylieminoise

Light Trap – UK

Light Trap are a trio from Birmingham, England comprised of John (Haxan, ex Doom & Sore Throat), Doug (Una Corda) and Nic (ex Napalm Death & Scorn).
They combine blackened and primitive noise rock with progressive and experimental elements.

Marnie Stern (US)
An American musician, songwriter, and guitarist. She resides in New York City and has garnered much acclaim for her technical skill and finger-tapping style of guitar play, described as a Guitar Hero showdown between Don Caballero, Hella and … Van Halen
www.myspace.com/marniestern1

Master Musicians Of Bukkake – US
Hidden in the broken amplified logs and delayed deep green moss. Damp evergreen floors with Hidden secrets to tell. Master Musicians of Bukkake is born of this primordial Northwest passage of rights , electric old growth rituals formed when the earliest saplings and fungus brokeforth through the ground reaching their life filled limbs to the sun ever seeing ever growing. The prehistoric mountians an ever present lurker steadfastly onlooking this ascent to the heavens covered in their glacial white shrowds. No man made monoliths or megaliths could ever out shadow the giants of the olympics, of Cascadia these TOTEMS of old, TOTEMS of the ancients. As we move into the age of modern mans descent into ruin and the trees regain their dominance over the pitiful buildings and machines of humans…Now, In this final age when the sun scorches the southern states and burns our grand citys mile by mile in a hope to burn off the impurities of the earth back to the prima materia, you can hear a far away sound a scream a ritual and a gathering ….Master Musicians of Bukkake.
http://www.myspace.com/mastermusiciansofbukkake

Monotonix (Israel)

Monotonix Is an Israeli garage rock Band from Tel Aviv, Israel. Dissatisfied with the state of the music scene in their hometown the trio Monotonix formed in November 2005, influenced by Led Zeppelin, the Sonics, and Thin Lizzy. Shortly after forming, they began playing shows at local venues. They frequently set up on the floor among the crowd, playing shows raucous enough to result in the power being shut off or the police called in. Eventually finding themselves banned from most of the venues in Tel Aviv, the band decided to leave Israel so they could tour the United States and Europe. Their reputation as a band whose shows are not watched, but experienced. Monotonix have become known for setting themselves and their equipment on fire, stealing drinks from audience members to pour on themselves, and turning their shows into unabashed, frenzied dance parties.

http://www.myspace.com/monotonix