SOUNDkitchen

SOUNDkitchen is a collective of sound artists and composers bringing new and experimental sounds to Birmingham through exciting line-ups, eclectic electronic performances and collaborations with various local and national organisations. SOUNDkitchen aims to present anything and everything that’s experimental and electronic, crossing genres from electroacoustic to soundscapes to noise to ambient drones to Afrobeat, Dubstep, Balkan music and many more.

For Supersonic 2011, SOUNDkitchen will present two works.  They’ll be resident in a special area where they will be serving-up audio delights in their Cinema for the Ears. Working in collaboration with BEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre), they promise a concoction of installations and performances in a site-specific immersive sound sculpture.  Secondly, they will provide a live soundscape/soundtrack to Imperfect Cinema‘s screening of films made by festival-goers attending the latter’s workshop.

soundkitchenuk.org

For Supersonic 2011, the festival organisers have invited some of their favourite small press publishers to sell  their books, comics and zines, including:

Limited edition Supersonic poster by Cataract Op

Supersonic have commissioned the very talented Simon Fowler of Cataract Op to produce a limited edition print for this year’s festival.  Available in an oversized A2 edition of 120, it comes in eye-catching (and possibly mouth-watering) black and metallic silver on 225gsm manilla archival paper.  And guess what?  It’s only available at the festival, a bargain at £30.  You’ll be needing to purchase a ticket to get your hands on this beauty.

Simon Fowler is a London born artist and printmaker, predominantly working with pen and ink and traditional print-making techniques such as lino and vinyl engraving to achieve images of intense detail and expansive beauty. He’s produced recent artwork for Earth, Sunn O))) and Devilman (DJ Scotch Egg/Dokkebi Q) and has recently started producing an ongoing series of limited edition prints for Cafe OTO’s visiting artist residencies. Simon also co-runs Cataract Publisihing with writer and poet Paolo Chianta.

www.cataract-operation.com/artwork/

The Quietus: Q&A with editor John Doran
The Quietus is one of Capsule’s favourite sites.  Spending a few hours in their company is always a pleasure and mainman John Doran has been involved with Supersonic before, most recently hosting a Q&A with Neu!’s Michael Rother on 2010.  Here, we turn the tables and subject him to our own Q&A, courtesy of Ross Cotton.

How would you describe your relationship with Supersonic Festival?
Head over heels in love. Luckily my girlfriend feels the same way.

Which acts are you looking forward to most in this year’s line-up, and why?
Electric Wizard because they are pure, heavy evil, straight from some kind of black hole of doom. The Skull Defekts (will they find the Higgs Bosun?) will be amazing. Simeon of The Silver Apples is always amazing. WITTR, White Hills and Circle.

What has been your ultimate favourite performance at a previous Supersonic and why?
Probably either Beestung Lips in 2008 just because it was so fucked up, exciting and funny, Arbouretum in 2009 or King Midas Sound last year. Or SunnO))). It’s hard to pare it down to one set.

How would you describe Supersonic to a potential, fresh audience?
The right balance of pancreas bursting harsh noise, frollicking and cake.

What does Supersonic offer differently compared to any other festival?
The compactness of it is a real selling point. There’s always a good vibe there and you’re guaranteed to come away having seen something amazing you weren’t previously aware of.

www.thequietus.com

New Spotify playlist

We’ve announced more new artists since our last Spotify playlist so, to make your listening experience simple and seamless, here’s a link to an updated version.  Now with added Mike Watt, Drum Eyes, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, Klaus Kinski, DJ Scotch Egg, Drumcunt and Orthodox.  Enjoy!  (But our sincere apologies for those horrible meerkat adverts.)

http://open.spotify.com/user/littleredrabbit/playlist/1G2nW0tTKUmIoANAR4t14a

Rock-a-Rolla: Q&A with editor-in-chief Vuk Valcic
For our 12th Q&A we’re going off-piste and instead of talking to the artists performing at Supersonic 2011, we’re checking in with Vuk Valcic, editor of Rock-a-Rolla magazine. Capsule has a long standing relationship with the magazine and we salute their coverage of independent, progressive music.  Read on to find out Vuk’s fondest Supersonic memories and why he thinks the festival is essential.

How would you describe your relationship with Supersonic Festival?
Rock-A-Rolla has been Supersonic’s media partner since the very early days of the mag – in fact going all the way back to our first year of existence. Capsule have always had a knack for selecting interesting and vital artists, and the line-up has always been spot-on in terms of what we cover in the magazine. We’re also friends and fans.

Which acts are you looking forward to most in this year’s line-up, and why?
As always, pretty much all of them, but for my part Secret Chiefs 3, Zombi, Zu93, WITTR, White Hills, Circle, Fire!, Barn Owl and The Skull Defekts are all particularly unmissable. Secret Chiefs 3 should be every festivalgoer’s top priority.

What has been your ultimate favourite performance at a previous Supersonic and why?
Tough question. There’s no way I can choose just one, but let’s go with Oxbow Duo and Wolf Eyes in 2007, Asva and Dälek in 2008, and SunnO))) and Thorr’s Hammer in 2009, all of which were memorable for various reasons. And of course Zu a couple of years back – one of the best live bands out there.

How would you describe Supersonic to a potential, fresh audience?
In one word: essential. It’s the only festival that keeps getting it right year in, year out. For crucial, cutting-edge underground rock, metal and experimental music, there’s simply no other festival quite like it in the UK. On a more personal note, it’s like getting all the bands you read about in Rock-A-Rolla together in one place for an awesome weekend.

What does Supersonic offer differently compared to any other festival?
The line-up is just plain different to any other UK festival you can think of, and it’s always outstanding. It speaks for itself, really. Other than the band selection, the Custard Factory setting makes this a completely different beast to the outdoor festivals doing the rounds – no mud and Portaloos here, just great music and a great atmosphere.

What impact does Supersonic have on Birmingham’s music scene?
I think it goes beyond Birmingham – and the UK for that matter. It undoubtedly plays a major part in putting Birmingham on the map and of course brings festivalgoers to the city, which can only be a good thing, but more importantly Supersonic has far-reaching impact on underground music worldwide.

Interview by Ross Cotton

www.rock-a-rolla.com

Blood, Sweat & Vinyl: DIY in the 21st Century

Blood, Sweat & Vinyl is a documentary film by Kenneth Thomas focussing on the artist-run record labels Hydra Head, Neurot, and Constellation, and their many associated bands. Thomas considers the film to be, in part at least, an answer to those who question where the spirit of punk rock is today. Including the thoughts and experiences of artists like Neurosis, ISIS, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Pelican, Oxbow and Evangelista, the film promises to be an in-depth and illuminating look at the connections and networks built up by artists committed to uncompromised work and self-expression.

Scott Kelly (Neurosis/Neurot): “It’s not just a business we’ve started, it reflects on our entire adult life.”
Seldon Hunt: “It’s a strange thing that metal has a strange image of being kind of childish and kind of stupid.  In a sense, it’s the 21st and late 20th century equivalent of classical music.”
Aaron Turner (Hydra-Head/ISIS): “It’s part of this larger extended network.  To me that’s one of the most satisfying parts, just making connections and being involved with the really active, progressive, interesting community of musicians, labels and artists.”

Kenneth Thomas has spent the last 15 years capturing and displaying a unique vision via his multi-disciplinary skills in shooting, directing, editing, and photography. His primary interest is in documentary work which focuses on capturing authentic experiences. Thomas’ previous work includes directing music videos and filming for The Residents, X, The Chameleons UK, Queens of the Stone Age, ISIS, Neurosis, Yanni, Bruce LaBruce, William Shatner and many other artists.

www.bloodsweatvinyl.com

Blood, Sweat + Vinyl – Hydra Head Records clip from kenneth thomas on Vimeo.

Film week, day 3:  ‘Still Before’, a film about Oxbow

‘Still Before’, a film by Manuel Liebeskind, draws the most intimate tour portrait of this exceptional band from San Francisco and is perhaps as close as one can come to the exhaustion of everyday tour life.  Here at Capsule HQ we’ve only seen the trailer, but, believe us, that was more than enough to whet our appetites.  ‘Still Before’ is also highly notable for being filmed entirely on an iPhone with a 640×480 pixel resolution, probably the first feature-length to be so.

We can’t imagine it would be easy to get close to a band like Oxbow, so how did Liebeskind do it?  Turns out he’s their former booking agent, soundman and general man-Friday and thus the band gave him unprecedented access.  Through his film, Liebeskind attempts to uncover the obsessions, machinations and thought processes behind making, playing and touring music that embraces art as though its life depended on it.  Across five countries, over a dozen shows, and in front of rapt audiences, ‘Still Before’ explore the whys of art creation, the touring life and the motivations for continuing the process over two decades.

http://www.stillbefore.com

STILL BEFORE from Manuel Liebeskind on Vimeo.

Supersonic film week, day 2: Man With A Video Camera

Supersonic 2011 are pleased to present ‘Man With A Video Camera’, a documentary about the Finnish band Circle.  Happily, Circle themselves are also performing this year, thus squaring the, um, circle.  In fact, although we say ‘documentary’, ‘Man With A Video Camera’ is closer to an anti-documentary.  As with, say, ‘Lost In La Mancha’, Terry Gilliam’s film-about-making-a-film-of-Don-Quixote, the actual story appears to be somewhere else, somewhere unplaceable.  Perhaps that’s because filmmaker Esko Lönnberg himself has come from elsewhere, into Circle’s world…

Lönnberg left his middle-class job in Sweden and returned to his hometown of Pori, Finland to pursue his artistic desires.  The shooting for the film mostly takes place in the countryside where the band is recording their next album. The circumstances turn out to be chaotic and most of the band appear totally uninterested and unengaged.  But, Esko tries to keep the crowd together, even though he does not know himself if he is going to end up with fiction or non-fiction.  Throughout, Esko captures everything essential and unessential on video while the band plays.

In the end, this unique film tells you all you need to know about documentary-making, its perils and its rewards.

http://www.fonal.com/shop/petrihagner_manwithavideocamera_dvd

Film week, day 1 : Kill All Redneck Pricks: KARP LIVES! 1990-1998

All this week at Supersonic we’re going to be previewing this year’s fantastic film programme.  Day 1 is the turn of ‘KARP LIVES! 1990-1998’.

This film is a biography of a friendship. Set in the indie rock utopia of an evergreen forested Olympia Washington of the early 90’s, this film chronicles the journey of the love of three friends from childhood to adulthood over a span of 20 years. Nestled in the mythology of bands such as Beat Happening, Bikini Kill, Unwound, and the Melvins, the story of KARP is the story of a childhood love forced to make adult changes in order to survive an adult world and how the choices we face as we follow our dreams affect those whom we love most. It is the story of how so often the thing that frees you can become your largest obstacle.

This is how a forum poster recalls it:
“Karp played a show in my living room in Columbus, Ohio in 1995 or 1996 (the years start to blend together). We had held dozens and dozens of shows there with no real incident. These were loud and sometimes crazy shows. When Karp played the police came. With all of the doors and windows closed you could still hear it blacks and blocks away. One of the loudest bands i have ever seen and i mean that as a high compliment. I am quite excited to see this.”

Don’t forget too that bassist Jared Warren will be playing in The Melvins at their Capsule-promoted show at the Institute on 1st November.

http://karplives.com

Alexander Tucker – live video session for Spine TV

Alexander Tucker will be performing his new song-cycle ‘Dorwytch‘ at Supersonic 2011.  ‘Dorwytch‘ greatly expands his sound into a larger ensemble, featuring lushly layered strings and subtle use of synths. The suite revolves around themes of “human/plant matter transcendence” and manifested in the meditative purity of Tucker’s tones and drones. This live session also catches sight of the hairy being we’re expecting to see at Supersonic.

www.spinetv.net/video/studio-session-alexander-tucker

Barn Owl present ‘Turiya’

We all know that Supersonic have got a Barn Owl exclusive this year don’t we?  Well indeed we have – the festival will be their only UK date on this trip.  To add to our Barn Owl excitement, the band have just unveiled a brand new video for the song ‘Turiya‘ from the current ‘Lost in the Glare‘ album.  Have a look below.  Directed by their regular film collaborator John Davis, the film features some really nice light diffusion and complements the slow-burn of ‘Turiya‘ perfectly.

www.electrictotem.com

Barn Owl – Turiya from Thrill Jockey Records on Vimeo.

Cloaks Q&A #11
On the 3by3 label, Cloaks play speaker-shredding blasts of dubstep noise.  Beats skip, jump and judder while all manner of found sounds build up into layers of ambient scree.  Cloaks’ music is a harsh listen but all the more devastating and exciting for that.  Here, mainman Steve Harris answers our Q&A.

1. Which five words describe what you know about Supersonic?
Important, unique, raw, adult, anti-hype (substance)

2. What can people expect of Cloaks at the festival?
You should expect to hear a more experimental, noise-driven approach to our music. We will also be predominantly playing unheard material from our album in progress.

3. Why make music – what does it do for you that nothing else does?
That’s a great question, and one I couldn’t ever answer sufficiently.

4. Who else on the bill are you hoping to see?  (And why?)
Part Chimp, Alva Noto, Scorn, White Hills, The Skull Defekts. Supersonic always has a culture of ‘new’ as well so the point of it for me in terms of seeing other acts is all the names I’ve never heard of. The chief reason the festival is so great is that you discover new things so I’m looking forward to being pleasantly surprised.

5. Finally, your essential ‘surviving-Supersonic’ items are…
Earplugs, a large supply of disposable income for the marketplace, promo materials to hand out, spare bag to store all the new stuff you just bought, spare earplugs.

www.3by3music.com

“I volunteered at Supersonic as it seemed a great way to meet people & see plenty of the bands on the roster.

I had a cracking time working with the other volunteers, and meeting some lovely people (Michael Rother was a treat). Plus, Capsule really deserves our help as they consistently puts on some of the best live shows around.”
Ben Martin – volunteer 2010

SUPERSONIC NEEDS YOU!

Capsule’s internationally renowned festival runs 21-23 October 2011 and there are plenty of opportunities to get involved as a volunteer.

We need a dedicated team of volunteers to help deliver Supersonic over the festival weekend (21-23 October) and also in the run up to the festival (early October onwards).

The festival is small enough for everyone involved as a volunteer to gain an overview of how the festival works, and to give real input and value. We expect a minimum of 12 hours over the festival period in exchange for a weekend wristband.

In addition to festival volunteers, we are also seeking a small team of professional quality photographers to help us document the festival.

HOW TO APPLY:

If you are interested in volunteering for Supersonic Festival, please click here to download the application form.

Completed application forms should be emailed to volunteer[at]capsule.org.uk before Friday 23 September 2011. Please mark in the subject line of the email VOLUNTEER or PHOTOGRAPHER.

The first volunteer meeting will take place on Monday 26 September, 7pm where you will be able to find out more about the festival and meet the team.

NB/ unfortunately we can only consider applicants who are 18 years old and over.

Monarch! Q&A
For our tenth Q&A, we welcome Basque country sludge-metallers Monarch!  With some of the slowest tempos and heaviest dirges around, Monarch! promise to be a revelation at Supersonic 2011.  Read on.

1. Which five words describe what you know about Supersonic?
Rob Shaffer : Respected international experimental music festival.
Michell Bidegain : Criminally loud public address systems.
Shiran Kaidin : Eclectic, surprising, loud, classy and crunchy.
Emilie Bresson : Fun, fucking good loud music

2. What can people expect of Monarch at the festival?
Rob S. : Extreme nothingness.
Michell : A 13bpm black mass.
Shiran : Slow and loud vibrations.
Emilie : A slow motion march to the end of all.

3. Why make music – what does it do for you that nothing else does?
Rob S. : Music forces one to exist in the present moment, and provides the possibility of expressing true emotion which listeners could choose to feel as well .
Michell : Denim and leather. No explanation as to why, just a constant driving need to make music.
Shiran : Music is the way to express what cannot be described.
Emilie: It makes me be myself and, for a moment, it makes me forget about anything else but the music we play.

4. Who else on the bill are you hoping to see? (And why?)
Rob S. : There are many legendary performers playing this festival, i am hoping to see zombi because their music makes me feel good, electric wizard for their crushing rythm and volume, zu3 for david tibet, secret chiefs 3 for their non pretentious technicality. i hope to see as many artists as possible really.
Michell : Zombi, Turbonegro, WITTR, Electric Wizard, Secret Chiefs 3.
Shiran : Electric Wizard, TRBNGR, Wolves in the throne room, Bardo Pond and Secret Chief 3.
Emilie : Same here!

5. Finally, your essential ‘surviving-Supersonic’ items are…
Rob S : Good friends.
Michell : Beer.
Shiran : Ears and eyes will be enough I think.
Emilie : My ear plugs.

ORE interview – Sam Underwood
by Ross Cotton

Sam Underwood is a familiar face to the Supersonic stage, after performing in various guises including the manic-acid-circuit-bending Glatze, and the more delicate, electro/acoustic Mr Underwood. This year sees Sam returning to Supersonic as one-third of drone doom tuba band Ore.  Along with Ben Waddington and Stuart Estell, the trio have developed a heavy metal sound, featuring tubas at its core.

“Ore was an idea that me and Ben had in a pub, quite some time ago now”, says Sam. “It was one of those ideas that could have gone nowhere. We spotted the potential and we wanted to take the bass end, very heavy slow riffs. But when it involves two out of three of you learning to play tubas from scratch, that’s quite an epic task”, says Sam.

“Basically Stuart Estell is the only person who’s an accomplished tuba player at the moment.  He’s also heavily into doom metal, which was key. It really required someone open-minded enough to embrace the concept.  He’s writing the pieces as I’m learning how to play”.

Sam also played the tuba at last year’s Supersonic with Lash Frenzy.  “That was the first time I did the tuba stuff live. It serves as a proof of concept!”, he says. “It was an improvised noise gig, and I was playing it through some effects pedals and a massive bass amp. I couldn’t play, but I could make some interesting noises. My decision was to learn an instrument seriously during my year long sabbatical. And because I liked tuba, and because we had an idea for a band, I decided to do that”.

The whole idea of Ore seems to reflect the industrial past of Birmingham magnificently, something that the trio had in mind from the start. “It has it’s influences in all of that”, says Sam.  “Obviously (the tuba) is a massive great lump of metal for one thing, and that’s part of it, they’re a very physical thing to play”.

While this subverted-stereotype of brass instruments will certainly act as a surprise to many who clasp eyes, and ears, on Ore. “We aim to create epic experiences, where people come along and are wowed by the scale, the sound and the sense of witnessing something totally new”, he says. “It’s a luscious, heavy epic vibe, a different vibe to a lot of other stuff going on. But that’s what Supersonic is all about. It’s the blend of acts put on that’s pretty unique”.

Make sure you don’t miss Ore and their blend of heavy doom tubas as part of this year’s line-up.  Sam Underwood recommends you check out:  “Secret Chiefs 3 (I really like the mix of influences they bring to bear), ZU93, Fire! With Oren Ambarchi, Tony Conrad, Pekko Kappi and Alva Noto”.

http://www.soundofore.com/

My Pecha Kucha 20×20 – Birmingham 01/02/11 from Sam Underwood on Vimeo.

As the weeks get nearer to Supersonic Festival 2011 we present no2. in our series of podcasts, lovingly created by Chris Downing for your listening pleasure and to give you a taster of what will be on offer as part of our program this year. LISTEN HERE

Playlist

Hello Bastards –Part Chimp
Whirly-Bird – Silver Apples
Matter – Alexander Tucker
Four Violins (1964) (Edit #1) – Tony Conrad
Vinum Sabbathi – Electric Wizard
A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. – Teeth Of The Sea
If I Took Your Hand – Fire
Balance Of The 19 – Secret Chiefs 3
Splice The Mainbrace – Slabdragger
Dreams Coming To An End – Envy
Maatunut – Circle
Xerrox Sora – Alva Noto
Erinys – Zu
Oli Mulla Aarre Kallis – Pekko Käppi
The Echo From The Purple Dawn 2 – Astro

Weekend Tickets can be purchased from HERE
For more info on our line up see HERE

Supersonic Q&As : White Hills

Hopefully you’ve kept up-to-date with all our artist Q&As.  They’ve kept us pretty busy here at Capsule HQ, so we’re thankful to the lovely people at The 405 for doing this Q&A with kraut-glam-space-rockers White Hills.  You’ll want to clicky-click this link here for all the action.

http://whitehillsmusic.tumblr.com/

Current 93 – recent live show available for free download

David Tibet of Current 93 is performing at Supersonic 2011 as part of Zu93, a collaboration with the Italian death-jazz outfit Zu.  Current 93 performed early in August at OFF Festival in Katowice, Poland and the entire set has been made available for a Tibet-authorised free download by Hennessy Williams.  Just follow the link to the Current 93 site Coptic Cat below.

http://www.copticcat.com/

Simon Fowler – interview with an illustrator/printmaker
by Ross Cotton

London based illustrationist and printmaker Simon Fowler has been commissioned to design a poster for this year’s festival. Previously creating pen and ink works for the likes of Earth and Sunn O))), Simon returns to Supersonic after debuting his art in 2010 for the From Light to Dark exhibition.

“(Last year) was the first time I attended Supersonic”, says Simon. “It’s the festival I’ve enjoyed the most, because it’s curated by people who really care about what they’re doing. I’ve met so many people; it’s just an incredibly well crafted event”.

Simon has also developed a keen creative relationship with previous festival performers, dub-psych duo Devilman. “Within a year, I’m 80% of the way through the artwork for their album”, says Simon. “I think this Devilman piece has been one of the most enjoyable. “It’s an idea that I had quite a long time ago and it fits perfectly with their music. I’ve been able to put more time into it rather than a typical commission. It’s nice to be crossing genres and not just being pigeonholed in metal or doom”, he says.

“Music plays the biggest influence in my creative process”. Fowler’s analogue artwork seems to have flourished extensively over the last few years. A journey that is well and truly rooted with contemporary musicians. “I’ve been working with Stephen O’Malley since about 2009, he’s one of my main collaborators,” explains Simon. “That’s knocked on into doing stuff for Earth. I did the artwork for the reissue of their first album last year, and I’m working on a poster for Wolves in the Throne Room at the moment. I was given a brief a couple of weeks ago from them, giving me the visual ideas they had to tie in with their album. I haven’t actually heard the album, so it’ll be interesting to see their performance (at the festival) against what I’ve created”.

Though Simon often feels that viewers sometimes misinterpret the ideologies of his art. “A lot of people try to describe my work as being dark, but I don’t necessarily see it like that”, says Simon. “I think it’s more expansive, and maybe its just the music it’s associated with; connotations of darkness. I thought it was quite natural, reflecting natural environments and the detail that’s in those environments, taking something that could be industrial on the surface, quite ugly, but if you really analyse all of the individual elements, you kind of see the beauty and geometry within that”.

And what are Simon’s plans for the future? “For the rest of the year, I’m going to be talking to Dylan Carlson and working on a project of his, not necessarily Earth but something he’s thinking of doing”.

Simon Fowler recommends you check out: “Fire! with Oren Ambarchi (it looks pretty eclectic!), Tony Conrad, Cloaks and Scorn”. Check out Simon Fowler’s poster design at the festival, and be sure to bring an extra bit of cash for a print!

Simon Fowler’s Cataract Operation site

New sounds from Secret Chiefs 3 (possibly)

Now this is a tricky one.  Secret Chiefs 3 have posted a sampler of their new 7″, a record they hope to have for sale at their Supersonic show.  Except it’s not by Secret Chiefs 3.  Though it might be.  Kind of.  What are we talking about?

It seems to go like this:  Secret Chiefs 3 was started by former Mr Bungle man Trey Spruance (him above) in the mid 90s.  They seemingly play everything from surf rock to death metal to Persian funk.  But again, they sort of don’t.  What is clear is that Spruance creates a new branch from the Secret Chiefs t(h)ree every time he gets an urge to go in a particular direction.  Which brings us back to this new 7″  – it’s actually a split 7″ between Ishraqiyun and FORMS and you can listen right here.  ‘Split’ seems to a good word for this whole project.  And what does it sound like?  There’s no way we can do a better description job that the band themselves:

“An unassuming but brilliant piece by Bernard Hermann was hidden in the background during the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still. Originally just piano, vibes and timpani, “Radar” now gets exploded into an uncalled-for over-exposure, via the world’s only fully organic, wood & spirit mechanized orchestra, FORMS.”

What they said.

http://www.webofmimicry.com/label.php?band=sc3

Meet FIRE! (+ Oren Ambarchi)

This is a real coup for Supersonic 2011 and we’re immensely proud to bring these artists together.  Operating in a free zone that’s not afraid to groove, to open up space or to pummel the senses with frantic assault, FIRE! are a living, breathing organism.  An organism that at Supersonic will be joined by the minimal guitar composer Oren Ambarchi.  Who, then, are FIRE!?

1. Mats Gustafsson – sax/electronics
Gustafsson is a sax player, improviser, live electonics manipulator and composer who sounds as if he’s melded with his instrument.  Born in 1964 in Umeå, Northern Sweden, he’s been seen in the UK most recently as part of the Brass Unbound collective playing with legendary Dutch DIY team The Ex.  But he’s also worked in projects with the likes of Peter Brötzmann, Sonic Youth, Merzbow and Otomo Yoshihide, and is seems to be never afraid of what each situation will bring.  If that wasn’t enough, he’s also a producer of international festivals and concert tours as well as running his own record labels Slottet, OlofBright Editions and Blue Tower Records.

2. Johan Berthling – bass
Johan Berthling was born in Stockholm 1973. Since studying at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Stockholm (1996-1998) he has worked as a freelance with jazz, improvised music and more. One of his main projects is the minimal, experimental pop outfit Tape, of whom The Wire recently said, “Tape organically blend balsa-light acoustic textures (guitars, percussion, winds and brass) with a range of organs and a gentle yet firm digital pressure.”

3. Andreas Werlin – drums/percussion
Born 1982 in the vast snow of northern Sweden and later on raised on the small west coast village Strömstad, Andreas Werlin is best known for the inventive electro-percussive band Wildbirds & Peacedrums that he shares with his wife Mariam Wallentin. Their 2007 debut album saw them awarded the Swedish Jazz Act of the Year award, which gives you some idea of just how varied and original Andreas’ work is.  With improvisational music at the heart of his playing, he is today a part of many acclaimed bands like Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Dan Berglund’s Tonbruket and Loney Dear. Werlin has also written music for theater and film.

4. Oren Ambarchi – guitar
In his own words when asked what people can expect of his collaboration with FIRE!, Ambarchi says:
“In all honesty I don’t know what to expect as the Supersonic show will be the first time we’ve worked together. Additionally I’ll be flying all the way from Australia for 30+ hrs, landing at Heathrow, driving straight to Birmingham and hitting it immediately so…it should be awesome, hahaha.”

There you go.  Don’t worry about FIRE! – it’ll just be awesome.

FIRE! site

Meet Astro

Hiroshi Hasegawa was in the band C.C.C.C., one of the biggest Japanese noise groups, and Astro is his solo project.
Born in 1963, Hasegawa first worked on improvisation with just his voice and drums before forming C.C.C.C  in 1989.  Astro began in 1993 as a project using analog synthesizers.  He formed Cosmic Coincidence as a new configuration of C.C.C.C. in 2010 with the members Manuel Knapp and Rohco.  To date, he has released an enviable 50+ releases across all his projects.  Throughout, Hiroshi describes his playing style as “like drifting between the meditation and awakening state with electronics”.  Astro in the recent past plays with electronic-noise, frequently an assault on both his equipment and the audience.  It’s as close to a rock-band destroying its gear in last-rites death throes as we’ve seen in the recent electronics scenes.  Judge for yourself in the clips below.

Astro on Facebook

Theme of the day: bowed strings

We’re always making links between the disparate worlds of artists here at Supersonic and today we bring together three unique artists who all share a simple common bond.  Pekko Kappi, Tony Conrad and Agathe Max all use bowed instruments in their music, all with very different techniques and to different ends, each highly skilled.

Finland’s Pekko Kappi plays the Jouhikko, the ancient Finnish-Karelian bowed lyre.  He got involved with the Jouhikko in 1997 in the Ala-Könni–institute of Kaustinen and ever since has been studying the tradition with the master players of Finland, Estonia and Sweden.   This particular lyre was played with a bow as early as in the European Middle Ages although in the area around the Baltic Sea there is evidence of both bowed and plucked lyres. In Estonia and Eastern Finland the Jouhikko remained in use until the beginning of the 20th century.  Kappi is one of a number of players investigated this instrument and bringing it alive for new generations.

Tony Conrad is a legendary figure in both film and music for many people.  He was an early member of the New York-based ensemble The Dream Syndicate alongside La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela and John Cale, using continuous tones to create what they called ‘dream music’.  Conrad’s first musical release was 1972’s ‘Outside the Dream Syndicate’ collaboration with Faust (check out our Spotify playlist for a track from that) but he released very little work until a series of box sets in the past decade.  His film work is justifiably lauded too and his early piece ‘The Flicker’ is considered a landmark of the late 1960s structural film movement.  One more fact?  His father was Arthur Conrad who worked with Everett Warner during World War II designing dazzle camouflage for the US Navy.

Agathe Max is a violinist from Lyon, France.  With an elegant command of melody and a strident use of rhythm, Max creates dynamic, fast-flowing loop pieces that encompass noise, post-classicism and krautrock with nods to the High Lonesome Raga as filtered through Henry Flynt.  Her current album ‘This Silver String’ has been really well received in many places.  “Agathe Max delivers a drone to keep the earth turning on its axis, with a keen and romantic sense of swing. Everything you need to have a good time” – Jonathan Kane.

Check these three unique artists below.

Agathe Max @ Grrrnd Zero (Lyon, France) from S etant chaussee on Vimeo.