For his new documentary the Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller and his sometime accomplice Nick Abrahams turn their attention to fellow film pioneer and iconic performance artist Bruce Lacey.
Three years in the making the film examines Lacey’s remarkable legacy as a painter and sculptor (creating extraordinary mechanical devices in the 1960s), an avant-garde filmmaker (alongside Dick Lester and Bob Godfrey) and as an all-round cultural chameleon, working with The Goons, The Beatles and even folk-rock super-group Fairport Convention. An intimate portrait of a self confessed ‘silly bugger’ and true visionary artist who, at the age of 85, still lives the bohemian dream; creating art and magic in a farmhouse near Norwich.
Offering an insight into some of the hows and whys of maintaining an independent spirit whilst on the very edge of the avant-garde, this panel will feature a number of maverick artists. How is the drive to make art sustained under sometimes-difficult circumstances? After many years of writing and touring music, will the desire to create ever be satiated?
Supersonic Festival is now in its 10th year, beginning as a one-day event it has become an internationally renowned weekend of music, art and more. The panellists have hugely influenced the festival producers, as well as many other artists performing at Supersonic. ‘You Can Be You’ (the title of the Honey Bane / Crass EP) will offer a fascinating insight into the drive and motivation behind some of the most prolific experimental artists around.
Panellists include:
Penny Rimbaud is a musician, poet and co founder of anarchist punk band Crass in 1977. A prolific writer, he has published over 14 books, set up Dial House and Exitstencil Press plus continues to release music three decades after Crass disbanded.
“If there was one message we had in Crass, it was that ‘there is no authority but yourself’. You don’t need to accept that you’re nobody, you can trust in yourself.”
Jarboe is a musician and artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with the highly influential Swans. With founder Michael Gira, the duo was the core of Swans until the group broke up in 1998. Since the band’s split she has made 17 solo albums, many self released and is a prolific collaborator, often working with new and emerging artists.
Eugene Robinson is the vocalist and co founder of the legendary avant rock band Oxbow. They formed in 1989 and have since been a prolific force in the experimental music world, touchng noise rock, musique concrete, free jazz and blues over the years. Oxbow are tireless touring band and the subject of a series of films looking at the whys of art creation, touring life and 20 years in, the motivations for continuing to do what you do.
Chair – John Doran is the editor of The Quietus and a music journalist/cultural commentator for many a publication. He is a regular columnist for Vice.
A strand of film programming curated by Jason Forrest at Network Awesome.
“Everyone likes to make things, sometime they end up being famous for it but often they just end up looking like freaks. Here’s a salute to those people who either did it themselves, made something up, or just did it like no one else.”
Network Awesome is a new online TV site that curates the media film, documentaries, and video collections from all eras of broadcast history. It’s free, not full of junk, and it broadcasts 6 new shows each day. The archives are stand-alone repositories of media, available anytime and are, like, totally social so you can share it with your friends. Root around in there! You’ll be amazed at what you find.
http://networkawesome.com/
The Vinyl Rally is an large-scale installation combining sound art, video art and kinetic sculpture into every kid and kidult’s dream-hybrid; an immersive participatory play-set playing off vinyl fetishism, video arcade mystique and the machismo of motor sports in a video game played within a real world setting!
Classic first person video racing is simulated as remote control cars with styli attached, race across a track constructed from a mass of disused vinyl records. Transmitting sound (produced as the styli skim along the vinyl surface) and vision (from wireless spy cameras mounted to the front of each car) to reengineered old school racing consoles with immersive 50” flat screens. Here players navigate the course from the vehicles point of view, not only controlling the cars movements, but also the parameters of the resulting sounds they create via a series of unique audio effects mounted onto the dashboard giving each car its own distinct aural flavour. These sounds are emitted from speakers built into the seats causing them to vibrate in correspondence with the movements on screen, producing a personally immersive experience aurally, visually and physically that can only be truly appreciated seated at the controls.
Vinyl Rally is the project of Australian artist Lucas Abela, AKA Justice Yeldham
ORE and KK NULL are delighted to announce a distinctive collaboration as part of Supersonic 2012.
In many ways, KK NULL’s collaboration with Lash Frenzy (with Sam on tuba) at Supersonic 2010 acted as a proof of concept for the amplified tuba sound of ORE, so it’s entirely fitting for Capsule to bring the two entities together this year. Better still, KK NULL and ORE have gelled so well in the early stages of working on this collaboration that they have also decided to release a limited CDr single together, which will be available at the festival.
They will be performing a specially-written piece together, culminating in a vast cacophony of sound. Be scared.
Mariexxme’s lush documentary “The Luxury of Empire”, filmed on the French leg of Oxbow’s 2009 European tour offers an intimate portrait of a band in full artistic maturity. It sees them undergoing the daily trials of touring with grace and provides sometimes touching and humorous insights into an otherwise mysterious band. The film’s dark, cinematic aesthetic was inspired by the atmosphere of Oxbow’s recent work. It echoes its title and is interlaced with live performances and candid interviews in which the band peel away the layers of their processes and which bring the viewer as close as it’s possible to get to a band without being in it.
In advance of the world assault subsequent to the band OXBOW’s spring 2013 release of their long-awaited new record the THIN BLACK DUKE, there is this, the OXBOW ORCHESTRA. Strings, woodwinds, brass, operatic backing vocals and classically contained renderings of the OXBOW song book and featuring EUGENE S. ROBINSON and NIKO WENNER from OXBOW, the ORCHESTRA delivers songs new and old in a format unaccustomed to the blood and sweat of a typical OXBOW outing.
A textbook definition of ONCE IN A LIFETIME.
Lash Frenzy return to this year’s festival to present ‘Vir Heroicus Sublimis’.Celebrating a decade of Supersonic, Lash Frenzy will be taking inspiration from their own decade’s worth of performances and throwing them into a blender, along with your brain. Whatever comes out is whatever comes out, so expect everything and expect nothing. All we know for sure is that there’s more than one person involved and less than 1000. Featuring members of Anaal Nathrackh, Beestung Lips, Benediction, Sally, Einstellung.
If you weren’t able to get in to the Lash Frenzy vs KK Null performance at Supersonic 2010, then make sure you don’t miss out twice!
This performance is one of a number of special collaborations taking place at the tenth edition of the festival.
A sneak preview of the collaborative documentary which examines the cultural significance and legacy of the legendary CRASS Records compilation album releases (1980-1984) and which explores synergies between these and the Imperfect Cinema project.
The CRASS ‘Bullshit Detector’ compilation albums were DIY in ethos and were absolutely not concerned with traditional ‘production values’ as a criterion for exclusion or inclusion, but rather the sentiments and ideas expressed within each recording.
No two tracks on these compilations are the same, many utilising home recording technologies and improvised instrumentation. This was nothing short of groundbreaking, as by eschewing a traditional ‘industrial’ production value system, CRASS actually provided a venue for participation which valourised experimentation, resourcefulness and individual expression. In rejecting the codes and conventions of the ‘professionalised’ production value system, the Bullshit Detector compilations gave voice to those whom otherwise might have never have had their ideas and actions disseminated to a wider audience.
These fascinating releases provide the basis for Imperfect Films’ first feature-length project.
Workshop takes place 7-9pm on Friday 19th October at the Custard Factory To book a place, please email [email protected] with ‘Imperfect Cinema’ in the subject line
A fantastic opportunity to learn about DIY filming and provide visuals for one of the performing artists at the this year’s festival.
Imperfect Cinema is a Micro-Cinema Collective who explore participatory modes of production with a particular emphasis on DIY methodologies. This year Imperfect Cinema will be leading a workshop where participants are invited to consider the forge which birthed heavy metal music. Participants will explore the uniquely post industrial setting of the festival with cameras and media that are uniquely post-industrial and metallic!
Attendees will be able explore the ‘halide’ of super-8mm film and the ‘oxide’ of audio cassette tape used to capture video, by using redundant camera technologies to capture images which will be processed, prepared and edited by Imperfect Cinema into two distinct visual forms. The first will be the visual backdrop to the lo-fi monolithic grit of Drunk In Hell’s performance, an experience which should definitely not be missed, and the second is an alternative visual document of the festival which will form a unique part of the archive of its tenth anniversary.
Imperfect Cinema will be joined by renowned sonic and visual artist Nicholas Bullento discuss Imperfect Cinema and its influences, including the seminal Crass Records ‘Bullshit Detector’ compilation albums which featured the first vinyl appearance of Napalm Death.
Capsule like cake, a lot, and for our 10th anniversary celebrations, it seems only right to partake in a feast of epicurean delights. Join us for an afternoon of tea, sweet treats and a nice glass of fizz to toast 10 years of adventurous music and meet with some of the people that have made this event possible over the years.
There will be a number of special guests in attendance from artists, friends of the festival and some fantastical creatures. Like Alice in Wonderland, it may be the stupidist tea party you’ve ever been to.
The Tea Party acts as a thank you to those who have pledged £50 or more to our current We Fund campaign. Like many arts organisations, we are increasingly looking for new ways to continue what we do. This campaign allows people, if they are in the position to, to support us 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, friends and partners can help us further our ambition for this unique event.
The Sonic Feast is a unique sound led dining experience, featuring bespoke and unusual concoctions to celebrate the festival’s 10th year in style. Created in partnership with Companis, this event will feature a range of special guests including Supersonic Festival artist alumni and has a very limited capacity. Companis is a nomadic artist and curatorial practice creating bespoke dining experiences that immerse the diner in performance, food and spectacle. We’d love for you to join us for this very special event.
The Sonic Feast acts as a thank you to those who have pledged £150 or more to our current We Fund campaign. Like many arts organisations, we are increasingly looking for new ways to continue what we do. This campaign allows people, if they are in the position to, to support us 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, friends and partners can help us further our ambition for this unique event.
The Bug is one of many music projects of London-based producer Kevin Martin. Kevin has been a part of a number of groups including Techno Animal, The Sidewinder, God, Ice, Curse of the Golden Vampire, Zonal, King Midas Sound, Black Chow, Cult Of The 13th Hour, Pressure and Experimental Audio Research through which he’s experimented with fusing such diverse genres as grindcore, industrial, metal, hip-hop, dub, jazz and ambient. The Bug’s music draws influence from dancehall, noise, grime, and hip hop.
For this performance Kevin Martin will be joined by the ‘world’s fastest rapper’ and founder of Raggamuffin hip hop Daddy Freddy and Flow Dan (co-founder of UK Grime collective Roll Deep).
Free spirited Finnish artist Laura Naukkarinen. Since the release of her celebrated debut full length Kuutarha on Chicago’s Locust Music in 2005, Lau Nau has enjoyed considerable recognition for her intimate and playful blend of ethnic tinged folk songs with curious and intuitive sounds conjured from familiar and exotic sound sources.
http://www.haamu.com/launau/index.html
Tomutonttu is a creature who looks after all the dust. Jan Anderzen is a Tampere based artist who rearranges images and sounds and makes the music of Tomutonttu audible. Read streams, mutilated voices, groovy animal noises and records other people have made are some of the ingredients Anderzen uses to mold his ecstatic music. Someone described it like this: a confusing close-up of music, a microcosmos of strange sound events and dirt flying around in stereo space, interacting with a logic all of their own. Jan Anderzen is also the leader of the band Kemialliset Ystävät and one of the most recognized Finnish experimental music makers. He’s actively performing around the world and his discography is a labyrinth reflecting the nature of his art.
http://www.kemiallisetystavat.com/tomutonttu/ttinfo.html
Islaja is Merja Kokkonen, a visual artist and musician living and working in Berlin, Germany.
Since her debut in 2004, she has released four album-length works on Finland’s Fonal Records and one CD on Thurston Moore’s Ecstatic Peace label, as well as a series of singles on labels such as Not Not Fun and Root Strata.
She earned quick praise in the international music press for her unique vocal style and daring DIY approach to music composition, with kudos from the Wire magazine, Dusted, Pitchfork, Coke Machine Glow and Tiny Mix Tapes.
Her most recent work, Keraaminen Pää (Fonal 2010) also won praise in her native Finland, and was called “soulful, heartfelt” by Prefix Magazine while Pitchfork noted its “icy synth tones, crunchy samples and abstract gurgles.”
In addition to her solo work, she also performs with Finnish free folk supertrio Hertta Lussu Ässä, which released a full length in 2011 on Minneapolis label De Stijl records.
Islaja performs regularly at venues and festivals across Europe and the UK, and has shared the stage with bands as diverse as Animal Collective, Low, Handsome Furs, Skaters and Junip.
http://islaja.com/
Nicholas Bullen is an artist and composer whose work encompasses a range of fields and media (including performance, sound art, installations, text, and film).
Beginning as a founder member of the ‘extreme’ music group Napalm Death at the age of 13, he has a 30 year history of composition (releasing over 40 recordings and developing graphic scores for ensemble performance) and live performance (both solo and collaboratively).
His performance for Supersonic combines an improvised sound field (combining concrete edits and metallic abrasions with extended gas tone drifts and radiator drones, exclusively composed from electronically processed field recordings) and an excerpt from his film The Inverse Heliograph, an abstract meditation on memory constructed from up to four layers of Super 8mm cine film which have been overlaid, re-framed, temporally altered and re-photographed through coloured lenses.
A much-loved musical spectacle in his native Newcastle for many years now, Richard Dawson is a skewed troubadour who sings and plays guitar with a rare intensity and a very singular style. Dawson’s music is a collision of opposites, his hoarsely cracking voice suddenly rising to a magical soar that’s been compared to Tim Buckley, John Martyn and Richard Youngs, while his battered acoustic guitar veers from stumble to sublime in a way that can recall Sir Richard Bishop or Captain Beefheart. Add this to his snaring way with words and Dawson’s got you pinned
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
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.
