Supersonic Q&A no. 2: Part Chimp.

Here’s our second artist Q&A to give you an insight into the inner-workings of Supersonic 2011. Part Chimp bring their heavy noise-rock to the festival in what will be one of their last ever performances.  It’s a real shame they’re splitting up, but that could also give you reason no.137 to book your ticket.

1. Which five words describe what you know about Supersonic?
Harvey
Milk
Birmingham
Dirty
Burgers

2. What can people expect of Part Chimp at the festival?
One of our last UK shows. If you haven’t seen us before, or it has been a while, now’s the time. If you’ve seen us loads of times, come celebrate the death throes.

3. Why make music – what does it do for you that nothing else does?
It’s a team version of primal scream therapy.

4. Who else on the bill are you hoping to see?  (And why?)
Alex Tucker, Kogumaza, and a bunch of other mates. Bardo Pond, Alva Noto, WitTR, Tony Conrad and others. Supersonic’s a good opportunity to check out an extreme blend of stuff.

5. Finally, your essential ‘surviving-Supersonic’ items are…
Earplugs, spare earplugs, the green cross code, & the paperback of “how black was our sabbath”.

http://www.partchimp.com

In 2002, being inspired by Haitian vaudou musicians’ capacity to make intensely powerful music with almost no technology, William Bennett first employed djembes and doundouns on the classic Wriggle Like A Fucking Eel 12” by Whitehouse, in what was seen as a radical musical direction by many in the wider noise/industrial scene.
The Cut Hands project itself was founded by William Bennett in 2007 initially to experiment further with his obscure collection of Ghanaian percussion instruments in free-form work-outs alongside other types of (genuine) sound experimenting. The fruit of 8 years of recordings finally culminated in 2011’s critically acclaimed and best-selling release Afro Noise I.

The music of Cut Hands featured heavily in the VBS films Liberia (2009) and Mandingo (2010)

http://djcuthands.blogspot.com/

Part Chimp are a band from Camberwell in London that were formed by Tim Cedar, Jon Hamilton and Nick Prior in 2000. Current line-up is Tim (vocals & guitar), Jon (drums), and Iain Hinchliffe (guitar).

They play rock music with elements of noise. Both on record and live, Part Chimp have a reputation for sounding extremely loud. Their records are released in the UK by Rock Action records in Europe & Japan by Play it Again Sam and in the US by Monitor records.

http://www.partchimp.com/

Since their initial formation in 2006, the London-based Teeth Of The Sea have metamorphosized into the most adventurous and intrepid psychedelic rock outfit in the UK. Taking on board influences like Ennio Morricone, Eno, Delia Derbyshire, Goblin, Butthole Surfers and Harmonia, they’ve arrived at an incendiary sound that effortlessly marries the aural enlightenment of a far-reaching avant-garde sensibility with the reckless abandon of trashy rock & roll immediacy.

Teeth Of The Sea exist on a strange and beguiling astral plane, whereby the boundaries between the synth odysseys of the 70s, the guitar-noise-fuelled infernos of the 80s, horrorscore schlock, Reich-ian repetition, and a whole plethora of other cathode-ray and speaker-stack birthed epiphanies are blurred into one futuristic and fearsomely coherent whole. Teeth Of The Sea are spinning into a whole new orbit.

http://www.myspace.com/thewrongjaws

Kogumaza formed in Nottingham in 2009. They use primitive rhythms, patterns and riffs to create dense and mesmeric song-cycles. The band’s live sound is manipulated through dub delays and echoes, allowing what is basically a heavy rock trio to expand and willingly lose control of the sound they make as they make it.

The resulting music marries fuzzed-out psychedelia to an ambient aesthetic, placing the band somewhere between the infinite repetition of Moondog, the thick gloop of Master Of Reality-era Sabbath and the hypnotic pulse of Lungfish.

They have recently released their first LP on the Low Point label and toured Europe with Zomes.

“At times Kogumaza sounds like the future or the strange murmurings of the universe; at others, the cyclical pounding of drums conjures ghosts of ancient rituals, as if drawn from the very centre of the earth” Fluid Radio

http://www.low-point.com

Kogumaza – Nottm Trent University 29.05.11 from neil johnson on Vimeo.

Alva Noto is a stage name of sound artist Carsten Nicolai who uses art and music as complementary tools to create microscopic views of creative processes. He is a member of the music groups Signal (with Frank Bretschneider, AKA Komet and Olaf Bender, AKA Byetone) and Cyclo. (with Ryoji Ikeda).

Nicolai transforms sound by looping oscillators and tone generators. He does not use sequencers, but edits his work to give his compositions rhythmic structures. Clicks and glitches are not used as ornamental additions to the compositions but make up the essential rhythmic and harmonic elements of the work.

“Nicolai, along with sometime collaborator Ryoji Ikeda, is in the vanguard of artists whose work represents a genuinely experimental fusion of visual and sound art.” The Wire

http://www.alvanoto.com

Olaf Benders, manager of Raster-Noto record label, performs solo under the name Byetone.

Bender creates his music digitally. He assembles sine tones to complex sound fabrics. digital clicks and effect plug-ins are essential to create the rhythms. All this is brought in a timely relation and so a track is born — an artificial world without any physical effort.

Bender uses visuals in the sense of animated light. Abstract animations support the abstract pieces of music — in this way the rhythm of music is transformed into a graphic equivalent. Bender controls the animations in realtime. In connection with sound effect processing this enables him to interact live on stage.

http://www.myspace.com/benderbyetone

“Slabdragger can, and will, stand toe-to-toe with Torche, YOB, Floor, Sleep and Electric Wizard. Big words for a largely unknown band from South London. But we genuinely feel that we have an undiscovered gem on our hands with Slabdragger – they are that good.

Two years in the making, and ridiculously fully-formed and fully-realised, Slabdragger  sing about epic quests to Nepal to find killer weed, rubbish Roman Centurions, battling huge Octopian creatures and drinking rum. ” Holy Roar Records

http://www.myspace.com/slabdragger

Hello folks. My name’s David and I’m the Marketing intern for Supersonic 2011. I’m based in Manchester so I have the dubious pleasure of getting to know the M6 in intimate detail over the next few months. One of my first jobs has been to put together a Spotify playlist for artists performing at this year’s festival. It’s been great to check out some fantastic acts – hope you enjoy listening. Personally I’m excited about Skull Defekts (their current record ‘Peer Amid’ with Daniel Higgs is superb), Wolves in the Throne Room, Nathan Bell and Bardo Pond. Cloaks are my newest discovery too. Liking them a lot.

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

Fresh from their artist residency at Roadburn Festival, Supersonic are delighted to announce that both Circle and Pharaoh Overlord will join the festival bill.

Formed in 1991, Circle is the most visible and prolific name in the Finnish avant-rock underground. Having survived innumerable lineup changes, the band and its founder, bassist/vocalist/guitarist Jussi Lehtisalo, have constantly reinvented themselves, weaving hypnotic mantras out of exacting Krautrock beats, heavy riffs, arty noise, dark psychedelia, and soundtrack-like beauty. Hard, chilly repetition has served as the lone unifying theme throughout 15 years of experiments.

http://www.circlefinland.com/

To accompany this performance, we will be screening a special new ‘documentary’ on the band, ‘Man with a Video Camera‘.

Fresh from their artist residency at Roadburn Festival, Supersonic are delighted to announce that both Circle and Pharaoh Overlord will join the festival bill.

Pharaoh Overlord are a self described “Stoner Rock” side project of Circle, but don’t go getting visions of Nebula and Kyuss in your head just yet: this is more like “Stoner Minimalism.” Pharaoh Overlord deconstruct the standard rock song creating vast soundscapes that stretch time and space. Riffs capable of moving mountains repeat endlessly and when the silence finally comes, it’s deafening.

http://www.ektrorecords.com

With just the right blend of psychedelia and hypnotic grooves, White Hills weaves in and out of anthemic chants, deep space bleeps and other worldly madness for a mix that proves to be intoxicating. Since the release of the band’s debut album, listeners have been praising their originality and unique brand of heavy space rock. White Hills formed out of the need to forge Space Rock into the 21st Century.

‘A label like “space-rock” deserves music that’s as nuanced and limitless-feeling as space, and space-rock deserves a band like White Hills. Not only do they add urgency to familiar psychedelic rock templates, but they pay just as close attention to the quiet moments as the raging ones– each track on their self-titled Thrill Jockey debut displays a careful layering of sounds and atmospheres’ -Pitchfork

http://www.myspace.com/whitehills

There are some bands who are content to make a record, play a few shows, and exist as a musical entity only when it’s time to make a new album, and then there are bands like The Skull Defekts who are the backbone of their musical communities. Hard at work on their numerous individual projects, constantly collaborating, releasing their own records on their own imprints, and touring incessantly, The Skull Defekts are Sweden’s answer to the States’ Sonic Youth and the Netherlands’ The Ex and one of the centerpieces of the Swedish experimental rock scene.

http://www.skulldfx.com/

http://www.myspace.com/skulldfx

FIRE! is a high calibre allstar combo from Sweden featuring Mats Gustafsson from The Thing (saxophone/rhodes), Johan Berthling from Tape (bass) and Andreas Werliin from Wildbirds and Peacedrums (percussion), now with added firepower on this special run of dates courtesy of Australian drone lord and Sunn O)))/Gravetemple alumnus Oren Ambarchi (guitar/electronics). Their sound is a frenzy of monolithic rock textures, scorched electronics, kosmiche grooves and
an all-channels-open free jazz spirit, all amped up at blistering psychedelic voltage.

FIRE! released their debut album “You liked me five minutes ago” through Rune Grammofon in 2009. A new LP featuring Jim O’ Rourke on guitar is on the way. They keep good company and coax a sound that engulfs your expectations and stretches taut grooves into endless panned-out vistas and back.

http://www.earthwindand.com

This performance is presented in partnership with Birmingham Jazz

http://www.birminghamjazz.co.uk

Producing work that is epic in concept, sound, and artistic approach, Steve Moore and A.E. Paterra, the masterminds and multi-instrumentalists behind Zombi, have re-imagined the architecture of progressive rock and dynamic instrumentals -carving a niche in underground music distinctly their own.

http://www.myspace.com/zombi

Secret Chiefs 3 were founded by guitar and sax player Trey Spruance and are based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. Their music styles vary throughout their albums with their performance of surf rock, Persian, death metal, and other various styles – the only thing unifying the diverse range of styles they play is how precisely and accurately they play them.
Some of the members were also key members of Mr. Bungle.

http://www.myspace.com/secretchiefs3

The project of former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris. The project was formed in the early ’90s by Harris along with Nic Bullen (one of the founder members of Napalm Death in 1981). Bullen left the group in April 1995 and the projects continues on to this day as an essentially one man show.

Industrial and experimental in nature, much of the output focuses on minimalist beats with an emphasis on very deep bass lines, often resembling dub and trip-hop in structure.

http://www.myspace.com/mjhscorn

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During the Summer of 2002 at an Earth First rendezvous in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, guitarist Nathan Weaver was inspired to create a band that merged a Cascadian eco-spiritual awareness with the misanthropic Norwegian eruptions of the 90’s. The band envisioned would strive to create a mythic space where artist and listener alike could strip away the mindset of the mundane to reveal a more ancient and transcendent consciousness. The mysterious and wild energies of the untrammeled forests of the Northwest would be channeled into sonic form.

http://www.wittr.com

Located in the far reaches in the south of France lies Bayonne, a small City untouched by modern architecture and home to one of the slowest, heaviest and loudest funeral doom metal bands Europe has to offer. They call them selves Monarch and they ascended to this Earth in the year of 2004.

Drawing comparisons to the likes of heavy weights Khanate, Burzum, Corrupted and the Melvins, Monarch are a unique band with the pure intent on creating blood curdling feedback drenched physical sound through the use of insane volume and low end frequencies, oh, and with a wall of sweet vintage amps.

http://www.myspace.com/monarchuberalles

Eternal Tapestry will make you wish you were raised in Portland. Eternal Tapestry will make you believe that mixing the experimental sounds of Jackie O’ Motherfucker, the drones of Barn Owl and the ambient folk flavors of Plankton Wat is possible. Eternal Tapestry will bring back to your memory the krautrock-ish psych sounds of Popol Vuh. Eternal Tapestry is a visual sound that you would want to have constantly looping in your head.- magalighosn.wordpress.com

http://www.myspace.com/eternaltapestry

The heaviest band in the world. The oblivion and ecstasy of crushing doom and high grade marijuana, a sonic aural trip far, far away from this world, where only cyclopean walls of crackling vintage valve amplifiers set to the full overdrive and primal ritualistic beats can wash away all the filth and drudgery of everyday life. Our music is DoomMetal, the only true definition. We toll the bell of hell, our sound is a crushing behemoth of funeral march psychedelia.
Violent, bleak and ritualistic, we bow to the black altar of the RIFF. We do not rock, we kill!

http://www.myspace.com/electricwizarddorsetdoom

After a storming DJ set at last year’s Supersonic, we’ve invited Cloaks back for more, considered to be one of the more abstract and uncompromising production teams to have emerged from the spannered and industrial-edged UK dubstep scene. Their distorted and often claustrophobic sound, created using found sound and circuit bent instruments was first debuted on the London based Werk Discs, with their output drawing comparison to not only modern bass music but to the darker sounds of noise and industrial.

http://www.3by3cloaks.blogspot.com
http://www.3by3music.com

Bardo Pond are an American psychedelic rock band from Philadelphia, formed in 1991, and who are currently signed to London based label Fire Records. The current members are Michael Gibbons (guitar), John Gibbons (guitar), Isobel Sollenberger (flute and vocals), Clint Takeda (bass guitar), Jason Kourkonis (drums), and Aaron Igler (synth/electronics). Bardo Pond’s drug-inspired music is often classified as space rock, acid rock, post-rock, shoegaze, noise or psychedelic rock.

http://www.bardopond.org/

Solo project of Japanese musician Hiroshi Hasegawa of the influential noise music group C.C.C.C. Astro’s music is made using assorted analog equipment including Moog, EMS, and Flower Electronics synthesizers. His music covers a wide range of styles in the experimental psychedelic music field; from space music to psychedelically tinged harsh noise.

http://www2.odn.ne.jp/astro/