With visual arts being such a huge influence on how I receive live music, I will be awaiting Jarboe’s performance at the festival with extreme trepidation. Also known as The Living Jarboe, she practices what she preaches. As a member of Swans, and consequently Skin, Jarboe’s warbling yet emotive vocals are sure to be situated within a visual atmosphere that will make any attendee weak at the knees. Her performances invite you to be a part of her particular moment, creating shockingly powerful visions through the music itself. It will undoubtedly be one of the performances to watch and I have no doubts that we will be subject to a feast for the eyes and the ears. ‘Lavender Girl’ is within the upper echelons of my favourite tracks of all time, with its ability to create an atmosphere that I feel is almost unique amongst musicians. Examples such as  ‘Totem’ and ‘Miracle of Love’bring a slice of the ungodly down to us mere mortals, proving why Jarboe’s career has been such a long and healthy one. Make sure to watch this interview with Swans which dates back two decades!

If you are a fan of Jarboe, then be sure to check out the equally as enchanting artist, Lichens. Lichens is the name of Robert A. A. Lowe’s musical project, that needs to be seen live to be believed. With tracks that trick the mind into a sense of suspension in time, through seamlessly looped wordless vocals, instrumental intersections and a beautiful layering of sound, Lichens epitomises transcendental sound. For Supersonic goers who haven’t listened to his music before, ‘Faeries’ and ‘Shore Line Scoring’ are two of my favourite tracks, and I would urge any fans of Jarboe to check out the music of Lichens before the festival to make sure you do not miss out. Having collaborated with the likes of Lucky Dragons, Alan Licht, Lee Ranaldo, White/Light, Kevin Martin, Tyondai Braxton and Genesis P-Orridge, this guy certainly knows what he is doing.

Also make sure to check out his fascinating blog, at www.lichensarealive.com.

Also check out the video for an example of Lichens collaborative work with White/Light.

Lucky Dragons and The Berg Sans Nipple to play Kids Gigs at Supersonic 2011

It’s hard to imagine to two more perfect bands to play our Supersonic Kids Gigs than Lucky Dragons and The Berg Sans Nipple.  These will rule!   If everyone isn’t running around clapping and smiling in five minutes, we’ll need to think about refunds.

Lucky Dragons are all about people coming together to make sound, to make an event, to make something new and joyous.  It’s not by accident that they refer to their live shows as ‘actions’.  They encourage participation and this Supersonic live show promises to be all about (re)discovery and (re)turning to play to learn about ourselves and make new connections.  There’s a live video link below and more Lucky Dragons live films are here.

The Berg Sans Nipple are a Frenchman and a Nebraskan.  With two drums, synths, samples, a ton of percussion and vocals, their sounds hop-skip past each other, caught in devastatingly beautiful melodies held tight by a mind bending rhythm section.  Their new video ‘Changing the Shape’ (link below) is a fantastic twist on the age-old game of exquisite corpse where an image or story is built up person-by-person using instinct and imagination.  Let’s play!

http://thebergsansnipple.tumblr.com

http://www.hawksandsparrows.org/

The Berg Sans Nipple – Change The Shape from Clapping Music on Vimeo.

ARTSCARE podcast featuring Electric Wizard, KARP, Scorn, Lucky Dragons and many more.

Our good friends over at ARTSCARE in Bristol have put together a fantastic new podcast featuring some of the Supersonic acts. ARTSCARE are a DIY crew promoting great unsigned talent from Bristol and beyond. They specialise in limited edition CD runs, online promotion and showcase events for artists and bands who are willing to pitch in, roll their sleeves up and be proactive. Righteous people in other words. Enjoy their sounds here:
soundcloud.com/artscarebristol/supersonic-podcast-2011

facebook.com/ArtScareRecords

ARTSCARE have also produced a History of Metal in Bristol documentary.  Check out part one here.

Lucky Dragons and The Berg Sans Nipple to play Kids Gigs at Supersonic 2011

It’s hard to imagine to two more perfect bands to play our Supersonic Kids Gigs than Lucky Dragons and The Berg Sans Nipple.  These will rule!   If everyone isn’t running around clapping and smiling in five minutes, we’ll need to think about refunds.

Lucky Dragons are all about people coming together to make sound, to make an event, to make something new and joyous.  It’s not by accident that they refer to their live shows as ‘actions’.  They encourage participation and this Supersonic live show promises to be all about (re)discovery and (re)turning to play to learn about ourselves and make new connections.  There’s a live video link below and more Lucky Dragons live films are here.

The Berg Sans Nipple are a Frenchman and a Nebraskan.  With two drums, synths, samples, a ton of percussion and vocals, their sounds hop-skip past each other, caught in devastatingly beautiful melodies held tight by a mind bending rhythm section.  Their new video ‘Changing the Shape’ (link below) is a fantastic twist on the age-old game of exquisite corpse where an image or story is built up person-by-person using instinct and imagination.  Let’s play!

http://thebergsansnipple.tumblr.com

http://www.hawksandsparrows.org/

The Berg Sans Nipple – Change The Shape from Clapping Music on Vimeo.

After the success of our first Supersonic Kids Gigs in 2010, we return with another programme of big sounds for little people!

Tickets  will be £10 for 1 child +  1 adult and available from www.macarts.co.uk

As well as performing at the main festival, Lucky Dragons and The Berg Sans Nipple will be performing a special Supersonic Kids Gig this year, exploring experimental music aimed and kids and their families.

Saturday 22nd October

Lucky Dragons’ performances put the audience at the heart of the show, and encourage participation with the artists and with each other. Playing together whilst engaging with new sounds. The artist duo regularly conducts workshops to find new ways to engage people in experimental sounds

http://www.hawksandsparrows.org/

Sunday 23rd October

The Berg Sans Nipple is Lori Sean Berg and Shane Aspegren. The former is a suave Frenchman from the dirty rues of Paris, the latter hails from the dusty plains of Nebraska. Two drums, synths, samples, a ton of percussion and vocals hardcore kids gone gamelan, caught in devastatingly beautiful melodies and a mind bending rhythm section.

http://thebergsansnipple.tumblr.com/

Lucky Dragons are about the birthing of new and temporary creatures–equal-power situations in which audience members cooperate amongst themselves, building up fragile networks held together by such light things as skin contact, unfamiliar language, temporary logic, the spirit of celebration, and things that work but you don’t know why. There have been hundreds of these simple yet shifting and unpredictable instances–with audiences ranging from the intense intimacy of one person to the public spectacle of thousands of people. At the heart of it all is playing together–building up social collectivities, re-engaging the wonder and impossibility of technological presence. It sounds–and looks–like simple and ancient patterns coming together and falling apart in a sincere attempt to let wires and screens and words become clear and crystal.

http://www.hawksandsparrows.org/

Lichens (aka Rob Lowe) is not just performing at Supersonic, he is also curating a series of film screenings in the Theatre space.

Outer Limits is an exploration of contemporary works dealing with observations and ritual practices in connection with the natural world and the cosmic plane.

Subtle, glacial and turbulent, like the simple seismic shift of Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara’s “Earthquakes Agave” , or the deep breathed bliss of Sabrina Ratté’s “Mirages”. These video works provide an open door into the next phases of image capture, while embracing the history of the medium.

With Paul Clipson and Rose Kallal both working in a multiple image16mm film format, it makes for a warm and saturated feel that is properly visceral. You truly understand the intuition and process both attribute to their craft as they immerse themselves in the violence and awe of nature and what is unknown.

The centerpiece of this program is “Guardian of the Veil”. Matthew Barney’s first in a series collaborations with Jonathan Bepler that will be seven performances to convey the stages of Norman Mailer’s novel “Ancient Evenings”. This documentation is a performance at the Manchester Opera House in 2007. With precision of form, Barney gives a nod to the old Gods, while presenting Egyptian ceremonial rites from his own perspective, and a fresh one at that.

This will be an exclusive screening, as this has not been shown in a format larger than a video monitor as of yet.