A very special opportunity to hear a legend in the sonic and visual art world speak about this work. Tony Conrad will be in conversation at this year’s festival with the help of the ever inquisitive The Quietus.

Tony will be discussing his long line of collaborative work, plus giving us an insight into early days having worked with Velvet Underground and other such luminaries.  Tony will also be discussing his cross artform  approach, moving between the world of visual art, film and sound.

Extracts from Tony Conrad’s influential structural film ‘The Flicker’:

$100 and a T-shirt- a film about zines

‘$100 and a T-shirt’ is a cultural analysis of what causes zine makers to tick; what the hell zines are, why people make zines, the origin of zines, the resources and community available for zine makers, and the future of zines. The film interviews around 70 zine makers, ex-zine makers, and readers from the northwest USA. Four years in the making, the film features footage of the Portland Zine Symposium, a zine bicycle tour of Portland, and activities bringing zine culture to life. If you’ve ever wanted to know more about zine history and about what writers are doing right now to make their publications relevant to the 21st Century, this film may give you some clues.

Also, look out for our zine panel discussion that follows the film, and make sure you take a look at the Birmingham Zine Festival exhibition and stalls.

microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/title/1011

$100 & A T-Shirt from Cantankerous Titles on Vimeo.

A special Q&A will see Whitehouse/Cut Hands man William Bennett, the influence of West African sounds on his own work, his new Afronoise project and his music’s inclusion on the Vice film.

VBS TV travels to Liberia in West Africa to explore a country ravaged by years of civil war. Liberia was originally planned and founded as a homeland for former slaves back in 1821. But fast-forward over a century and a half, and a military coup, and you find the first Liberian Civil War as Charles Taylor’s US-backed opposition overthrows a government unfriendly to US interests. The film explores the current fate of the Liberian people and that of the warlords themselves.

viceland.com

Fonal Records is an independent record label from Finland that has been releasing experimental music since 1995. Initially established by Sami Sänpäkkilä to release his own recordings under the name Es, Fonal is a truly independent record label in every sense and now has over 80 releases to its name, This music video screening presents a variety of techniques ranging from animation to live action. Videos have been shot with mobile phones, super 8, 16mm film and Red One cameras, and all have been made with a zero budget. This special programme includes work from such label luminaries as Lau Nau, Kemialliset Ystävät, Paavoharju, Islaja and Shogun Kunitoki.

fonal.com

Eleanoora Rosenholm: Valo kaasumeren hämärässä from Sami Sänpäkkilä on Vimeo.

Dir:Paul Morrissey – 1973 – UK/Italy/France

High and low art collide in this gorgeously photographed, sex and gore filled, delirious trash-art gem. Udo Kier’s demented central performance ranks as one of the most intense and outrageous in cinema history.

This screening is part of Psychotronic Cinema’s late night horror at Supersonic. Psychotronic Cinema programmes cult classic films at UK cinemas and is responsible for the legendary “All Night Horror  Madness” event and the upcoming “All Night Bad Movie Experience”.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Psychotronic-Cinema

Featuring Alex Zamora of Fever Zine, Nic Bullen, formerly of Napalm Death and Charlie Woolley, archivist of a unique collection of fanzines and political ephemera dating from the punk movement and its aftermath assembled by artist and collector Toby Mott. The panel will discuss the history of zines, their inspirations and the resurgence of zine culture.

Alex Zamora is a music and arts journalist who runs Fever Zine,a quarterly publication focusing on music , art and DIY culture.

http://www.feverzine.co.uk/

Nic Bullen is a musician and visual artist who  co founded the band Napalm Death. Bullen collected and produced a number of zines during the 1980s.

Charlie Woolley is an artist and archivist of the Mott Collection. The collection is a fascinating piece of punk history and also includes political propaganda and memorabilia.

Dir:Dario Argento – 1977 – Italy

Dario Argento’s 70s masterpiece remains an iconic milestone in horror cinema, playing out as a hallucinatory onslaught of dreamlike imagery, atmosphere, colour and sound. Goblin’s legendary score will need little introduction to Supersonic fans.

This screening is part of Psychotronic Cinema’s late night horror at Supersonic. Psychotronic Cinema programmes cult classic films at UK cinemas and is responsible for the legendary “All Night Horror  Madness” event and the upcoming “All Night Bad Movie Experience”.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Psychotronic-Cinema

STILL BEFORE is an intimate portrait of San Francisco art brut quartet OXBOW, recorded by their former booking agent, soundman and man Friday MANUEL LIEBESKIND, during two weeks in Europe in late Fall 2009.
Given unprecedented access, Liebeskind attempts to uncover the grinding obsessions, the machinations and the underpinning thought process behind making, playing, and touring on music that embraces art as though its life depended on it. Across five countries, over a dozen shows, and in front of rapt audiences OXBOW, and chronicler Liebeskind, explore the WHYS of art creation, the touring life and 20 years in, the motivations for continuing the same.
STILL BEFORE is filmed entirely on an iPhone with a 640×480 pixel resolution and edited for the screen.

http://www.stillbefore.com

Ore are a drone doom tuba group. The Sound of Ore can be heard where classical, experimental and metal musics engage. The material is rare; a synthesis of musical elements. Ore forge the power and depth of brass with the care of craftsmen. It is the sound of Birmingham: its industrial heritage, metal-working origins and creative innovation.

www.soundofore.com

This captivating documentary is the product of five years of obsessive filming of live concert footage, exclusive interviews, and historic documentation focusing on three fiercely independent music labels and their bands.

Featuring Neurosis, ISIS, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Pelican, Oxbow, Evangelista, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, Cave In, and many others whose music and art found ideal homes in the artist-run record labels of Hydrahead, Neurot, and Constellation.

These labels combine hard-to-define, heavy music with a visual aesthetic that has enraptured worldwide fans, without the need for radio or corporate media outlets. They uphold the legacy of treating music as an art form, not as a product.

This film is an answer to those who question where the spirit of punk rock is today.

Over 20 bands and visual artists.
3 record labels.
1 philosophy.

“Blood, Sweat & Vinyl provides a keen glimpse into crucial corners of the modern music universe where corporate concerns are disregarded and the artists are given (and receive) the respect they deserve.”
– J. Bennett, Decibel Magazine

“It’s a goldmine of exclusive footage for fans, but it’s also a compelling piece for curious onlookers… It’ll make you proud to listen to this music.”
– Etan Rosenbloom, www.metalsucks.net

http://www.bloodsweatvinyl.com/

Blood, Sweat & Vinyl: DIY in the 21st Century (Trailer) from kenneth thomas on Vimeo.

Workshop 4-hours

Performance c. 30 mins

Take part in building the Mute Synth and a large group performance with Dirty Electronics. The Dirty Electronics Mute Synth is a hand-held touch and tilt instrument with copper etched artwork and contoured printed circuit board that was designed in collaboration with Mute and graphic designer Adrian Shaughnessy. The instrument brings together many Dirty Electronics aesthetics and instrument designs into one device in particular creating an instrument of the hand (in terms of both playing and building), a noise-based device that utilises feedback, and exploring the relationship between artwork and circuit board. It combines sound synthesis with a sequencer/pulser, and it is knobless. The Mute Synth is controlled by using the conductivity of the human body to complete the instrument’s circuit when the copper etching is touched. There are touch points on both sides of the circuit board, and the instrument is designed to be played with thumbs and fingers. Two tilt switches on different planes allow for gestural control of the sequencer. Pulsating brilliant white noise and grunge in the hand!

This workshop costs £15 to weekend ticket holders and spaces are limited. Please email [email protected] to book a place.

Dirty Electronics Mute Synth from Dirty Electronics on Vimeo.

Bio

Since 2003, John Richards has been exploring the idea of Dirty Electronics that focuses on face-to-face shared experiences, ritual, gesture, touch and social interaction. In Dirty Electronics, process and performance are inseparably bound. The ‘performance’ begins on the workbench devising instruments and is extended onto the stage through playing and exploring these instruments.
The Dirty Electronics Ensemble is a large group that explore these ideas and whose members are often made-up of workshop participants. The workshop is central to the Ensemble in that all of the musicians have to build their own instrument for performance. In 2008, the group performed pieces specially written for the Ensemble by, amongst others, Japanese noise artists Merzbow, Pauline Oliveros, Howard Skempton (founder member of the Scratch Orchestra), Gabriel Prokofiev and Nicholas Bullen (ex-Napalm Death and Scorn). Other notable collaborations include working with Rolf Gehlhaar (original Stockhausen group), Chris Carter from Throbbing Gristle, Keith Rowe, Anat Ben-David (Chicks on Speed) and STEIM (Amsterdam). In 2011 Dirty Electronics created a specially commissioned hand-held synth for Mute Records. Workshops and performances with Dirty Electronics have taken place internationally including: the Southbank Centre (London), FutureEverything (Manchester), Short Circuit Festival, the Roundhouse (London), Bent Festival (Los Angeles), Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie (ZKM) (Germany), Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) (London), Supersonic Festival (Birmingham), Tokyo University of the Arts (Japan), University of the Arts (Berlin), and IRCAM (Paris).

www.dirtyelectronics.org

British experimental musician Alexander Tucker releases his Thrill Jockey debut Dorwytch in April 2011. This record breaks new ground for Tucker by combining minimalist string arrangements with electronic manipulations and drones to produce doom chamber-pop songs and psychedelic music-concrete collages.

Tucker’s sound has developed over the years since his first self-titled solo album, which featured acoustic finger-picking, experimental electronics and was released on Jackie O Motherfucker’s U-Sound Archives label. Three years in the making Dorwytch finds Tucker refining his song craft and introducing minimalist string movements that build into dense spiraling riffs around his distinct vocals. This album will beguile and entice the listener, placing Tucker at the forefront of the experimental pop landscape.

A very special performance at Supersonic Festival will see a performance of this new material matched with projections of films made specially for the event The performance is a extension of the Alexander Tucker visual world of hair beings and other worldly creatures.

http://www.myspace.com/alexanderdtucker

Esko Lönnberg has left his middle-class job in Sweden and returned to his hometown of Pori, Finland. Now he has taken up filmmaking. His first project is a film about the rock band Circle.

The film follows Esko Lönnberg who is making a film about the rock band Circle. Lönnberg, a 59-year-old HVAC manager, left his job in Sweden and returned to his hometown of Pori, Finland, to pursue his artistic desires. In Pori, he found kindred spirits in the local experimental
band Circle whose members are half of his age. The shooting for the Circle movie mostly takes place in the countryside where the band is recording their next album. The circumstances turn out to be chaotic, 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 – and problems ensue. Disagreements disappear, however, when the gang gets together to share sacred moments
around the dinner table, to watch sports on TV or to play in the recording room, where Esko captures everything essential and unessential on video while the band plays. When filming the musicians in action, Esko almost becomes part of the band. He throws himself into the music with his whole body and does not pay much attention to what his instrument, the video camera, is recording. In spite of some discord and even heated tones, the making of the
Circle movie radiates an air of friendship. It ties the crowd together, regardless of the weight of each individual performance. In the end, the greatest rewards seem to be the work itself and the shared experiences. The vocalist of Circle, Mika Rättö, is virtually the only one in the band to show interest in Esko’s film project. The making of the film indeed falls mostly on their shoulders. Besides being an account of filmmaking, “Man with a Video Camera” is a film about the significance of choices in life and their consequences.

This screening accompanies a special performance by Circle at Supersonic Festival 2011.

“Kill All Redneck Pricks: A Documentary Film about a Band Called KARP” is the biography of a friendship. Set in the Pacific Northwest against the backdrop of the Olympia, WA post punk and Riot girl movements of the early 90’s, “Kill All Redneck Pricks: A Documentary Film about a Band Called KARP” details the joys and tragedies of three young friends who rise above their surroundings to form a band called KARP.

Home Of Metal: Sirens Of Sparkhill
4.45PM SATURDAY I THEATRE
Kerrang! DJ Johnny Doom will be hosting a special roundtable chat with past and present members of Napalm Death – so if you ever wanted to hear about the formative years of the world’s premier grindcore band, or if you just want to discover exactly what the bloody hell a swinging thumbjump is, you’d be advised to set time aside to catch this one-off discussion.

As part of our Home Of Metal project

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.

Swansea Love Story
Produced and Directed by Andy Capper and Leo Leigh
Soundtrack includes Spiritualized, Sian Alice Group  and Dunvnat Male Voice Choir

VBS befriends a gang of young addicts caught up in South Wales’ largely ignored heroin epidemic. Our intimate look into their lives shows how economic depression, family breakdown, and addiction create unbreakable cycles for the people in their grip.
“The must-see British film of the year” The Guardian

The Vice Guide To Liberia
Produced & Directed by Andy Capper and Shane Smith
Soundtrack by Cut Hands aka William Bennett of Whitehouse

In The Vice Guide To Liberia, VBS correspondents travel to the capital city Monrovia to meet three men who participated in the 14 years of civil war that ravaged the West African country.
These men are former warlords General Rambo, General Bin Laden and General Butt Naked, who freely admits to cannibalism and a body count of 20,000 during his time in the war. They  give us guided tours of some of the most dangerous, impoverished areas including jails, brothels, and heroin dens. Despite the UN’s intervention in the country, the majority of Liberia’s young people live in desperate poverty. Surrounded by filth, drug addiction, and teenage prostitution, the ex child soldiers who were forced into war struggle to fend for themselves by any means necessary. As the former President Charles Taylor fights accusations of mass war crimes in The Hague, the people strive for positive change against all odds. America’s one and only foray into African colonialism is keeping a very uneasy peace indeed.

Motorik Skills:Apache Beat 101 presented by Hallogallo and The Quietus

The word ‘motorik’, which literally means ‘motor skill’ in German, was originally coined by journalists to describe the minimal yet propulsive four four beat that underpinned a surprisingly small amount of leftfield German rock music from the early 70s. It was a hallmark of Klaus Dinger’s drumming for Neu!, although he rejected the term, preferring to call the rhythm the ‘Apache beat’. This metronomic approach could be heard bubbling through in Kraftwerk’s ‘Ruckzuck’, and early Can fare such as the blistering ‘Mother Sky’ and ‘Father Cannot Yell’ but was cemented as we know it now by Neu!

This beat has retrospectively come to be seen as the war drum of modernity; the pulse pushing music and the listener into the future. It is often associated – with good reason – with the great transport networks of Germany, the railway lines and the autobahns. In fact the rhythm even mimics that of a car speeding along the open road or a train clattering along the rails: fast, measured, travel never ending across Europe endless. It was the rock beat stripped back to a glittering chassis. It was the minimalist framework on which subtle improvisation could take place.

Of course, when I had the temerity to say all this to former member of Kraftwerk and Neu! guitarist, Michael Rother, he laughed and said that in fact the inspiration for this measured German rock beat had come from something altogether less mechanistic and more fluid: a game of five-a-side football including himself, Klaus Dinger and Ralf Hutter.

As a bonus to fans we’ve invited Michael Rother on stage to take part in a Q and A discussing the motorik beat, hallogallo, Harmonia and Neu!.

Hosted by  The Quietus

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE THEATRE SPACE HAS LIMITED CAPACITY

Eponymous Andy Field

Somewhere there is a gig happening. A sweat-drenched heartbreaking gig. A set for the ages. There is dancing, and nodding heads, and the sound is loud and and the sound is dirty and the sound is mean and the sound is euphoric. But you are not at that gig. You are here. So, what can we do about that?

Eponymous is about being an audience, whether the band are there or not. It might involve your imagination. It might involve standing up.
Andy Field is a performance maker, creating strange events in unusual places including audio walks, sound installations, festivals of imaginary events, pervasive games, miniature reenactments and one-on-one hazing rituals.

Panel discussion: ‘Fear Of Music’: Why Do People Get Rothko But Don’t Get Stockhausen?

David Stubbs’s Fear Of Music pivoted on a fundamental question: why do people get Rothko and not Stockhausen? While the general public has no trouble embracing avant garde visual art there is mass resistance to experimental music, although both were born at the same time and under similar circumstances – and despite the fact that from Schoenberg and Kandinsky onwards, musicians and artists have made repeated efforts to establish a ‘synaesthesia’ between their two media.

For this event, a panel made up of David Stubbs, Brian Duffy (Modified Toy Orchestra) and Christian Jendreiko (God’s White Noise) will discuss the parallel histories of modern art and modern music and wonder why one is embraced and understood while the other is ignored, derided or regarded with complete bewilderment.

About the panel:
David Stubbs is a freelance British music journalist and author. He has been a staff writer at Melody Maker, the NME, and The Wire, and he’s work regularly appears in The Guardian, Arena, The Wire, Uncut and When Saturday Comes.

Brian Duffy is the originator of the Modified Toy Orchestra, who make experimental electronic music using a series of children’s toys rescued from car boot sales. Each toy is modified to utilise new connections, and liberate the surplus value within their circuits.

Christian Jendreiko is an artist who seeks to reconsider acoustics as aspects of how body and mind are constructed, through a decentralized and sculptural approach towards performance; he transforms groups into social sculpture.

Tony Herrington first contributed to The Wire magazine back in 1987, and has been a member of staff at since 1992, before going on to be Editor-in-Chief and Publisher.

Supported by Ikon hosted by Wire Magazine

On 07/07/07 at 7:07pm, Japanese group Boredoms, orchestrated a performance by 77 drummers at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, NYC.  Hisham Akira Bharoocha put out an email inviting drummers to apply for a place in the performance and out of the 3000 replies, 77 were chosen, including Andrew WK (drummer no 57), David Grubbs (drummer no 23) and Lightning Bolt’s Brian Chippendale (drummer no 77).  The players were positioned in a spiral that trailed from a circular stage where the principal Boredoms members – Yozoro (drummer no 1), Yoshimi (drummer no 2), Sen (drummer no 3) were situated together with Eye (0) playing electronics, a seven-necked guitar and conducting the ensemble.  This is the screening of Jun Kawaguchi’s simply shot but effective documentary of the performance, complete with behind the scenes rehearsal footage, interviews, and, of course, lots of footage of the performance itself.  Come and experience the power of this momentous musical landmark.

There are also a series of shorts from the Thrill Jockey discography, which will feature new videos from Pontiak, Future Islands, Oval, Imbogodom and Dustin Wong.

[jwplayer config=”video mainpage” playlistid=”1534″]