Dutch progressive metallers CIRRHA NIVA have announced the addition of drummer Wiebe Slim (ex-MELORA RAIN) to the group's ranks.
Commented the band: "We already did one show with Wiebe while supporting THE 11TH HOUR, but at that time he was just doin' us a favour. Needless to say that there was a perfect match that day, which resulted in the fact that Wiebe joined the band.
"Wiebe will introduce himself further on this week, but let's reveal something already right now.
"As a drummer he is influenced by Virgil Donati, Thomas Lang, Marco Minneman, Dave Weckl, Steve Smith, Benny Greb, Gavin Harrison, Mike Portnoy and many more. So it's obvious he likes PLANET X, DREAM THEATER, PORCUPINE TREE and SYMPHONY X."
Drummer Tommy White recently left CIRRHA NIVA due to health problems. He said in a statement, "Eight months ago, the feeling in my hands started to disappear and slowly began to cause me problems while playing. In the months after it only got worse and I went from one doctor to another, but they could not find the problem. It became clear to me that the live concerts were in jeopardy as at one point I could not guarantee that I could play a full show."
CIRRHA NIVA's latest album, "For Moments Never Done", was released last September through the band's own independent record label Parnassus Records. The distribution of the album was handled by Suburban in the Benelux and The End Records in the USA/Canada.
"For Moments Never Done" was CIRRHA NIVA's first release with new vocalist Legrand and the group's first CD since the 2001 rock opera "Liaison De La Morte". The band has put aside its earlier theatrical and gothic influences in order to develop a more modern style and sound. According to a press release, "raw melancholic metal riffs, groovy drums and dark grunts will be enlightened with the powerful clean sometimes almost poppy and soulful, lead vocals of Legrand."
"For Moments Never Done" was produced by Jochem Jacobs and Bouke Visser at Split Second Sound Studio (TEXTURES, AUTUMN, STREAM OF PASSION) and Excess Recording Studio (AYREON, AFTER FOREVER, GOREFEST). It features seven songs with a total running time of approximately 47 minutes.
The CD features guest appearances by the following musicians:
Manda Ophuis (NEMESEA)
Joost van den Broek (AFTER FOREVER)
Yuval Kramer (AMASEFFER)
Robin de Groot (CHIRAW)
Bouke Visser
Friday, June 18, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Frogg Cafe To Release "Bateless Edge" On 10T Records
Charleston, SC – June 1, 2010 (10T Records) – 10T Records is ecstatic to announce the release of the brand new studio release by FROGG CAFÉ, entitled “Bateless Edge.” This will be the New York-based band’s fourth studio release and will be officially released by 10T Records on July
2nd, 2010.
On “Bateless Edge,” Frogg Café consists of Bill Ayasse (violin,
mandolin, vocals, hand percussion), James Guarnieri (drums,
glockenspiel, orchestral percussion), Andrew Sussman (bass, cello,
acoustic guitar), Nick Lieto (lead vocals, keyboards, trumpet,
flugelhorn), John Lieto (trombone), and features the triumphant return
of co-founding member, Frank Camiola (guitar, string bass, banjo).
“Bateless Edge” is a stunning 78-minute statement, described by bassist/composer Andrew Sussman as a "reflection on incidents revolving around our own personal lives, as well as an integrated and newly formed sound that takes this band into realms that have been unexplored until now." “Bateless Edge” sees Frogg Café fearlessly breaking new musical ground while crafting some of the darkest and most intense musical statements made thus far by this ever-evolving band.
In this elaborate journey, Frogg Café explores many new textures and colors that add great dimension to the contemporary jazz-fusion sound that is unmistakably their own. The band incorporates for the first time detailed orchestration akin to symphony music. Clarinets,
mandolins, cellos, glockenspiels, bass clarinets, xylophones, string quartets and many other instruments all integrate to create a soundscape that will yield the listener infinite details on future listens. Classical Indian influences also find their way into the mix, along with new levels of intricate compositional complexity, including a track that boasts a 28-page musical score consisting of roughly twenty-five different instruments.
Many additional instrumentalists were recruited to record this latest opus, including Andrew Sussman's father, Steve Sussman, on clarinet, Cardboard Amanda member, Dee Harris, on Indian Slide guitar and Tamboura, as well as fellow 10T artists, Vessela Stoyanova (Fluttr Effect), and Steve Kastikas (Little Atlas).
“Frogg Café is very special to 10T Records,” says label president Steve Carroll. “They were one of the bands that were foundational to the creation of 10T, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be bringing this release to the world. It is quite simply the definitive creative statement for a band that has consistently made a career out of being among the best of the best.”
“Bateless Edge” is available for pre-order starting on June 1, 2010. All orders received between now and the official release date will ship by the end of the week prior to the official release.
Additionally, everyone who pre-orders “Bateless Edge” will receive exclusive FREE temporary access to download “On the LillyPadd,” a full length digital album featuring the following previously unreleased Frogg Café recordings:
1. A Brass Quartet piece called "Prelude" that was originally recorded for Bateless Edge, but was cut due to time constraints.
2. A 25-minute in the studio spaced-out Frogg jam called "At the Table of the Leptons".
3. Excerpts from a never-released live show from Orion Studios recorded in Dec. 2006.
The band feels that this was one of their best shows, and features never been heard tracks.
All tracks from “Bateless Edge” are currently available to preview in their entirety through the 10T Records website:
http://10trecords.com/artists/genres/progressive-experimental/frogg-cafe/discography/
After July 2, “Bateless Edge” will be available through your favorite retail outlet for immediate purchase.
2nd, 2010.
On “Bateless Edge,” Frogg Café consists of Bill Ayasse (violin,mandolin, vocals, hand percussion), James Guarnieri (drums,
glockenspiel, orchestral percussion), Andrew Sussman (bass, cello,
acoustic guitar), Nick Lieto (lead vocals, keyboards, trumpet,
flugelhorn), John Lieto (trombone), and features the triumphant return
of co-founding member, Frank Camiola (guitar, string bass, banjo).
“Bateless Edge” is a stunning 78-minute statement, described by bassist/composer Andrew Sussman as a "reflection on incidents revolving around our own personal lives, as well as an integrated and newly formed sound that takes this band into realms that have been unexplored until now." “Bateless Edge” sees Frogg Café fearlessly breaking new musical ground while crafting some of the darkest and most intense musical statements made thus far by this ever-evolving band.
In this elaborate journey, Frogg Café explores many new textures and colors that add great dimension to the contemporary jazz-fusion sound that is unmistakably their own. The band incorporates for the first time detailed orchestration akin to symphony music. Clarinets,
mandolins, cellos, glockenspiels, bass clarinets, xylophones, string quartets and many other instruments all integrate to create a soundscape that will yield the listener infinite details on future listens. Classical Indian influences also find their way into the mix, along with new levels of intricate compositional complexity, including a track that boasts a 28-page musical score consisting of roughly twenty-five different instruments.
Many additional instrumentalists were recruited to record this latest opus, including Andrew Sussman's father, Steve Sussman, on clarinet, Cardboard Amanda member, Dee Harris, on Indian Slide guitar and Tamboura, as well as fellow 10T artists, Vessela Stoyanova (Fluttr Effect), and Steve Kastikas (Little Atlas).
“Frogg Café is very special to 10T Records,” says label president Steve Carroll. “They were one of the bands that were foundational to the creation of 10T, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be bringing this release to the world. It is quite simply the definitive creative statement for a band that has consistently made a career out of being among the best of the best.”
“Bateless Edge” is available for pre-order starting on June 1, 2010. All orders received between now and the official release date will ship by the end of the week prior to the official release.
Additionally, everyone who pre-orders “Bateless Edge” will receive exclusive FREE temporary access to download “On the LillyPadd,” a full length digital album featuring the following previously unreleased Frogg Café recordings:
1. A Brass Quartet piece called "Prelude" that was originally recorded for Bateless Edge, but was cut due to time constraints.
2. A 25-minute in the studio spaced-out Frogg jam called "At the Table of the Leptons".
3. Excerpts from a never-released live show from Orion Studios recorded in Dec. 2006.
The band feels that this was one of their best shows, and features never been heard tracks.
All tracks from “Bateless Edge” are currently available to preview in their entirety through the 10T Records website:
http://10trecords.com/artists/genres/progressive-experimental/frogg-cafe/discography/
After July 2, “Bateless Edge” will be available through your favorite retail outlet for immediate purchase.
Former GENESIS Guitarist STEVE HACKETT To Support New Album With Upcoming Tour
World-renowned guitarist/composer STEVE HACKETT and his electric band will soon take to the road in North America to play select cities. Hackett and company will tour in support of Steve Hackett's new album Out Of The Tunnel’s Mouth, which hits streets in North America on June 8th via InsideOut Music. The release includes a special live bonus disc featuring solo and GENESIS classics including ‘Firth Of Fifth’, ‘Fly On A Windshield’, and more.According to a press release: “Out Of The Tunnel’s Mouth is a rock album which features beautifully-sweeping symphonic sounds highlighted by Hackett's signature soaring guitar and unsullied vocals. The tracks contain a mélange of influences from classical to Middle Eastern and showcase Hackett's prowess as a composer with the ability to meld seemingly disparate styles. Although majestic in sound and scope, Out of The Tunnel’s Mouth was recorded in Hackett's living room and produced in a virtual studio there by long-time writing partner, keyboardist and producer Roger King."
Out Of The Tunnel’s Mouth tracklist is as follows:
‘Fire On The Moon’
‘Nomads’
‘Emerald And Ash’
‘Tubehead’
‘Sleepers’
‘Ghost In The Glass’
‘Still Waters’
‘Last Train To Istanbul’
Live bonus disc tracklist:
‘Blood On The Rooftops’
‘A Tower Struck Down’
‘Firth Of Fifth’
‘Fly On A Windshield’
‘Broadway Melody Of 1974’
‘Every Star In The Night Sky’
Steve Hackett North American tour
June
18 - Bethlehem, PA - NEARFest/Zoellner Arts Center/Lehigh University
20 - Westhampton, NY - Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center
22 - Arlington, MA - The Regent Theatre
23 - New York, NY - River To River Festival/World Financial Center Plaza
24 - Falls Church, VA - The State Theatre
25 - Greensburg, PA - Palace Theatre
30 - South Milwaukee, WI - South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center
July
2 - Rochester, NY - Water Street Music Hall
3 - Albany, NY - Hart Theater
4 - Trois Rivieres, QC - Festivoix
7 - Toronto, ON - Queen Elizabeth Theatre
8 - Ottawa, ON - Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest
9 - Montreal, QC - Place des Arts Theatre Maisonneuve
10 - Sherbrooke, QC - Theatre Granada
12 - Quebec City, QC - Quebec City International Summer Festival
The band features:
Steve Hackett - guitar/vocals
Roger King - keyboard/musical director
Nick Beggs - bass/chapman stick/vocals
Rob Townsend - sax/flute/vocals
Gary O'Toole - drums/d drums/percussion/vocals
Amanda Lehmann - guitar/vocals
For more info on Steve Hackett visit his website
http://hackettsongs.com
RNR
Roger Waters 'Not Unhappy' At End Of Pink Floyd
From the BBC
Pink Floyd's Roger Waters has said he "won't be unhappy" if the band's performance at Live 8 in 2005 proved to be their last.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10170000.stm
Pink Floyd's Roger Waters has said he "won't be unhappy" if the band's performance at Live 8 in 2005 proved to be their last.
"It was an extraordinarily moving experience for me and if that's the way we draw a line under Pink Floyd, so be it," he told BBC News.
Waters, 66, will tour the band's classic album The Wall later this year.
He said Pink Floyd had been asked to reform for a show in New York but that bandmate David Gilmour had refused.
Continue reading the main story If the others wanted to do something at some point, I'm always open to suggestions. So far there haven't been any
Roger Waters
Waters returns to The Wall
"I think Live 8 was probably it," Waters told the BBC's Rebecca Jones.
"And Live 8 was so beautiful, and Rick obviously was still with us then."
The band's keyboardist, Richard Wright, died in September 2008.
"If that's the way we draw a line under Pink Floyd, so be it," Waters said. "I won't be unhappy about that."
Wall Live
He said he had been asked by Hank Steinbrenner, co-owner of New York's Yankees Stadium, to reform the band to perform 1979 double concept album The Wall.
"I said, 'well, I don't think David wants to do anything again, and certainly not this'.
"He said, 'well, will you ask him?' So I did, and he said no.
"Which I knew he would and there's no reason why he wouldn't say no."
Waters added: "However, if the others wanted to do something at some point, I'm always open to suggestions.
"So far, there haven't been any."
Waters will begin The Wall Live tour of North America in Toronto, Canada, on 15 September.
European dates will follow, beginning next May.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10170000.stm
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Åkerfeldt, Portnoy and Wilson (The supergroup)
PORCUPINE TREE's Steven Wilson revealed to Chordstruck Magazine that he has begun work on material for his much-anticipated collaboration with Mikael Åkerfeldt from OPETH and Mike Portnoy from DREAM THEATER. "I started writing with Mikael last month, finally," he said. "It's still in the very early days.
"We wrote about 15 minutes of music last month in my studio near London and we're very excited about it.
"I think people are going to be very surprised by the direction.
"If they're expecting some kind of death-metal-progressive rock, they're going to be surprised [because] it's not like that."
He continued, "If you put the two of us together, the last thing we're going to do is something similar to what people already know from our most high-profile project.
"It's very arty, very ambitious; it's going to be epic.
"We're still writing.
"[It's going to be] very dark, very twisted, very experimental.
"It's still rock music, but we're trying to do something really, really special and really different with this."
In a September 2009 interview with Australia's PyroMusic.net, Mike Portnoy stated about the project, "The three of us each mentioned wanting to work with each other years ago, and since then it's kind of been this rumor that won't go away. I think all three of us regret ever mentioning it at this point, but I think the hype or anticipation around it has surpassed anything we possibly could realistically deliver. So I think now all three of us are kind of hesitant to do it, because there's been so much hype about it. (laughs)
"This is an example of where the Internet can somehow be a bad thing and I think... that's why I try to keep as tight of a lid on things as possible when we're making a record, because anything that is said or leaked or heard, it opens up this can of worms of discussion and once people start discussing and discussing and discussing and dissecting and anticipating, they build up such a level of hype and expectations in their head that it's impossible to ever satisfy it. So that's one of the bad things about the Internet.
"In answer to your question though, I think we'd love to work together, but at this point, we just don't know when."
link:
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=140507
"We wrote about 15 minutes of music last month in my studio near London and we're very excited about it.
"I think people are going to be very surprised by the direction.
"If they're expecting some kind of death-metal-progressive rock, they're going to be surprised [because] it's not like that."
He continued, "If you put the two of us together, the last thing we're going to do is something similar to what people already know from our most high-profile project.
"It's very arty, very ambitious; it's going to be epic.
"We're still writing.
"[It's going to be] very dark, very twisted, very experimental.
"It's still rock music, but we're trying to do something really, really special and really different with this."
In a September 2009 interview with Australia's PyroMusic.net, Mike Portnoy stated about the project, "The three of us each mentioned wanting to work with each other years ago, and since then it's kind of been this rumor that won't go away. I think all three of us regret ever mentioning it at this point, but I think the hype or anticipation around it has surpassed anything we possibly could realistically deliver. So I think now all three of us are kind of hesitant to do it, because there's been so much hype about it. (laughs)
"This is an example of where the Internet can somehow be a bad thing and I think... that's why I try to keep as tight of a lid on things as possible when we're making a record, because anything that is said or leaked or heard, it opens up this can of worms of discussion and once people start discussing and discussing and discussing and dissecting and anticipating, they build up such a level of hype and expectations in their head that it's impossible to ever satisfy it. So that's one of the bad things about the Internet.
"In answer to your question though, I think we'd love to work together, but at this point, we just don't know when."
link:
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=140507
Saturday, June 5, 2010
PRESTO BALLET's New Lineup To Make its Live Debut In Portland
PRESTO BALLET, the project led by ex-METAL CHURCH guitarist Kurdt Vanderhoof, will debut its new lineup — consisting of Vanderhoof, former METAL CHURCH singer Ronny Munroe, drummer Bill Raymond, keyboardist Kerry Shacklett and bassist Bobby Ferkovich — when it opens for DREAM THEATER on June 21 at Roseland Theater in Portland, Oregon.
PRESTO BALLET is currently working on its third album for a late summer release via ProgRock Records.
PRESTO BALLET released its second LP, "The Lost Art of Time Travel", in 2008 in the U.S. through ProgRock Records.
PRESTO BALLET's music was previously described as "highly reminiscent of '70s prog rock, as the band was founded chiefly as a tribute to classic progressive bands such as YES and KANSAS. Their debut album, 'Peace Among the Ruins', was released in 2005 to general praise and considerable press. Critics consistently commented on the album's warm and organic sound, a feeling created through the use of analog recorders and vintage instruments, played with great skill and precision. The band used no drum machines, digital recorders or sequencers in the studio."
PRESTO BALLET is currently working on its third album for a late summer release via ProgRock Records.
PRESTO BALLET released its second LP, "The Lost Art of Time Travel", in 2008 in the U.S. through ProgRock Records.
PRESTO BALLET's music was previously described as "highly reminiscent of '70s prog rock, as the band was founded chiefly as a tribute to classic progressive bands such as YES and KANSAS. Their debut album, 'Peace Among the Ruins', was released in 2005 to general praise and considerable press. Critics consistently commented on the album's warm and organic sound, a feeling created through the use of analog recorders and vintage instruments, played with great skill and precision. The band used no drum machines, digital recorders or sequencers in the studio."
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Sonic Circuits Festival 2010 Announces Line-up!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
SONIC CIRCUITS FESTIVAL 2010 TO FEATURE FIRST WASHINGTON, DC APPEARANCES OF MAGMA (FRANCE), UNIVERS ZERO (BELGIUM), FENNESZ (AUSTRIA) and a rare DC performance by MERZBOW (JAPAN), as well as more than 25 other cutting-edge artists from around the world.
Sonic Circuits Festival
September 18-25, 2010 / Washington DC
Washington DC's premiere music festival returns for another exhilarating blast of avant music to challenge, provoke, inspire and delight DC area audiences. The tenth edition of Sonic Circuits will offer up the best in improv, avant rock, electronica, noise, and contemporary composition from around the globe. Our 10th anniversary deserves special celebration, and thus this year Sonic Circuits will shine a spotlight on the Francophone world to reveal some of the most creative and innovative contributions in contemporary music (including music genres that erase the classical/popular divide) and to present an astonishing number of avant-garde music’s most legendary artists to Washington DC audiences for the very first time. 2010 will also see the third installment of the popular District of Noise CD compilations featuring music by DC area experimental artists with a bonus LP of 100 lock grooves. We hope you'll join us for what will be an amazing week of musical discovery!
Magma (France)
Led by composer/drummer Christian Vander, the French band Magma is one of the world’s greatest avant rock bands, its music as unique and as significant as such American groups as Captain Beefheart Magic Band or the Sun Ra Arkhestra. Active for over 4 decades, it has released many works widely considered to be among the chief works avant-garde rock. Beginning in the late 1960s/early 70s, Magma combined rock music with opera/classical music, jazz, and elements of trance, Ju Ju and Soul, to create a new, strikingly original musical genre called "Zeuhl". Under the leadership of visionary Vander, Magma operated in a univers of its own making. The band sang vocals in its own, made-up language, called Kobaian, which was simultaneously incomprehensible and universally accessible. Dark, forbidding, powerful, Magma’s music is intense, with wave upon wave of carefully built tension and release. It is also timeless, universal, and globally influential. Other Francophone bands followed Magma’s lead in distilling musical genres in the’70s, to create the new genre Chamber Rock. In the 1990s, the Japanese band Ruins popularized Zeuhl among a new generation, invigorating it with a punk edge and kicking off a massive world-wide revival. Much of today’s cutting-edge rock music is indebted to the French group and its zeuhl. But while other groups today may resemble Magma, Magma does not resemble any other group. Its live performances are legendary; Magma's first-ever Washington DC appearance is a show not to be missed. - Washington premiere!
Magma will be performing at La Maison Française, Embassy of France on September 18, 2010
Visit Magma online: http://www.seventhrecords.com/
Univers Zero (Belgium)
The francophone Belgian band Univers Zero is legendary for their uncompromising musical vision – a sound and stance Keyboard described as "Chamber music for the Apocalypse". Simultaneously medieval & modern, its distinctive, dark and elegantly beautiful music has set the standard for "chamber rock", a New Music hybrid of Francophone origin and worldwide appeal that UZ pioneered. UZ’s singular sound derives from its unique instrumentation (piano and keyboards, violin, clarinets saxophone, oboe, bassoon, English horn, electric bass, drums) combined with brooding gothic imagery, elements of European folk and other world musics, the iconoclasm and intensity of rock, the relentless sonic experimentation of the avant garde, and leader and composer Daniel Denis’ classically-inspired writing style, influenced by early 20th Century avant garde classical composers. In the hands of some of the best musicians in Europe, these factors result in a group on the cutting edge of
creating a new, vital, and unique fusion of classical and rock music. The band has remained on the cutting edge of New Music throughout the course of a career that began in the '70s and continues today, stretching and disintegrating the boundaries of classical and rock music alike to create a new, vital, and unique fusion. Today, several decades after Univers Zero first forged its unique sound, critics cite its oeuvre as the precursor to the best avant-garde rock and classical music of the present day, from post-rock, associated with Godspeed You! Black Emperor,
Secret Chiefs 3, Kayo Dot, Tortoise and other instrumentally-based rock bands – to the numerous late 20th/early 21st century classical chamber ensembles integrating rock into their repertoire, such as Bang on a Can, Kronos Quartet and others. When Cuneiform recently released a remastered reissue of the band’s self-titled debut album, critics who heard the band's music for the first time called it a "revelation", "..the hidden source for every one of today’s avant-garde rock bands"[Organ]. - Second ever show in the USA & Washington premiere!
Univer Zero will be performing at La Maison Française, Embassy of France on September 25, 2010
Visit Univer Zero online: http://www.univers-zero.com/
Fennesz (Austria)
A key figure in the ascent of IDM and electronica in the 1990s, Fennesz uses guitar and notebook computers to make multilayered compositions that blend melody and conventional musical instruments with harsh, irregular glitch-influenced sounds and washes of white noise. "Imagine the electric guitar severed from cliché and all of its physical limitations, shaping a bold new musical language." - (City Newspaper, USA). His lush and luminant compositions are anything but sterile computer experiments. They resemble sensitive, telescopic recordings of rainforest insect life or natural atmospheric occurrences, an inherent naturalism permeating each piece. - Washington premiere!
Fennesz will be performing at the Strathmore Mansion on September 21, 2010
Visit Fennesz online: http://www.fennesz.com/
Merzbow & Richard Pinhas Duo (Japan & France)
Masami Akita, aka Merzbow, is considered to be the originator of Japanese noise music, and is probably the single best-known noise artist worldwide. Active in music since 1979, using the name 'Merzbow' to align his projects with Dada movement aesthetics, he is described by Musique Machine as "always pushing the limits of noise and music, so the line between the two blurs". Extremely prolific, he has recorded and released over 250 CDs, including a 50 CD set, Merzbox; an infamous art-piece consisting of a continually-playing Noisembryo CD packaged inside a Mercedes 230 in a "limited edition of 1"; and the soundtrack to a bondage performance. Besides his music, Merzbow is active as a writer (books and articles) and visual artist, having received a degree in painting from Tamagawa University. In an interview for Perfect Sound Forever, he states that: "Everything combines for the works of Merzbow. I don't see them as being different and separate. Music and art is not separate. I mix rock sounds and art together." In addition to his artistic interests, Merzbow’s music integrates his social/political concerns. In recent years, he has become involved in the Animal Rights movement, writing a book on the vegan lifestyle and releasing CDs that protest animal abuses (including Japanese whale fishing, fur industry, bear hunting). Ceaselessly innovative throughout his music career, Merzbow has said that: "Each work is a new direction for me".
A composer, world-class guitarist and electronics innovator, Richard Pinhas is a key figure in the international development of electronic rock music and remains today one of France's leading experimental musicians. He is recognized as the father of an entire musical movement in France (analogous to Tangerine Dream's role in Germany) for his pioneering work in the 1970s with his band Heldon, which fused electronics, "diabolical guitar work" and rock to create a pioneering, aggressive music that was a precursor to the industrial music and techno to come.
Together Merzbow and Pinhas create music that is pure sonic alchemy: violent and soothing, hypnotic and noisy, trance-inducing and seductive. - Merzbow/Pinhas North American premiere and exclusive performance!
Merzbow and Pinhas will be performing at La Maison Française, Embassy of France on September 24, 2010
Visit Merzbow and Pinhas online:
http://www.merzbow.net/ - http://www.richardpinhas.com/
Other Festival Artists:
Full schedule and ticket information will be posted later this summer. Stay informed by subscribing to the Sonic Circuits mailing list @ http://dc-soniccircuits.org or joining us on Facebook or Twitter.
2010 line up so far will also include:
Illusion of Safety (Chicago)
Alexei Borisov & Olga Nosova (Russia)
Confusion Bleue (Baltimore)
Corridors (NYC)
Colla Parte (Perry Conticchio, Rich O’Meara, Daniel Barbiero) (DC)
Alexandra Gardner (DC)
RDK+Insect Factory (DC)
Eli Keszler (Providence)
Mercury Fools the Alchemist (DC)
Mata Gawa (DC)
Borborites (DC)
Trophies (Baltimore/Brooklyn)
Gestures (DC)
Lost Civilizations (DC)
Arturas Bumsteinas + Janel & Anthony (Lithuania/DC)
Low End String Quartet (DC)
Andrea Centazzo (Italy)
VLT_BLK (DC)
Sean Peoples (DC)
Tone Ghosting (DC)
Blue Sausage Infant (DC)
TL0741 (DC)
SONIC CIRCUITS FESTIVAL 2010 TO FEATURE FIRST WASHINGTON, DC APPEARANCES OF MAGMA (FRANCE), UNIVERS ZERO (BELGIUM), FENNESZ (AUSTRIA) and a rare DC performance by MERZBOW (JAPAN), as well as more than 25 other cutting-edge artists from around the world.
Sonic Circuits Festival
September 18-25, 2010 / Washington DC
Washington DC's premiere music festival returns for another exhilarating blast of avant music to challenge, provoke, inspire and delight DC area audiences. The tenth edition of Sonic Circuits will offer up the best in improv, avant rock, electronica, noise, and contemporary composition from around the globe. Our 10th anniversary deserves special celebration, and thus this year Sonic Circuits will shine a spotlight on the Francophone world to reveal some of the most creative and innovative contributions in contemporary music (including music genres that erase the classical/popular divide) and to present an astonishing number of avant-garde music’s most legendary artists to Washington DC audiences for the very first time. 2010 will also see the third installment of the popular District of Noise CD compilations featuring music by DC area experimental artists with a bonus LP of 100 lock grooves. We hope you'll join us for what will be an amazing week of musical discovery!
Magma (France)
Led by composer/drummer Christian Vander, the French band Magma is one of the world’s greatest avant rock bands, its music as unique and as significant as such American groups as Captain Beefheart Magic Band or the Sun Ra Arkhestra. Active for over 4 decades, it has released many works widely considered to be among the chief works avant-garde rock. Beginning in the late 1960s/early 70s, Magma combined rock music with opera/classical music, jazz, and elements of trance, Ju Ju and Soul, to create a new, strikingly original musical genre called "Zeuhl". Under the leadership of visionary Vander, Magma operated in a univers of its own making. The band sang vocals in its own, made-up language, called Kobaian, which was simultaneously incomprehensible and universally accessible. Dark, forbidding, powerful, Magma’s music is intense, with wave upon wave of carefully built tension and release. It is also timeless, universal, and globally influential. Other Francophone bands followed Magma’s lead in distilling musical genres in the’70s, to create the new genre Chamber Rock. In the 1990s, the Japanese band Ruins popularized Zeuhl among a new generation, invigorating it with a punk edge and kicking off a massive world-wide revival. Much of today’s cutting-edge rock music is indebted to the French group and its zeuhl. But while other groups today may resemble Magma, Magma does not resemble any other group. Its live performances are legendary; Magma's first-ever Washington DC appearance is a show not to be missed. - Washington premiere!
Magma will be performing at La Maison Française, Embassy of France on September 18, 2010
Visit Magma online: http://www.seventhrecords.com/
Univers Zero (Belgium)
The francophone Belgian band Univers Zero is legendary for their uncompromising musical vision – a sound and stance Keyboard described as "Chamber music for the Apocalypse". Simultaneously medieval & modern, its distinctive, dark and elegantly beautiful music has set the standard for "chamber rock", a New Music hybrid of Francophone origin and worldwide appeal that UZ pioneered. UZ’s singular sound derives from its unique instrumentation (piano and keyboards, violin, clarinets saxophone, oboe, bassoon, English horn, electric bass, drums) combined with brooding gothic imagery, elements of European folk and other world musics, the iconoclasm and intensity of rock, the relentless sonic experimentation of the avant garde, and leader and composer Daniel Denis’ classically-inspired writing style, influenced by early 20th Century avant garde classical composers. In the hands of some of the best musicians in Europe, these factors result in a group on the cutting edge of
creating a new, vital, and unique fusion of classical and rock music. The band has remained on the cutting edge of New Music throughout the course of a career that began in the '70s and continues today, stretching and disintegrating the boundaries of classical and rock music alike to create a new, vital, and unique fusion. Today, several decades after Univers Zero first forged its unique sound, critics cite its oeuvre as the precursor to the best avant-garde rock and classical music of the present day, from post-rock, associated with Godspeed You! Black Emperor,
Secret Chiefs 3, Kayo Dot, Tortoise and other instrumentally-based rock bands – to the numerous late 20th/early 21st century classical chamber ensembles integrating rock into their repertoire, such as Bang on a Can, Kronos Quartet and others. When Cuneiform recently released a remastered reissue of the band’s self-titled debut album, critics who heard the band's music for the first time called it a "revelation", "..the hidden source for every one of today’s avant-garde rock bands"[Organ]. - Second ever show in the USA & Washington premiere!
Univer Zero will be performing at La Maison Française, Embassy of France on September 25, 2010
Visit Univer Zero online: http://www.univers-zero.com/
Fennesz (Austria)
A key figure in the ascent of IDM and electronica in the 1990s, Fennesz uses guitar and notebook computers to make multilayered compositions that blend melody and conventional musical instruments with harsh, irregular glitch-influenced sounds and washes of white noise. "Imagine the electric guitar severed from cliché and all of its physical limitations, shaping a bold new musical language." - (City Newspaper, USA). His lush and luminant compositions are anything but sterile computer experiments. They resemble sensitive, telescopic recordings of rainforest insect life or natural atmospheric occurrences, an inherent naturalism permeating each piece. - Washington premiere!
Fennesz will be performing at the Strathmore Mansion on September 21, 2010
Visit Fennesz online: http://www.fennesz.com/
Merzbow & Richard Pinhas Duo (Japan & France)
Masami Akita, aka Merzbow, is considered to be the originator of Japanese noise music, and is probably the single best-known noise artist worldwide. Active in music since 1979, using the name 'Merzbow' to align his projects with Dada movement aesthetics, he is described by Musique Machine as "always pushing the limits of noise and music, so the line between the two blurs". Extremely prolific, he has recorded and released over 250 CDs, including a 50 CD set, Merzbox; an infamous art-piece consisting of a continually-playing Noisembryo CD packaged inside a Mercedes 230 in a "limited edition of 1"; and the soundtrack to a bondage performance. Besides his music, Merzbow is active as a writer (books and articles) and visual artist, having received a degree in painting from Tamagawa University. In an interview for Perfect Sound Forever, he states that: "Everything combines for the works of Merzbow. I don't see them as being different and separate. Music and art is not separate. I mix rock sounds and art together." In addition to his artistic interests, Merzbow’s music integrates his social/political concerns. In recent years, he has become involved in the Animal Rights movement, writing a book on the vegan lifestyle and releasing CDs that protest animal abuses (including Japanese whale fishing, fur industry, bear hunting). Ceaselessly innovative throughout his music career, Merzbow has said that: "Each work is a new direction for me".
A composer, world-class guitarist and electronics innovator, Richard Pinhas is a key figure in the international development of electronic rock music and remains today one of France's leading experimental musicians. He is recognized as the father of an entire musical movement in France (analogous to Tangerine Dream's role in Germany) for his pioneering work in the 1970s with his band Heldon, which fused electronics, "diabolical guitar work" and rock to create a pioneering, aggressive music that was a precursor to the industrial music and techno to come.
Together Merzbow and Pinhas create music that is pure sonic alchemy: violent and soothing, hypnotic and noisy, trance-inducing and seductive. - Merzbow/Pinhas North American premiere and exclusive performance!
Merzbow and Pinhas will be performing at La Maison Française, Embassy of France on September 24, 2010
Visit Merzbow and Pinhas online:
http://www.merzbow.net/ - http://www.richardpinhas.com/
Other Festival Artists:
Full schedule and ticket information will be posted later this summer. Stay informed by subscribing to the Sonic Circuits mailing list @ http://dc-soniccircuits.org or joining us on Facebook or Twitter.
2010 line up so far will also include:
Illusion of Safety (Chicago)
Alexei Borisov & Olga Nosova (Russia)
Confusion Bleue (Baltimore)
Corridors (NYC)
Colla Parte (Perry Conticchio, Rich O’Meara, Daniel Barbiero) (DC)
Alexandra Gardner (DC)
RDK+Insect Factory (DC)
Eli Keszler (Providence)
Mercury Fools the Alchemist (DC)
Mata Gawa (DC)
Borborites (DC)
Trophies (Baltimore/Brooklyn)
Gestures (DC)
Lost Civilizations (DC)
Arturas Bumsteinas + Janel & Anthony (Lithuania/DC)
Low End String Quartet (DC)
Andrea Centazzo (Italy)
VLT_BLK (DC)
Sean Peoples (DC)
Tone Ghosting (DC)
Blue Sausage Infant (DC)
TL0741 (DC)
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