Nina Kohout: Dark electronica, classical & eerie Slavic folklore
Ron Caines / Andrew Greaves / I’m Dr Buoyant: Sax, synth and samples in sync
The Organ Grinder’s Monkey: Guitar loops, breakbeats and glitch FX
Nina Kohout is a sonic storyteller who pushes the boundaries of musical obedience, forming a constant conversation between an invasive horror and a fragile purity. In her music, she connects the eerie atmosphere of ancient Slovak folklore, classical music elements, and the freshness of innovative electronica.
In 2020, Slovakia-born, UK-based artist Nina Kohout won the Radio_Head award for the Newcomer of the Year (curated by the Slovak national radio), which she received for her debut single Blue Sunray. Her critically acclaimed debut EP Pandemonium (incl. the song Moonlight featured as the Song of the Day by KEXP Radio) got Nina’s name mentioned in BBC Radio and music magazines such as Under the Radar, Louder than War, and Electronic Sound magazine. Her past shows include playing at the iconic Kino Šiška in Ljubljana, the United Islands of Prague, the Ahoi! Pop Festival in Linz, as well as the biggest Slovak festival Pohoda.
At the beginning of 2023, Nina played at the biggest European showcase festival Eurosonic, where together with a string quintet she introduced her uniquely coloured art pop. Her autumn tour will include playing at the Waves Vienna, BUSH Festival in Budapest, as well as Santeria in Milan.
Ron Caines / Andrew Greaves / I’m Dr Buoyant: East of Eden saxophonist and stalwart of Brighton Safehouse Ron Caines returns with regular collaborator, Spirit of Gravity founder I’m Dr Buoyant, this time as a trio with Spirit of Gravity keyboard magician Andrew Greaves (Broken Star, solo and other collaborations): improvised saxophone, live sampling and swooping synthesiser combine in spontaneous composition.
The Organ Grinder’s Monkey is the brainchild of Brighton-based musician/producer Ben Garnett. Ben provides guitar and vocals while his laptop/best friend Bill handles beats and FX. The resulting sound is an attempt to combine the glitchy stutter and madness of Bill’s favourite electronic artists (Aphex Twin, Squarepusher) with the freewheeling maverick indie-rock of Ben’s youth (Super Furry Animals, The Boo Radleys, Grandaddy). A shared love of 8-bit computer game sounds provides further inspiration.
Having not played live since the pandemic, 2023 finally sees TOGM re-emerge with an entirely new approach to their sound. Two years of experimentation has armed the pair with an array of different techniques, technology and a whole set of fresh semi-improvised material that is now created completely live in the moment, ending the previous reliance on pre-programmed backing tracks. With instrumentation stripped back to just a single breakbeat, two tracks of looped guitar and occasional bass, the focus now shifts to taking these basic building blocks and employing endless banks of effects to remix them into a restless and unpredictable soundscape.
These sounds will be recorded and edited down into an EP set for release by the end of the year.
Hosted by our very own DJ Cheesemaster
Chris [Symmetrical Forces] creates live visuals for each performance using his own lo-fi footage, dusty VHS tapes and obscure videos from the internet to create futuristic images from the past overlayed with out-of-reach memories and vague fragments of lost visions.
The Rossi Bar is a small grade II building, and they are restricted with how they can improve access for anyone with mobility issues. The live music venue is located in the basement, which can only be accessed by a short spiral staircase. More accessibility information and images of the venue are in this document:
spiritofgravity.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/The-Spirit-of-Gravity-at-The-Rossi-Bar-for-audience-members.pdf
If you can’t make it to the Rossi Bar, you can now live stream all of our gigs on our new Owncast platform at stream.gravitons.org/.
“The Spirit of Gravity: making experimental music a threat again – since 2001”
Thursday 5th October 2023 | 8pm – 10.30pm | £5 (cash only)
Downstairs @ The Rossi Bar
8 Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3WA