A further release from Spirit of Gravity hits planet earth on 1 May. Entitled a listener’s response to urban walking by Andrew Greaves, with contributions from Ron Caines (sax) and Pete Dixon (guitar). All written, arranged and produced by Andrew, apart from Ron’s original piece ‘Courtége’. The five-track album was inspired by a trip to the German city of Dessau, home of the Bauhaus. Walking between sites of memory linked the iconic design movement, Andrew noticed how “environments morph into each other; shopping quarters become residential, then drift into light industrial areas, into parklands and then out into the suburbs. With each shift in environment comes a change of colours and sound quality. I sensed these elements influencing my mood.”
The album may be streamed or downloaded from 1 May at: spiritofgravity.bandcamp.com/album/a-listener-s-response-to-urban-walking
Author: Spirit of Gravity
Thursday 1st August at the Rossi Bar: Meljoann / Simon Pyke / Marienbad
Meljoann: Disturbing R&B, hyper-capitalist video testimonials
Simon Pyke: Presents high fidelity 4/4
Marienbad: PlunderDSP xenoarthropod ambience
Former Skam and Warp artist Simon Pyke revisits the Spirit of Gravity with a side step to his regular abstractions with a set of slow burning 4/4 dance floor meditations.
Simon has contributed to a diverse array of projects. These includes collaborating with Hans Zimmer on a surround sound installation for BMW, soundtracking a projection show at the Sydney Opera House, and complete television rebrands for SKY TV and MTV. Additionally, he has soundtracked major multi-room exhibitions, such as the Universal Everything Lifeforms show.
Simon emerged onto the scene during the wave of innovation within electronic music in the mid-1990s. During this period, he released music on various labels, including Warp Records, and graced live stages at iconic venues such as the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Sonar Festival in Barcelona. He last played at The Spirit of Gravity about 18 months ago.
simonpyke.bandcamp.com/
www.freefarm.co.uk/music
Meljoann is a hyperjack producer from Ireland. Her sound pits soulful vocals against spiky lyrics; lush synths against industrial noise. In the US, her tracks have been championed by Pitchfork, Beats Per Minute, XLR8 and KEXP radio. Since moving to Brighton, UK she’s been supported by Gemma Bradley at BBC, Dummy Mag, HMUK and the Arts Council of England. Irish endorsement includes Dan Hegarty, Cian Ó Cíobháin and Tara Stewart at RTÉ radio, Irish Times, Nialler9, and Hot Press.
www.meljoann.com/
faircamp.meljoann.com/
Marienbad: elements of noise, glitch, ambient, drone, field recordings and the like heavily processed.
marryinbed.bandcamp.com/
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 1st August 2024 | 8pm – 10.30pm | £5 (cash only)
Downstairs @ The Rossi Bar
8 Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3WA
Graham Dowdall aka Gagarin 01.08.54 – 16.06.24
We’re sorry to have to let you know that Graham Dowdall, aka Gagarin, died on the 16th June. He had been ill with cancer, and amazingly his last two shows in Brighton were while he was undergoing treatment, including this one for us back in April:
Gagarin Live at The Spirit Of Gravity April 2024 – YouTube
We first met him in January 2008, when he played for us at “The 3 & 10” in Kemptown, during one of our lower points in terms of audience numbers, but something clicked and he returned many times as both a solo artist, as part of Roshi (feat Pars Radio) and in a duo with David Thomas in a special show at The Coach House in Kemptown.
Anyone who chatted to him at one of our shows will know what a lovely man he was, and considering how much cool stuff he’d done, remarkably humble. We’d recommend reading this interview with him:
bassmidstopsandtherest.substack.com/p/no-18-graham-dids-gagarin
Then check out his last album, including a track written up at Stanmer Park during the Sound Plotting event…
Komorebi | Gagarin | Geo Records (bandcamp.com)
It’s really upsetting to lose someone like this who still had a lot to give, he was already working on his next album, and an autobiography that would have been hilarious & endlessly fascinating.
Thursday 4th July at the Rossi Bar: Teashape / Bubble People / Bagombo Snuffbox
Teashape: Reeds & loops in an evolving narrative
Bubble People: Bioscene music
Bagombo Snuffbox: Jothi meets Ascsoms… synths & tapes & noise
Teashape create live ambient soundscapes using a variety of organic acoustic live instrumentation and electronics. Blending ambient textures with folk-rooted storytelling/ songwriting, It’s like listening to a barely tuned in radio station of sonic deja vu. Building on the sonic explorations of ambient music pioneers such as Eno, William Basinski and Steve Reich, Teshape explore the phasing of loops of varying lengths, textures and harmonies to create an ever evolving narrative that grows and decays in real time.
Bubble People is a neo-psychedelic electronica act from London, UK. Helmed by experimentalist Jasper Sdougos aka Jasper Drifts, they rarely exhibit the same sound twice in their search for euphoric sonics.
@jasper_drifts
www.bubblepeople.co.uk/
Bagombo Snuffbox is a collision of Jothi & Ascsoms, a melding of synths & tapes & noise, Bagombo Snuffbox is ungooglable thanks to Kurt Vonnegut. Bagombo snuffbox have an album due out soon.
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 4th July 2024 | 8pm – 10.30pm | £5 (cash only)
Downstairs @ The Rossi Bar
8 Queens Road, Brighton, BN1 3WA