Author: Spirit of Gravity

I dreamed it was spring again

Posted on by Spirit of Gravity

February 2017
Green Door Store

Slow Listener

Slow Listener

Slow Listener bathed in blue light standing just for us. Fidgeting at his lone black box, collaging drones of pure tone and odd blasts of manipulated clank and fade. A slowly unfolding collage of metal sounds, tones give way to reverse cymbal, gong scrape and jangle. Unsettling, unhuman, oddly – but not cold. Emotionally its quite challenging, sucking you in one minute with its rounded pleasantness before forcing you back with some serious high end chittering and blackboard scrape, that giving way to weirdly gated, pitch shifted voices while some ghost breathes backwards through a plasterboard wall. Ending on an endless sustain bell-tone with a one legged pirate stumbling around the flat upstairs in slow motion.

PSK

PSK

“We are PSK it is the only way”. Kev Hough plays long bass guitar notes through some really nasty fuzz pedal while sat behind a trestle table Steve Quixote/Fagan/Psylon provides some electronic rhythms and Pat keyboard and I think voice. Kev also has his megaphone and he’s not afraid to use it, even to reference Theresa May. Steve brings the history of electronic dance music, Kev brings ugly washes of noise and pat 60s organ tones and string synth washes. It works well, Steve’s understanding of the dynamics of programmed drum tracks makes quite the difference. Even when he’s caning the phaser on them. They even have some hooks in there. Possibly even more remarkable at a SoG than the burst of dancing we had a couple of months ago….

D503

D503

D503 drone slowly up from silence seated behind a trestle, Francesco on guitar ringing out occasionally while bass rasp and a trace of white noise slowly firm up, the rhythms more electroshock metronomic here. Eventually the guitar is submerged and as the bass turns to a bulbous pulse the guitar scrapes and flattens out to washes and the whole thing degrades to a 50Hz buzz. Then space winds sweep in and we’re on another build, the hi-hat turning into a robotic scaffold pole thwack around the head before everything empties out leaving endless guitar delays and a whirr of faulty electronics.

2nd March at the Green Door Store: Clive Henry / Gagarin / Feedback Cell

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Clive Henry
Body/Noise/Body

Clive Henry has been actively pursuing sound for over twenty years. Whilst he has done this in bands and looser groupings, his solo work has seen him pick an untutored route through “noise” and associated areas. His work has often been autobiographical, with recurring themes and ideas including: dissonance, the process of decay, and the human body as instrument. Recent recorded work has concentrated on noise textures and “harsh noise walls”, as well as pieces more clearly akin to musique concrete; whilst live performances have utilised vocal work and a commitment to physicality and tension. His formative experiences in music occurred within the diy punk/hardcore scene and the values of this community continue to inform his musical activities and beliefs. He was a founder member of the bang the bore collective, who have organised gigs and occurrences around the UK. He has played across Europe and the US, and been heard on radio 1. He lives alone in Southampton, with no friends but hundreds of noise tapes which all sound the same. He dislikes writing short bios.

Gagarin
Sonic Cosmonaut

Gagarin is the solo project of Graham “Dids” Dowdall, current member of Pere Ubu and former collaborator with Nico and a myriad of others legendary and unheard of. As Gagarin he makes an electronica that carries influences ranging from Stockhausen to Chicory Tip and everywhere in between and outside. Performing live with a combination of drumpads, samplers, iPads and other hardware his sound is characterised by liberal use of field recordings, strong melodies, fractured rhythms and improvising from a starting point of composition and structure. His last album – the unpronounceable ‘Aoticp’ received rave reviews and lots of airplay including repeated Radio 3 plays. In the middle of recording the follow up – provisionally titled ‘Corvid’ – Gagarin will bring to Spirit of Gravity a mix of work in progress for this, alongside some from ‘Aoticp’ and some reworks of compositions commissioned for 5 hills in Surrey in Summer 2016 which he shared for the first time at Fort Process.
www.gagarin.org.uk
soundcloud.com/ gagarin-1

Feedback Cell
Alice Eldridge & Chris Kiefer: modified Cello

Alice Eldridge and Chris Kiefer’s ever-evolving modified cello project with fresh Reykjavík upgrade: cellos, code, car amps, pickups and lots of soldering. Emits dulcet tones and brutal yelps.

Thursday 2nd March 2017 | 8pm – 10.30pm | £5
@ The Green Door Store
Undercroft, Brighton Train Station, BN1 4FQ Brighton

The latest release on the Spirit of Gravity label documents a beautiful and unique live collaboration
between the traditional Indian instrumentalists of The Music of Benares and the electronic
soundmakers of The Spirit of Gravity.

The album is available for audition and as a pay-what-you want download on the label’s page:
spiritofgravity.bandcamp.com/album/music-of-benares-in-brighton

On 8 November 2015, sitarists Pandit Shivnath Mishra and Deobrat Mishra, together with tabla player Prashant Mishra – three generations of the same family from Benares, northern India – played a sold-out concert at the Dome studio. Two fusion pieces – performed that evening with the Spirit of Gravity collective’s Geoff Reader, Andrew Greaves and Howard Spencer – are presented on this album, along with four improvisations from a session at Bird Studios the previous day.

The Mishras tour Europe every year but had never previously visited the UK. The collaboration was facilitated by Spirit of Gravity Life President Chris Cook, and the resulting intertwining of subtle synth drones and wash was recorded and filmed by collective members Dan Powell and by Sarah Nelson at the Dome.

“It was great opportunity to perform for the first time in the UK in 2015 – we had some great memories of performing with local musicians and having great cultural exchange with the music” says Deobrat Mishra.

Next radio broadcast on ResonanceExtra FM: Thursday 23rd February 8.00 to 10.00pm

Posted on by Spirit of Gravity

Gravity Waves and the Spirit World

The next edition of the Spirit of Gravity radio show will be broadcast on Thursday 23rd February from 8.00 to 10.00pm on ResonanceExtra FM.
https://extra.resonance.fm/

Gravity Waves

The first hour will be dedicated to the various sonic works made by the enigma that is Mr Chriddof. For years he has been making surreal and fantastic YouTube videos that blend infantile toilet humour, deep knowledge of historical avant-garde film, DIY software processing accidents and extensive use of 80’s and 90’s British television broadcast archives. Here we present a mix of ripped soundtracks and purely musical Chriddof endeavours. It all adds up to a truly strange and captivating body of work. Mr Chriddof, we salute you!

@chriddof
chriddof.nfshost.com/
www.youtube.com/user/fizzymilk1989

The second hour is our usual line up of the very best experimental music and sonic exploration from the exotic, parallel universe, that is the Spirit of Gravity.

The Spirit World
Kris T Reeder – Shattered Truths
Benjamin Finger – Whirlbrainpoolin
Spheress – Mixed at Midnight
Oryk and Mystero – Electricity (Part 2 Drain)
Wagstaff – Track 1 from Funkencomputer
Paul Kendall – It’s OK
Proprio – Columbo
The Music of Benares meet The Spirit of Gravity – Wasp Tabla Sitar take 6
Stereocilia – Still Breeze
The Gross Consumer – Haircut

Resonance Extra is available on DAB to listeners in Central Brighton and online to the rest of the world (how to listen). You can also listen online at extra.resonance.fm and directly using this link. Resonance Extra is also available via Radioplayer and TuneIn.

2nd February at the Green Door Store: Slow Listener / PSK / D503

Posted on by Spirit of Gravity

Rasping tones and full strength drones from Brighton and beyond

Slow Listener
Robin Dickinson blends a sensitive ear for decomposing drones (think an atonal William Basinski) with a keen understanding of musique concrète and noise. Recently he’s been moving away from grubbed up field recordings and tapes into more synthetic, tonal areas.

PSK
Kev Hough, Steve Psylon and Rock Sizemore: An ill judged Surrealist Electronica from three towering figures of the Worthing underground.
www.facebook.com/PSKband

D503
An Italian duo based in London: Francesco Garau, manipulated guitars, and Nicola Serra, bass synth and rhythmic. Their music aims to explore dark, cold and abstract territories under the umbrella of a variety of genres such as drone, industrial, techno and ambient, by using primitive, minimal and repetitive sounds.
d503.bandcamp.com/

Thursday 2nd February 2017 | 8pm – 10.30pm | £5
@ The Green Door Store
Undercroft, Brighton Train Station, BN1 4FQ Brighton

COMING SOON
The Spirit of Gravity at the Green Door Store Thursday 2nd March: Clive Henry / Feed Back Cell / Gagarin

The latest release on the Spirit of Gravity label documents a beautiful and unique live collaboration
between the traditional Indian instrumentalists of The Music of Benares and the electronic
soundmakers of The Spirit of Gravity.

The album is available for audition and as a pay-what-you want download on the label’s page:
spiritofgravity.bandcamp.com/album/music-of-benares-in-brighton

On 8 November 2015, sitarists Pandit Shivnath Mishra and Deobrat Mishra, together with tabla player Prashant Mishra – three generations of the same family from Benares, northern India – played a sold-out concert at the Dome studio. Two fusion pieces – performed that evening with the Spirit of Gravity collective’s Geoff Reader, Andrew Greaves and Howard Spencer – are presented on this album, along with four improvisations from a session at Bird Studios the previous day.

The Mishras tour Europe every year but had never previously visited the UK. The collaboration was facilitated by Spirit of Gravity Life President Chris Cook, and the resulting intertwining of subtle synth drones and wash was recorded and filmed by collective members Dan Powell and by Sarah Nelson at the Dome.

“It was great opportunity to perform for the first time in the UK in 2015 – we had some great memories of performing with local musicians and having great cultural exchange with the music” says Deobrat Mishra.

Stormy all round

Posted on by Spirit of Gravity

January 2017
Green Door Store

Meshmass

Meshmass

Starting early we had Meshmass, Peter Picket on the uncomfy chair to the right with laptop, saxophone and effects, Richard Miles to the left with a normal sized guitar (this time) that still looks small on his lanky frame. They start so early because they like to warm up slowly, some ride pattern tapping, a slur of guitar and smoky sax tones setting a misleading mood, as the guitar slowly drifts in wayward taps and wanders off to one side. The second piece starts with Richard building tonal loops of sustain, with a rattley snare loop, xylophone plonks, thickening up with some textures and e-bow, synth and long sax notes. It breaks down a couple of times before peter starts hammering the sax with a pretty serious blart. And that’s pretty much how it continues, a loop or two, a layer of rhythm some misdirection and some disruption. They’ve played at SoG a few times now, but I think this was the most satisfying performance. The pair working well at the layers.

The Zero Map

The Zero Map

Second up was the Zero Map, us, like everyone else getting a piece of them while the getting is good. They have the full trestle on the go, Chloe sat behind the (bass) guitar for once – it being flat on the table ready to be bowed, they start with field recordings, blown shell drones, chimes. Karl lightly thrums a mandolin; Chloe sings through cave-ish echo. She makes other more disturbing sounds with her voice, too. A thumb piano loop plicks in the background as waves of voice and bowed bass wash back and forth. Someone introduces the voice from the Red Room and things start to get a bit darker. The sound thickens and the volume increases. At the same time the film – 5 year’s worth of short clips from Chloe’s outtakes from what looks like half a dozen different cameras starts to get a bit scarier. Distortion. Wailing. Some feedback. A train. A hoover. Harsh Noise. And out into radio static.

Scrase

Scrase

Last up and in the dark is Scrase, there are folk travelled up from Portsmouth to see him. They’ll need good eyesight – Ha! Can hear him plenty though. This is a laptop set, generative processing and completely tonal. So abstract its hard to describe, its the kind of thing that would normally be expected to be cold and distant, but this is warm, and immediate and oddly thrilling. Um, things change abruptly, algorithmically I suspect, sometimes slurring, sometimes loud, sometimes quiet. Things switch back and forth as if controlled by an old style squarewave LFO. There sa bit that reminds me of EVOLS clanger conversation set back at the Komedia, but then it drifts off into moogy space territory. Some passages are dense with incident, some sparse and rather lovely. Constant motion. I’m going to give up now. Proper artistic endeavour. And I loved it.

Next radio broadcast on ResonanceExtra FM: Thursday 26th January 8.00 to 10.00pm

Posted on by Spirit of Gravity

Gravity Waves and the Spirit World

The next edition of the Spirit of Gravity radio show will be broadcast on Thursday 26th January from 8.00 to 10.00pm on ResonanceExtra FM – please note the change of day.
https://extra.resonance.fm/

This edition includes another piece of Spirit of Gravity-themed radio art, a composition from Daniel MacKenzie, then in the second hour another prime selection from SoG friends and fellow travellers.

Gravity Waves
The first hour this month begins with the second in a series of sound journeys around the letters SOG. This month we walked SOG around Brighton Pier. Next up is Daniel MacKenzie with a piece composed for the Dear Serge presents: Sonic Rebellion Now event at 2 Temple Place, London on 15th March, 5pm to 9pm. Daniel will be performing the piece live and there will also be live performances from Ewa Justka and Audrey Chen.

The Spirit World
Verity Spott – It Pulls Them Down
Spheress – Mixed at Midnight
Olivia Louvel – Pinkie 1547
4thirtythree – The Gamblers Prayer
Ecka Liena – Post Altitude
Alphabets heaven – Amin
Monster Bobby – Bedtime Baby
Roshi featuring Pars Radio – Aziz Joon
Der Plan – Hohe kante
Monster Bobby – A Bureaucracy of Angels

The last show, which went out on Saturday 24th November, is online to stream at:
www.mixcloud.com/resonanceextra/gravity-waves-and-the-spirit-world-24th-november-2016/

This edition includes an hour long piece of Spirit of Gravity-themed radio art, ‘SOG Underscore’ by Caleb Madden and Geoff Reader, plus tracks from some of the best acts that have recently played live at the Spirit of Gravity’s live shows, Geoff’s special radio version of “I Am Sitting in a Room” and a collage of live extracts from the Spirit of Gravity / SafeHouse / Beatabet Oxjam event at the Rosehill Tavern on 15th October.

Resonance Extra is available on DAB to listeners in Central Brighton and online to the rest of the world (how to listen). You can also listen online at extra.resonance.fm and directly using this link. Resonance Extra is also available via Radioplayer and TuneIn.

Three weeks late of the writing

Posted on by Spirit of Gravity

December 2016
Green Door Store

I’m writing this in the hangover mist between Christmas and the New Year, I have video and recorded evidence to remind me, but my mind is frozen with stale beer & wine and congealed gravies.

The last Spirit of Gravity show was a good one, I do remember the warm glow at the end of another evening. But we’ve had a good year, again, so thanks to everyone who played in 2016.

Cutlasses

Cutlasses

First act for the December show was Cutlasses, Scott Pitkethly’s solo electronic act. He has a bright blue electric guitar plugged into his laptop, some home-made boxes on the table and some more on the floor. The electronics whirr his cleanly plucked guitar up into a mandolin frenzy while half heard airport voices murmur expectantly in the background. Vast slabs of sound sweep across the mix, rhythms tack and totter, and suddenly Scott unexpectedly wails off into some soaring guitar action with accompanying Ponderous drums. It’s not the only time he really messes with us, though. Deep tone basses and abstract digitally filtered guitars predominate, but there are plenty of excursions into weirder shifty patterns and rhythms, and sideways steps into sonic flight before ending with a stumbleover drum track and shiny overdriven guitar.

I’m Dr Buoyant and Ron Caines

I'm Dr Buoyant and Ron Caines

Second up for the evening is the return of East of Eden/West Hill Blast Quartet saxophone man Ron Caines with I’m Dr Buoyant. Ron sits stage left on one of the new uncomfy chairs that have replaced his usual Velvety throne, on the other side is Tony Rimbaud/I’m Dr Buoyant with his array of ill defined electronic goods. Tony starts with some vaguely unhealthy sounding loops that ooze out of the speakers, Ron adding some lonely lines across the top. He follows a melodic thread with occasional flurries of notes cascading out. Its rather scary, but beautiful with undertones of loss and decay.

Johannah Bramli

Johannah Bramli

Rounding off the evening we have Johannah Bramli, if ever something deserved to be heard through the PA at the GDs it’s her current set. Some things really benefit from the extended bass and a bit of volume….

She has prepared some visuals that she has running from the laptop she also uses for running Ableton at her feet, plus a MicroKorg some kind of one stringed instrument and at least one home-made wooden box. A lot of her set starts with a vocal manipulation. Some shimmers, a shudder or two of bass and a bit of ticking rhythm. There is a field recording of voices talking and slowly the shifting takes form and a song emerges from the mist of sounds she’s prepared before being subsumed back into the playground of statics and warbles. The second piece has a MONUMENTAL slab of bass that steps across it when it takes form. Around this builds a rhythm of whacked stainless steel doors and industrial surfaces. The bass and clatter stops leaving some analogue glitch and static to continue while piano leaks in from another dimension pulling in some more vocals from Johannah and then it’s off to space for the end.