Category: Archive

17th June at the Scope: Thomas Stone / Ragamatic / Swarbrooke

Posted on by Spirit of Gravity

The Spirit of Gravity presents the Scope XI

Scope May 15

Thomas Stone
Contrabassoon and activated snare

Thomas Stone makes his music using contrabassoon, bass guitar and percussion with various forms of electronic intervention. Informed by a background in visual fine art, an interest in bass frequencies and musical contexts of drone, ambient and contemporary chamber. With previous projects and collaborations performed at a diverse range of venues including The Serpentine Gallery, Tate Britain and Resonance FM, Thomas’s latest music (2 related pieces entitled Incantation and Transference) is designed for solo performance under the moniker Jecklin.

Ragamatic
classic ragas on sitar + electro

Classic Ragas played on the Sitar with electronic backing. After working with Mario Niemuth as a duo (Mexico) on the project Reiner Heidorn now operates Ragamatic as a solo project. This comes with the approval of Life President Chris Cook (Same Actor, Hot Roddy). Short Indian ragas excerpts that /sing/ for electro pieces.

Swarbrooke
Circuit bent synth seizures

Plus Lissajous figure projections

Wednesday 17th June| 8pm – 10.00pm | Feed the piggy donations on the door please
@ The Coach House, 22 Walpole Rd, Kemptown, Brighton

4th June at the Green Door Store: Lorenzo Abbatoir / Slow Slow Loris / Clive Henry

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GDS June 15

Lorenzo Abbatoir
Italian structural sonic engineering

Lorenzo Abattoir (aka Nascitari): Italian based sound engineer & noise artist since 2008, founder of several projects with various international noise artists. He works as a solo artist or with the electroacoustic collective Mare di Dirac in which realized ritualistic performances with the use of field recording samples, microsound and unconventional musical instruments, combine with the natural sound effects of various locations. Using noise generators, Tape recorders, Shruti box, Granular synthesis, Real-time sampler, Lorenzo Abattoir studied the various resonances of the materials and their interaction with unusual types of microphones.

Slow Slow Loris
Berlin melodic noise duo

Slow Slow Loris is a new experimental/avant-garde noise-music duo from Berlin, Germany that uses voice and electronic devices to reveal the melody within the discord. We played our debut show at the Schlagstrom Festival 2014, followed by several Berlin noise events and a US east coast tour, all to a great response.
Epic, sweeping live performance using vocal melodies, samples, various instruments, live looping and multiple pedal chains to coax the music out of the noise. Like wanting to protect an endangered species, they enter raw emotional imagination to give the nuances of subconscious permission to come forth.

Clive Henry
The thinking man of HNW

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.
See more at: http://www.temptingfailure.com/2014/09/clive-henry-yol-make-noise-at-tempting.html

I don’t believe in free will, but it gives me a sense of freedom.
http://www.clivehenry.org/

Thursday 4th June | 8pm – 10.30pm | £5
@ The Green Door Store
Undercroft, Brighton Train Station, BN1 4FQ Brighton

COMING SOON

Wednesday 17th June at the Scope: Thomas Stone / Ragamatic

20th May at the Scope: Arma Agharta / Micromelodics / Haz’n’Daz / Wahabi Wimmins Collective

Posted on by Spirit of Gravity

The Spirit of Gravity presents the Scope X

Temporarily located at The Coach House, Walpole Road

Scope May 15

Arma Agharta
Sound/performance art shaman from Lithuania
(voice – electronics – objects – performance art, Vilnius, Lithuania)

The sound performances of Arma Agharta span a broad territory between unbridled eruptions of chaotic noise and hypnotic psychedelic rituals. Although his live sound, created by analogue instruments, formally fits into the familiar shelves of lo-fi, drone, ritual noise etc., in reality it contains many more shamanic elements that are hard to describe yet are perceived instinctively and gutturally.

The performer himself, jumping frantically among his ritual props and dressed in ever different exotic outfits, with his face hidden behind some creepy mask of a non-existent tribe, a Neanderthal wig or some other stunning accessory, also looks like a guide to the netherworld of forgotten spirits. Yet all of this is not as gravely serious as it might appear: another prominent element of Arma’s performances is absurd humour, which plunges the listener into an infantile subconscious space through odd bodily movements, spontaneous improvised games and the voice, detached from meaning and turning into unintelligible glossolalia.

Arma is also one of the most widely travelling Lithuanian sound artists. This mobility brings about both new influences, which become evident after each intense tour, and openness to all kinds of collaborations with other underground artists.

Since 2007, under different conceptual solo projects he did over 150 shows in Canada, USA, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, UK, Norway, Austria, Netherlands, Poland, Finland, Serbia, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech republic and Baltic states.
Participated in the festivals: Sonic Circuits (USA), Cocart (Poland), Experi-mental (USA), Sound Around (Russia), Sonic (Denmark), SOTU (Netherlands), Porin Juhlaviikot (Finland), and in all the main Lithuanian festivals: Speigas, Supynes, Menuo Juodaragis, STRcamp, Centras, Dezintegracija, Creature.

His music has been released exclusively on cassettes on Russian and Lithuanian labels.

Currently Arma also collaborates with a well known Lithuanian sound artist Arturas Bumsteinas aka Refusenik.

Micromelodics
Mode-morphing graphic score piece from Andrew Greaves

With Adam Bushell (Vibes) and Richard Atterbury (Guitar)

Haz’n’Daz
FA Cup special: Jose Mourinho’s effects rack.

The football crazy electronicists return for a foray into FA Cup madness and beautiful game style action. Prizes for wearing your colours.

Wahabi Wimmins Collective
Conversing with guitar and words

Aharon – words
Simon Mclennan – guitar (attempted non systematic)
Aharon will use words to do with improvisation. Simon will do improvisation with guitar. Together they summon the Wahabi Wimmins Collective(s)

Plus Lissajous figure projections

Wednesday 20th May | 8pm – 10.00pm | Feed the piggy donations on the door please
@ The Coach House, 22 Walpole Rd, Kemptown, Brighton

9th April at the Green Door Store: Tim Shaw & Sébastien Piquemal / Binnsclagg / Nuclear Whale

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GDS Apr 15

Tim Shaw and Sébastien Piquemal
Fields – mobile technology as a medium for sound diffusion

Sébastien and Tim explore mobile technology as a medium for sound diffusion. Audience members can join in by simply connecting to a specific website with their mobile phone, laptop or tablet. The connected devices become an array of speakers that the performers can control live, resulting in an omni-directional sonic experience. This project provides an alternative method for sound spatialisation as well as offering new ways in which audiences can engage in sonic works. Fields has been performed in Helsinki, Berlin, Athens, Lisbon and Newcastle.
tim-shaw.net/fields_/

Tim Shaw (tim-shaw.net)

Tim Shaw has worked internationally as a professional composer, performer, sound designer and researcher. His practice incorporates diverse approaches to sound capture and processing, and includes creating immersive and site responsive sonic installations. His compositional methods include field recordings, synthesized sounds and live electronics, providing a wide scope for creative diversity. At the heart of his work lies a concern with the auditory reflection and mirroring of real world environments through sound and technology. He is currently studying a PhD in Digital Media at Culture Lab alongside managing Newcastle based record label Triptik. Tim has created commissions for Warp Records, The British Council, The British Science Association, Pacitti Company, Tender Buttons and Transform Festival.

Sébastien Piquemal (funktion.fm/)

Sébastien Piquemal is a computer engineer, obsessively exploring the artistic capabilities of machines. After working several years as a full-stack web developer in Helsinki, Finland, he decided to dedicate himself fully to making music. Since then, he has been an active contributor to the open-source software community, leading various projects such as WebPd (Pure Data patches running in the web browser). As a lover of Jazz and improvised music, Sébastien is seeking new ways to place human interaction at the core of live music. He is presently doing a MA degree in sound in new media at Media Lab Helsinki.

Binnsclagg
Franchised esoteric babble & slash-poems

“Binnsclagg is an international franchise comprising Karl M V Waugh (CEO – Spock) and Veritie French (Secretary, Harry). Circuits, collage, slash-poems, Scientology, esoteric babble, game-play, unique, money.” – Steve Lamacq
“Despite accusations of impropriety they have continued to manufacture robots with deep psychological quirks and occasional psychedelic schisms.” – David Tibet

Nuclear Whale
Evolving Dark Ambient Electronica

Nuclear Whale for your consideration presents a dark slab of space ambience… evolving and snarling in anticipation of a new album. Analogue industrial evolving beats and overlapping drone textures.

Thursday 9th April | 8pm – 10.30pm | £5
@ The Green Door Store
Undercroft, Brighton Train Station, BN1 4FQ Brighton

COMING SOON

Wednesday 15th April at the Scope: Renfield / Chemical Bbrench / I’m Dr Buoyant & Ron Caines

18th March at the Scope: Nad Spiro / Leo Chadburn / Freedom Frampton

Posted on by Spirit of Gravity

The Spirit of Gravity presents the Scope VIII

Scope Mar 15

Nad Spiro
Electronic textures and sound fiction

Underground musician Rosa Arruti has worked for many years under the anonymous alias NAD SPIRO, a solo venture where complex processed guitars are built into a world of electronic textures and sound fictions. Her recordings have been released on the pioneering Spanish experimental label GEOMETRIK RECORDS.
Member of some of Barcelona’s cult underground bands (MohoChemie, Tendre Tembles, Psicópatas del Norte.) she has collaborated with other experimentalists like Kim Cascone or My Cat is an Alien.

Leo Chadburn
Music with surprising and unusual words

Composer and vocalist Leo Chadburn (AKA Simon Bookish) presents an evening of music with surprising and unusual words, ranging from floating dreamscapes, haunting descriptions of imaginary places and mangled poetry.
Featuring song, spoken word and lo-fi electronics, and including rarely-heard experimental music by composers including Peter Ablinger, Travis Just and Jennifer Walshe alongside Chadburn’s own left-field pop aesthetic, the evening aims to invoke a kind of surreal “film for the ears.”

Freedom Frampton
Minimal condensation of the intensity of living

Mixing a cappella with minimal backing on phone and drum machine, Freedom Frampton condenses the intensity of living through this life.

Plus Lissajous figure projections

Wednesday 18th March | 8pm – 11.00pm | Feed the piggy donations on the door please
@ The Caroline of Brunswick, 39 Ditchling Rd, Brighton

18th February at the Scope: Warrior Squares / DhákarlP / DA[FS]

Posted on by Spirit of Gravity

The Spirit of Gravity presents the Scope VII

Scope Feb 15

Warrior Squares
Improvising groove monsters with a tree and a former Henry Cow

Warrior Squares have just finished recording their debut album (at last!) and we’re looking forward to hosting them in the intimacy of The Caroline of Brunswick. Since the last time they played for us Geoff Leigh has picked up the Soprano sax again. And there is a good chance of tree based improvisations.

DhákarlP
‘Route one improv’

A new duo of Kev Nickells and Dan Powell

DA[FS]
Non Linear text scores; Modular synthesiser

DA[FS] is a PhD project exploring the recreation of relational, participatory, emergent, and gestural processes, via the implementation of non-linear text scores. It is currently being performed upon a modular synthesiser.

All the Lissajous figures you could ask for

Wednesday 18th February | 8pm – 11.00pm | Feed the piggy donations on the door please
@ The Caroline of Brunswick, 39 Ditchling Rd, Brighton

COMING SOON

Wednesday 18th March at the Scope: I’m Dr Buoyant and Ron Caines / David K Frampton / Nad Spiro

5th February at the Green Door Store: Olivia Louvel / The Organ Grinder’s Monkey / Inwards

Posted on by Spirit of Gravity

Spirit of Gravity pop night

Guards! Guards! were originally booked for this night, but can no longer make it, I’m afraid, so we’ve booked:

Inwards
Acre Recordings/BRVFCE recordings Live electronic analog performance

A childlike soundworld hides a slightly unnerving, psychedelic undertone, simultaneously pleasing restless feet and hazy minds.

Olivia Louvel
Electronic art pop

Olivia Louvel is a French-born, British composer, producer and performer, crafting electronic songs with laptop and voice. She works on the frontier of art and electronic music, often blurring the boundary between the two. Her innovative and quirky songwriting brought her to recently open for Planningtorock at the earsthetic Festival and also for The Irrepressibles, both at the Brighton Dome.

In 2011, she won the album of the year at the Qwartz Electronic Music Awards for ‘Doll Divider’, her third album. ‘Doll Divider’ was derived from A4 paintings which she made using pages from fashion magazines and repainting on top of the photos of the models. Collectively these paintings are called ‘Processed Dolls’.
Her previous production ‘ō, music for haiku’, based on haiku by poet Bashō (1644-1694), was released in December 2012. ‘o, music for haiku’ was nominated for the Prix Ars Electronica 2013.

In 2014, she released ‘Beauty Sleep’, 11 songs complemented by a series of experimental short films shot in West Sussex, reinventing herself as a bird-woman.

Electronic Sound
“The award-winning French-born Brit crafts a fresh set of art inspired electronics. Or is it electronics inspired art? Olivia Louvel works on the frontier of art and electronic music, often blurring the boundary between the two.”

Also..

“This is rather special…If you like the kind of darkness of the early Goldfrapp…Sen​sational sound!”
Melita Dennett, BBC Sussex

The Organ Grinder’s Monkey
Mutant guitar-pop-elec​tro-glitch hybrid

Reminding us of mid period Eno: shimmering guitar, tricky beats and a keenness to go the extra yard and overload everything with effects – his last show involved handing out a joystick to audience members to apply random filter to his songs.
http://www.togm​.co.uk/
http://soundclo​ud.com/togm

Plus more TBC

Thursday 5thFebruary | 8pm – 10.30pm | £5
@ The Green Door Store

COMING SOON

Wednesday 18th February at the Scope: Warrior Squares / Kev Nickells and Dan Powell