Future Feminism, RVNG’s 15th anniversary, ONCEIM, and more added to Le Guess Who? 2018

08 August 2018

Taking place between the 8th and 11th of November in various idyllic venues across the charming Dutch town of Utrecht, Le Guess Who? had already whetted our appetite back in May with the first announcement of their thrilling and extraordinarily diverse line up, including forward-thinking performers like Colin Stetson, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Circuit des Yeux and Eleonor Friedberger amongst many others.

Le Guess Who?’s co-curators help set the tone of the festival, inviting their own favourite artists to play, as well as performing themselves. This year Shabaka Hutchings, Devendra Banhart, Moor Mother and Asia Argento enrich the program with their selections.

Prodigious multi-reed player Shabaka Hutchings, who has become something of a regular at Le Guess Who?, takes the curator seat this November, inviting an array of unique and exciting artists. Among the new names appearing in his curation are Martinique-born DJ Noss and New Zealand’s Orchestra Of Spheres, one of the most inventive and outlandish bands on the planet. Hutchings had already invited a slew of marvels and will himself perform with two of his bands, The Comet Is Coming and Sons of Kemet in a special XL format featuring four drummers.

Following her debut at Le Guess Who? last year, Philadelphia based interdisciplinary artist, Camae Ayewa aka Moor Mother returns as a curator. Newly added to her program are Amsterdam based Brazilian DJ, producer and vocalist LYZZA, experimental musician Eartheater hot on the heels of her third album IRISIRI, and South African duo FAKA, expressing their black queer experience and identity across various art forms including performance, sound, video, photography and literature.

Added to Asia Argento’s curation is a special theatrical performance by Future Feminism, the project founded by Kembra Pfahler, Johanna Constantine and Anohni, calling on a global feminine collective consciousness to save the world. Pfahler and Constantine, together with The Girls of Karen Black, have a performance in store based on the Future Feminism Tenets. Other additions to Argento’s program include actress and activist Rose McGowan, legendary producer and musician Martin Bisi, acclaimed and subversive artist Joe Colem, whose work encompasses panel paintings, comic strips, installations and performances and Escape-ism, the project of punk provocateur Ian Svenonius whose new album The Lost Record will be out just a couple of months before the festival. A discussion and screening of films will also be part of her curation.

Each year the festival hosts rare live performances and one-off shows and this year is no exception. French experimental orchestra ONCEIM (Orchestre de Nouvelles Créations, Expérimentations et Improvisations Musicales), made up of more than thirty improvisers, will perform two pieces at Le Guess Who?, Occam Océan by French composer Éliane Radigue, and Gruides, the first orchestral work by Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley.

Le Guess Who? are also partaking in the 15th anniversary celebration of boundary-pushing label RVNG Intl, filling the bill with some of the labels finest, including the versatile and daring drummer Greg Fox and Russian experimental producer Kate NV, whose recent album, для FOR, released in June, serves as a score to her “native Moscow environment”. Colombian civil engineer turned sound artist and musician Lucrecia Dalt joins in the celebration with her fusion of Colombian sounds and experimental minimalism. And incredibly talented experimental composer and cellist Oliver Coates, who has worked with everyone from Johhny Greenwood, Terry Riley and Mica Levi to Paul Thomas Anderson, will grace the festival with his new album Shelley’s On Zenn-La, set for release in September. The label’s milestone will also bear fruits at Le Guess Who?, with FRKWYS, their 12-inch series that “pairs contemporary artists and their progenitors”, premiering and recording a collaboration between Finnish electronic music composer Pekka Airaksinen and multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Ka Baird, known for electronically manipulating her voice and flute. A second FRKWYS collaboration will bring together vocalist and composer Ian William Craig and innovative classical electronic music composer Daniel Lentz.

Exuding and delivering brilliance at every turn, with an abundance of phenomenal events and an incredible array of known and lesser known artists, Le Guess Who? 2018 will be an experience like no other. Full details of the line-up, tickets and other info can be found on leguesswho.com.

Daniel Brandt announces second album Channels and shares lead single ‘Flamingo’

08 August 2018

Photo: Özge Cöne

Daniel Brandt, best know as the drumming force behind Brandt Brauer Frick, has announced details of his second solo album following last year’s outstanding Eternal Something. Entitled Channels, it arrives on October 12th through Erased Tapes. On the new album, Brandt tried to “capture the essence of minimalism whilst lending it to a more playful context,” explains the press release. Channels is informed by Brandt’s experience performing and recording Steve Reich’s Six Pianos in a six-piece, which influenced him to compose long meditations on the piano. The record’s “frenetic energy and shape-shifting identity was also born out of touring with his new band”, the blurb adds, “and a desire to translate both the sound and spiritual unity of their live shows in which musicians locked together to create an intriguing meld of expansive works”.

Brandt has let loose the wild and wonderful opening track ‘Flamingo’ and he has also made a video for it. He comments on it:

“The video for Flamingo is deliberately non performance – people sitting in a room and watching basically nothing, never really sure if anything is ever going to happen. It’s also a play on John Cage’s 4’33”, except in this instance there isn’t even a performer present”

Watch it now.

Darto announce new EP Fundamental Slime

03 August 2018

Darto have announced details of a new EP, Fundamental Slime, out on September 14th via Aagoo Records. Fundamental Slime follows the release of last year’s exciting and exhilarating album, Human Giving, and their split 7″ with WAND ‘Hush/Follow Up‘.
Featuring four new tracks, Fundamental Slime is described as “an observation on the darker end of the human-possibility spectrum”. Speaking about the EP, the band’s singer and multi-instrumentalist Candace Harter had this to say:

“These songs share a similar theme of power and control, and speak from a variety of perspectives. We all sat down and co-wrote most of the lyrics together, each of us taking the lead on a different song. I really liked that process because it allowed for instant feedback and there were 3 other people helping me with putting ideas into words. I think this record touches on the shadow of what is happening in this world and how people are being mistreated. Overall, it’s just a record about misuse of power.”

As a first taster, Darto have let loose the EP’s mesmerizing and unremitting opening track ‘Brotherhood’. Drummer Greg Flores comments on the song:

“The song ‘Brotherhood’ is about power and dominance. Men in particular seem to protect their power with violence without ever questioning the reasons why they feel the need to protect power in the first place. The irony is that violent dominance is an ultimate display of weakness, and it’s a way to express insecurity while still maintaining power,” says Greg Flores.

Take a listen to ‘Brotherhood’ below.

Laurence Pike shares new live video for ‘Distant Early Warning’

02 August 2018

Inventive drummer and composer Laurence Pike is a busy guy. This year alone he released and toured his highly awaited celestial debut solo album, Distant Early Warning, and there’s an exciting new record from his band Szun Waves on the way.

Pike is back on the road this month, performing solo and also with Szun Waves. If you haven’t experienced his phenomenal drumming talents, just take a look at what you’re missing out on in his new live video for the title track ‘Distant Early Warning’, recorded at Sydney’s Golden Age Cinema.

Catch Laurence Pike live at The Shacklewell Arms on August 22nd, and what’s more, it’s free.

Distant Early Warning is out now on The Leaf Label.

Manu Delago shares new single and teaser trailer from upcoming album + film Parasol Peak

30 July 2018

After sharing the magnificent ‘Parasol Peak‘, wonderfully talented Austrian percussionist and composer Manu Delago is beguiling us again with a beautiful new single, ‘Parasol Woods’. The track is taken from his upcoming album and film Parasol Peak, a giant sonic venture recorded with an ensemble of seven musicians on a mountaineering expedition in the Alps. Along with the new single, Delago has also shared another stunning teaser trailer. Check it out straight after ‘Parasol Woods’ and grab the album when it drops on September 7th through One Little Indian.

Klaus Johann Grobe announce third album Du Bist So Symmetrisch and share lead single ‘Discogedanken’

27 July 2018

Swiss duo Klaus Johann Grobe have announced details of their third album, Du Bist So Symmetrisch, set for release on October 26th through Trouble in Mind. Du Bist So Symmetrisch continues in the vein of last year’s Spagat der Liebe, “incorporating the slinky, jazz-fusion-laced grooves populating late night clubs and braiding them together with the band’s own blend of mutant electro-funk”, as the press release explains. “Driven by an organic, metronomic beat aligned with synth, chant-like vocals, and a monstrous funky bass,” it adds, “the music aims towards a certain kind of hypnosis, particularly as the sleeping pill echo-heavy vocals cycle over the locked grooves the pair throw down.”

The first single to be revealed from their forthcoming album is the melancholy-tinged cosmic track ‘Discogedanken’ and it comes with an animated video made by Jonas Baumann. Watch it below.