Latest Supersonic Lineup:
9pm doors
C_C/ Devilman/ DJ Scotch Bonnet with Koyxen and Sensational/ DJ Die Soon/ Free School/ Hey Colossus/ JK Flesh/ Kakawaka/ Modified Toy Orchestra/ PCM
Bohren/ Carlton Melton/ Dooms Day Student/ Drunk In Hell/ Dylan Carlson/ Flower/Corsano Duo/ Hookworms/ Hype Williams/ Jarboe/ Kevin Drumm/ Lau Nau/ Merzbow/ Nicholas Bullen / Rangda / Sir Richard Bishop / Stian Westerhus/ The Bug with Daddy Freddy and Flow Dan / Thomas Ankersmits / Warm Digits / Zeni Geva
Body/Head Kim Gordon + Bill Nace/ Cliffard Torus/ Dope Body / Goat / Gnod /Grey Hairs / Islaja / Justice Yeldman / KK Null + Ore / Lash Frenzy / Lichens / MOONN / Mothertrucker / My Disco/Oxbow Orchestra/ Richard Dawson/ Ruins Alone / Six Organs Of Admittance / SoundKitchen/ SWLLS / Tim Hecker/ Tomutonttu / Ufomammut/Zoltan
Supersonic festival is the most intensely purifying music event of any year. 2012 brings us a resplendent line-up of discordant wonder that is an absolutely must for any discerning music fan.
See you there.
2012 marks the ten year anniversary of this dynamic, experimental, multi-disciplinary arts festival, which identifies the otherwise indescribable connections between contemporary music, art, performance and film. To commemorate this impressive and very special milestone this year, Capsule propose to work with Supersonic alumni and emerging artists to celebrate the achievements of the festival thus far whilst also focusing firmly on the contemporary. Because as well as giving a warm welcome to many influential, era-defining artists over the years, Supersonic always has an uncanny knack for highlighting new acts before everyone else is talking about them.
As ever, Capsule’s programme has a sense of spectacle at the very heart of it, always aiming to capture the imagination of the audience, and with a friendly, bustling atmosphere to boot, there is little wonder why the festival draws fans, performers and industry folks from across the globe.
Momentum is really starting to gather now as Capsule continue to shape the entertainment for the epic TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY of Supersonic, the UK’s most distinctive and respected music festival.
Having recently announced the initial line up and the addition of Kim Gordon’s BODY/HEAD, we can now proudly announce even more artists to this extra special event including; iconic avant garde musician Jarboe, once a member of Swans, now delivering one of her unique visceral solo performances. The ever-elusive and always entertaining Hype Williams are also confirmed to be part of this landmark celebration, guaranteed to create a one-off, unforgettable performance. We are beyond excited to welcome Italian sorcerors of monumental and obliterating psychedelica Ufomammut to the festival, a perfect addition considering the strong visual element to their live performances. This appearance will be hot on the heels of the much anticipated release of ORO: Opus Alter, follow up to widely acclaimed, Opus Primum. Now onto someone who is a by all accounts the master practitioner of abrasive, highly creative and extreme noise, Supersonic proudly welcome back, Merzbow. Kevin Drumm has warmly accepted his invitation to play at the festival, having emerged from Chicago’s improvised music scene, in the 1990s he became one of the world’s pre-eminent prepared guitar players. Since then his work has expanded to include electroacoustic compositions and live electronic music made with laptop computers and analog modular synthesizers. Drumm’s work draws upon musique concrète, electronic sound, improvisation, heavy metal, and noise music. He is also a black metal fanatic, so his promises to be one very varied performance indeed.
Next up for some local talent who have been at the heart of the Birmingham electronic/dance music scene for many years, we are of course talking about dance-floor heroes, PCM, after all, it would be impossible to celebrate 10 years of Supersonic without them. Also added to the line up; the mesmerising multi-layered abrasive noise of Clifford Torus, noise rockers Doomsday Student (the phoenix rising from the ashes of Arab on Radar) and Drunk In Hell back by popular demand after becoming a favourite of many at last year’s festival. Also coming to join the tenth birthday festivities are Leeds based psych rockers Hookworms and Hey Colossus, a band who have cut their teeth in the noisier realm of the music business for many years now, and they are sounding better and better for it! Also performing will be Thomas Ankersmit, a musician and installation artist who plays serge analogue modular synth, computer, alto sax and is known for his collaborations with minimalist and electroacoustic artists such as the aforementioend Kevin Drumm. Now onto another multinstrumentalist who is no stranger to Supersonic Festival, KK Null and also making up the Japanese contingent, legendary drummer Tatsuya Yoshida (Zeni Geva) only this time performing as Ruins Alone.
Australian minimalists My Disco are heralded as the most danceable guitar band around, therefore making a perfect addition to this already bustling line up, and from one end of the musical spectrum to the next (as is the way with Supersonic) the skewed troubadour Richard Dawson will grace the stage, as will Stian Westerhus with his otherwordly jazz inspired improvised sounds.
As previously mentioned, Supersonic are known for being the ahead of the curve introducing new works by new and existing performers, the next addition to the line up proves this point well; as performing under the name SWLLWS, Sian Macfarlane explores the world of seance in Victorian times using a mix of super 8 footage as well as found sounds. This one promises to be very intriguing indeed. Finally, as if all of this was not enough, Supersonic are delighted to announce the krautophonic blizzard-wave duo Warm Digits, known for their semi-improvised brew of metronomic rhythms, snowstorm guitar, radiophonic electronics, dual-laptop electro, swathes of no-wave guitar and frantic free jazz drumming.
Believe it or not, there are still some more very special additions to add to their already mega tenth birthday line up which we shall unveil soon, as well as more information about the art exhibits and film programme which is still taking shape behind the scenes. But for now, please enjoy this Supersonic Festival mixtape which Capsule have compiled, featuring a selection of the line up so far, for your listening pleasure. Please feel free to host this on your site and help us to spread the word about this exciting milestone event which by the looks of things, is going to be absolutely unforgettable.
As a reminder, here is a list of the line up as it stands; Body/Head/Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore/Carlton Melton/Clifford Torus/Dope Body/Drunk In Hell/ Dylan Carlson/Flower-Corsano/Goat/Hey Colossus/Hookworms/Hype Williams/Jarboe/JK Flesh/Kevin Drumm/KK Null/Lichens/Merzbow/My Disco/PCM/Rangda/Richard Dawson/Ruins Alone/Sir Richard Bishop/Six Organs Of Admittance/Small But Hard showcase/Stian Westerhus/SWLLWS/Thomas Ankersmit/Tim Hecker/Ufomammut/Warm Digits and Zeni Geva.
Below you will find the full listings and extended information about each of the acts already confirmed.
“Supersonic is a place to be educated and surprised: new, experimental and intellectually nourishing.” – WIRE
“Having been a journalist for 15 years I’ve had cause to work at approaching 100 festivals all over the world and in my opinion Supersonic has the consistently best quality line-ups and is the most engaging and stimulating to fans of underground music. Certainly no other festival introduces me to more new and exciting music than this one.” – THE QUIETUS
“Capsule’s Supersonic festival has evolved…to consistently provide one of UK’s most anticipated Festival line-ups. Fans of dubstep, krautrock, free-jazz and doom metal were all catered for on a bill which promised to both rupture the ears while stimulating the mind through its diverse selection of music, film and specialist talks.” – CLASH
Crafting extraordinary events for adventurous audiences
SUPERSONIC FESTIVAL
19-21 October
Birmingham UK
Weekend tickets available from www.theticketsellers.co.uk
Here is the expanded information about each artist (in alphabetical order)
Body/Head
KIM GORDON
A founding member of Sonic Youth – where she plays bass and guitar and sings, Kim Gordon has also been involved in numerous collaborations with other artists and musicians including Julie Cafritz and Yoshimi in Free Kitten, Mirror/Dash with Thurston Moore and others including Lydia Lunch, Vincent Gallo, and Yoko Ono. With an extensive history in the world of art, both as an artist, writer and curator Gordon has maintained ongoing creative relationships with visual artists such as Dan Graham, Raymond Pettibon, Mike Kelley, Jutta Koether and Richard Prince and exhibited her own installation work across the US, Japan and Europe.
BILL NACE
Guitarist Bill Nace has ripped a new black hole in the free rock universe as a constant, energising presence in the Boston area performing with Chris Corsano in Vampire Belt (and together with Jessica Rylan as Vampire Can’t), Thurston Moore in Northampton Wools, x.0.4 with Jake Meginsky & John Truscinski and a coruscating duo with free reed player Paul Flaherty. His collaborations even extended to a short-lived association with Brighton noiseniks Dylan Nyoukis & Karen Constance (aka Blood Stereo) under the Ceylon Mange moniker.
Nace has released LPs on Ecstatic Peace!, 8mm, Ultra Eczema and more…
If you enjoy it slow and low, Germany’s Bohren & Der Club Of Gore will very likely do the trick. In fact, with each subsequent release the German quartet’s music grows increasingly refined. Playing together since 1988, that band hint at doom, jazz, drone and contemporary classical with an unparalleled restrain. Live shows are few and far between. We are honoured to host them at Supersonic Festival 2012.
If you prefer old SST label cassette tapes or an early Spaceman 3 cassette you recently found wedged in the back seat of your car to super slick modern day music production, you may dig Carlton Melton. Their music is recorded live inside a geodesic dome, and is entirely improvised.
Clifford Torus is Anders Hana (Moha!, Ultralyd & Noxagt) on drums & electronics & Leon Barnett (Horacio Pollard) on guitar & vocals. Heavy, hypnotic, drenched in feedback and driven by a super charged rhythm, Clifford Torus deliver a mesmerising multi-layered rhombus harsh noise.
You know who these men are. They have been other men. Who they were before does not matter. What matters most is who they are now. These men, with two menacing guitars, violent drums, and wild words will fill that void in you. Born from the ashes of Arab on Radar, Doomsday Student come from that untouchable tradition of noise rock from Providence, Rhode Island.
Primal hardcore thrash vibes from the lovely brothers of Baltimore. Dope Body are road doggies, funsters, and gleeful pummellers of basement and attic parties alike, wide-eyed fanatics of the craft that the more reasonable among us might mistake for insanity (it isn’t entirely so). Dope Body is a spasm of styles and directions, showering sparks from a half-melted thickness. They writhe under their own influences and experiments, swinging and swaying from guttural chugging to charming riffs n licks within the confines of a single tune. Promoting their brand new album, Natural History, Dope Body are in possession of what might be their most COMMERCIALLY ACCESSIBLE album ever – especially if your idea of “commercially accessible” is Half- Machine Lips Moves/Psychic, Powerless…/or “Salad Days”-era punk. They have well and truly honed their own off-kilter sound, replete with heavy walls of rhythm, raw electronics and vocals that grunt and yelp with an animalistic ferocity. Lock up your daughters, your boyfriends, your kids – keep your own body in check – no one body’s the same, but everybody’s body is sure to get weird when it comes into contact with Dope Body!
BORO SCUM PUNK INFLUENCED By BOOZE, DRUGS, SEX, VIOLENCE, VIOLENT SEX, PORN, ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION HELL, PERSONALITY DISORDERS, INSOMNIA, PARANOIA, HANGING AROUND WAITING TO SCORE, SCORING SHIT GEAR, SHIT NIGHTS OUT, HANGOVERS, COMEDOWNS, MALNUTRITION, BOREDOM, THE DOLE, SHIT 9-5 JOBS, PUBLIC TRANSPORT, BEING FUCKING BROKE, RELIGION (ESPECIALLY ROMAN CATHOLICISM), CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIENDS, SERIAL KILLERS, LANDLORD CUNTS, ARSEHOLE ‘FRIENDS’, DEAD FRIENDS, SUICIDE, DEATH, MURDER AND PARMOS.
Legendary Earth guitarist Dylan Carlson recently set out to pursue a solo endeavour, up to now he has released a cassette as drcarlsonalbion but there still remains an air of mystery and much anticipation as to what direction this solo musical endeavour will go next. For Supersonic, he will be teaming up with a number of other musicians including Teresa Colamonaco on vocals, Michael York on bagpipes, and Rogier Small on snare drum.
As a powerful and loud guitar/drum duo, Lightning Bolt comparisons come cheap….the Flower-Corsano Duo are something else – more like a white-punk-jazz-trash Konono No.1 or an Eastern sound, opiate-fixated Harry Pussy. As a duo they have that special power to elevate through noise, rhythm and primal harmonix. An exhilarating sight/sound that shudders the body and cleanses the mind. Obsessive stuff.
A collective who hail from a small and very remote village in deepest, darkest Sweden, Goat produce heavy, afro psych punk, with absorbing percussion. Old tales of voodoo and curses from their village Korpolombolo inspires their music. One to watch!
“Hey Colossus are the closest thing the UK has to inheritors of the crown of the Butthole Surfers…. like the whole Texas Chainsaw Massacre family drunkenly shouting along to Neu! and Loop during Ragnarök” Stool Pigeon
Hookworms fling themselves headlong into classic 80’s/90’s psych-rock like they’re trying to break something. Hailing from Leeds and cramming themselves giddily within the well established formal properties of the genre, they walk the scorched road behind Loop, Spectrum, and any other titan of two-chord songs who’s ever slowly wah-ed a chord until they saw colors.” – Cameron Stallones (Sun Araw/Sun Ark)
On record, Hype Williams make music laced with their signature hazy glow and full of crunched eurovision lullabies, kinetic drum machine jams, unsettling funk, smeared walls of synth, and moments of unadulterated opiated bliss. Live, the band offer a completely different and intense side to their music with each performance being different to the last, so expect to see nothing like it again.
A unique energy, Jarboe’s music draws from a variety of charged sources. Her 14-year involvement with Swans cemented her place as an icon in avante garde music and she has worked prolifically as a solo artist and collaborator since. Her delivery has been described as voice acting and also channeling. A primary objective for Jarboe is to close in on the gap in the audience/performer relationship via complete submission and vicarious experience through her performance.
Godflesh, Head of David, Napalm Death, Techno Animal, Jesu, Greymachine, Palesketcher – just some of the projects from the insanely prolific Justin Broadrick, who in his new relationship with 3by3, raises his Techno Animal moniker JK Flesh from the dead for it’s debut full-length outing, to once again prove his mastery of all things brutal. Soul-crushingly dark beats and bass, layered with Broadrick’s inimitable guitar and vocal fuzz, providing a stark contrast to 2010’s Palesketcher output, that will resonate with fans of Godflesh and the post-dubstep landscape alike.
Emerging from the Chicago’s improvised music scene, in the 1990s he became one of the world’s pre-eminent prepared guitar players. Since then his work has expanded to include electroacoustic compositions and live electronic music made with laptop computers and analog modular synthesizers. Drumm’s work draws upon musique concrète, electronic sound, improvisation, heavy metal, and noise music. He is also a black metal fanatic.
Tokyo based KK Null (Kazuyuki Kishino) is a multi instrumentalist and experimenter. As well as being part of a number of influential progressive rock bands, KK Null has played an important role in the relationship between rock and extreme music/noise.
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe is an artist and multi instrumentalist working with voice in the realm of spontaneous music Through collaboration Robert has worked with such artists as Lucky Dragons, Alan Licht, Lee Ranaldo, White/Light, Kevin Martin, Tyondai Braxton and Genesis P-Orridge.
Masami Akita performs as Merzbow. Since 1979 he has been a hugely influential practitioner on the fields of sound art, noise and extreme music. Abrasive and restrained in equal measure, Merzbow is considered to be the most important artist in noise music.
An Australian minimalist band, My Disco (named after the Big Black song) have to bet he most danceable guitar band around. If you like your party music on repeat, then it’s time to switch onto the Melbourne trio.
It would be bear impossible to celebrate 10 years of Supersonic without PCM. This duo have been at the heart of the Birmingham electronic/dance music scene for many years but have managed to keep their music and ethos resolutely underground.
PCM draw from their wide-ranging influences from metal to Krautrock, 60s psychedelia and hardcore to create a unique take on Drum & Bass/electronica.
By combining nitrous-fuelled beats and filthy subsonic basslines with alien soundscapes and horror movie unease, PCM continue Birmingham’s heritage of producing dark, heavy music but with their eyes firmly on the dancefloor.
Rangda, the child-eating demon queen of Balinese mythology, finds a sonic voice via the epic, thrashing jammerisms of Sir Richard Bishop, Ben Chasny, and Chris Corsano. A twin virtuoso guitar attack is matched by one of the most in demand drummers in the world. Live, they are utterly thrilling, and a rare opportunity to witness such important players in avant garde contemporary music playing together.
A skewed troubadour who sings and plays guitar with a rare intensity, and a very singular style. Dawson’s music is a collision of opposites, his hoarsely cracking voice suddenly rising to a magical soar, while his battered acoustic guitar veers from stumble to sublime in a way that can recall Sir Richard Bishop or Captain Beefheart.
Like strong alcohol, Ruins make music that makes you grimace. Ruins is a lab of the Tatsuya Yoshida stamp, a direct interface between his brain and his drumsticks. You could get 15 rock records out of one Ruins album, just by adding a bit of fizzy water. Yoshida is also the drummer for legendary Japanese band Zeni Geva.
Richard Bishop is an improviser, composer, and an intrepid explorer on electric and acoustic guitar whose work often reflects the shadow worlds of India, the Middle East, North Africa, and other points along the Gypsy trail. There is also a fair amount of experimentation involved in much of his string-work which can lead to audio realms rarely visited by others. Attentive listeners may hear shades of Jimmy Page, Django Reinhardt, Sonny Sharrock, and Ali Akbar Khan in his playing. Others may hear the sounds of a train wreck or a swarm of bees flying into a buzz saw (it depends on the day). It hardly matters. Bishop has fused all of these and many other elements to forge a unique and inventive style all his own.
Six Organs of Admittance is the primary musical project of guitarist Ben Chasny, ” the architect of one of America’s best-ever psychedelic syndicates” – Pitchfork.
Promoting exciting new label Small But Hard with exciting artists, including…
Koyxeи is one of the many aliases of Kouhei Matsunaga, when in his Hip Hop/Breakbeat guise with vocalists & MCs.
C_C – after listening to a lot of jungle, dub and breakcore, Eduardo Ribuyo had his brains blown when he met NHK, aka Kouhei Matsunaga. The ensuing metamorphosis brought us C_C, master of handmade beats and analogue feedback loops. Taking k7 tapes as his primary material, and sourcing sounds from anything and everything, C_C produces heavily textured music breathing, repetitious, and deep. Live performances envelop, soupy and treacly, moving incognito through his signature improvised flow.
Devilman comprises of three strong individual talents, Shige (DJ Scotch Egg) on bass, Gorgonn (Dokkebi Q) live mixing, and Taigen Kawabe (Bo Ningen) providing vocals. They are part of a secret underground organisation fronted by the mysterious MR. D.
DJ Scotch Bonnet is the new solo project of Shigeru Ishihara, aka DJ Scotch Egg. A maverick, crazed with energy and excess creativity, Ishihara’s chance meeting with Matsunaga Kouhei spurred an isotopic explosion of activity and inspiration; the result was new dope style distorted bass and beats
Kakawaka makes noise. The lunatic who took over the asylum, Kawakawa merrily blends childish tomfoolery with mind mangling noise. Abrasive sound sculptures beat you into submission until you are sick on the carpet. He spits in your eye and pisses on your face. For thus it is written in the great journal of musical endeavour that someone somewhere will achieve maximum joy from this unholy racket.
“The sense of menace is generated with huge energy by the belligerently brilliant Norwegian guitarist Westerhus who coaxes a plethora of tortured sounds from his axe, bowed notes elongating into harmonic dismemberment of epic proportions. (…) This is heady, sometimes heavy, otherworldly stuff, fuelled by jazz but never hindered by it. Welcome to the new century of improvised music.”- JazzWise Magazine
Sian Macfarlane presents a new work exploring the Victorian séance, and its roots in the pain of the loss of loved ones.
An exploration of the world of the séance, popular in Victorian times, where spiritualism was at its height, this piece will incorporate family snaps, slides, and super 8 footage as well as found sounds.
Thomas Ankersmit is a musician and installation artist based in Berlin and Amsterdam. His main instruments are the Serge analogue modular synthesizer, computer and alto saxophone. He frequently works together with New York minimalist Phill Niblock and electroacoustic artists Valerio Tricoli and Kevin Drumm.
Canadian based composer and sound artist, Tim Hecker has spent the last decade inhabiting a unique intersection between noise, dissonance, and melody. In his varied and celebrated works, digital and organic sources tightly intertwine. The immense power and menace of his live shows make Hecker a contemporary master of volume and texture.
Ufomammut is a power trio formed in 1999 in Italy by Poia, Urlo and Vita, worldwide recognized as the creator of a unique brand of psychedelic sludge.
With long songs, droning vocals and massive effects the band combines a monumental riffing attitude with the psychedelia of the more visionary Pink Floyd. Ufomammut’s live show is supported by the internationally acclaimed graphic and video art of Malleus.
Warm Digits is the krautophonic blizzard-wave duo of Andrew Hodson and Steve Jefferis, based either side of the Pennines in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Manchester. Warm Digits make a semi-improvised brew of metronomic rhythms, snowstorm guitar and radiophonic electronics, dual-laptop electro, swathes of no-wave guitar and frantic free jazz drumming, taking their cue from the hypnotic repetition of Neu!, the textural overload of My Bloody Valentine, the glacial otherworldliness of Emeralds, and the sensuous modernity of cosmic disco; there are hints in the mix too of Eno, Giorgio Moroder and Holy Fuck.
Japanese noise rock group led by singer and guitarist KK. Null. Zeni Geva’s music can be diverse and experimental, incorporating elements ranging from death metal and hardcore punk to math rock, psychedelic, and noise rock. Their music is often technically unorthodox and demanding,
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. – Aristotle
Ufomammut on the Sunday. That’ll play with the hangovers. Excellent.