East End Review

Tag: Ilia Rogatchevski

World musicians to descend upon Barbican for Transcender festival

Whirling dervish: Meshk Ensemble are to perform at the Barbican as part of the Transcender weekend

The Barbican’s Transcender weekend has become a firm favourite in London’s contemporary music events calendar over the past few years.

Returning next month for its eighth edition, the four-day concert series aims to explore the many different facets inherent to transcendental music from across the globe.

This year’s event features musicians from Morocco, France, UK, Iran, Turkey and the United States.

It will open at Milton Court Concert Hall with two contrasting performances.

The Master Musicians of Jajouka have been performing their unique folk music for generations, but first came to prominence in the West after much promotion from artists such as Brian Jones and Ornette Coleman.

The Master Musicians will be followed by Marouane Hajji, a vocalist from Fes, who performs devotional songs in the Sufi tradition.

The Moroccan theme is carried through into the second day – this time at LSO St Luke’s – with an exclusive collaboration between British electronic producer, James Holden, and Mâalem Houssam Guinia – a leading musician of the Gnawa music tradition.

This collaboration will be mirrored by another, that between Étienne Jaumet, Sonic Boom and Céline Wadier, all of whom will be paying a drone-induced tribute to American composer, La Monte Young.

Electronic music maestro: James Holden

Saturday will see the focus shift onto the Barbican Hall for a double bill that reflects on the different aspects of the Persian poet and scholar, Rumi.

The Iranian singer, Parisa, who last performed in London over ten years ago, will be bringing a fresh, lyrical approach to Rumi’s mystical poems.

Turkey’s Meshk Ensemble will follow suit with their ritualised interpretation of the sema ceremony, put to revived compositions from the Mevlevi repertoire. Directed by Timuçin Çevikoglu, this will be the ensemble’s UK debut.

The festival will close on Sunday night with a rare performance by Texan duo, Stars of the Lid. They will be combining their highly processed ambient tones with intricate lighting and animated projections.

Texan duo: Stars of the Lid

Speaking to Barbican’s Contemporary Music Programmer, Chris Sharp, I asked what he looked for when putting on an event as eclectic as Transcender. “The whole idea was to try and juxtapose different musical traditions and suggest that there are connections between them,” he said.

“For example, the common human impulse – to escape the everyday and move into a place where time slows down – has been central within religious music, going back hundreds of years, if not longer.

“A lot of contemporary music, from club-based electronic music to stoner rock, explores similar ideas around repetition and gradual change. We try and distribute our attention around the world. This year there is quite a lot of Moroccan music, which we haven’t done in the past.

“And at the same time, we’re looking for interesting collaborations between contemporary artists who have different approaches to music making.”

Transcender
29 September – 2 October
Barbican Centre, Silk Street, EC2Y 8DS
barbican.org.uk

Sarah Yaseen of Rafiki Jazz. Photograph: Ayse Balko

August 22, 2016
Fractal Meat Live at New River Studios – review

Sound artist Graham Dunning. Photograph: Alex Zalewska

While most people will use the Great British summer as an opportunity to get their skin burnt at an overpriced rooftop bar or see an auspicious indie band blast their way through a muddy festival, there is no shortage of good stuff happening in North East London.

On Thursday 15 July, New River Studios hosted ‘Fractal Meat Live’, an album-launch-cum-radio-broadcast, which showcased sonic experimentations of global proportions. This event was organised by Graham Dunning, a local sound artist who also presents the ‘Fractal Meat On A Spongy Bone’ radio programme on NTS.

The gig began with Me, Claudius, a part-Welsh, all Female electro-dub outfit, who make grating folk music. They were followed by Justin Paton, an avid fan of squelchy synthesisers, whose trademark sound is good ol’ fashioned acid house. The former sounded like a tortured KLF who have had their trademark tangy samples confiscated from them, while the latter locked into imperfect wonky dance grooves that made the walls sweat.

I caught up with Dunning after Paton’s set. He told me that ‘Fractal Meat…’ began its life three-and-a-half years ago, while NTS was still dominated by club DJs promoting their own nights. The station wanted to broaden its output and approached him with an open-ended brief. “They wanted to bring experimental music, electronic music and sound art together,” Dunning explained. “So, that’s a pretty broad spectrum, but I would play stuff the other shows weren’t covering.” Perhaps it’s appropriate then, that the show’s name originates from Paul Hegarty’s 2007 book on sound art, Noise/Music: A History.

Heading back, once again, into the cavernous depths of New River Studios, we were treated to the subtle, melancholic improvisations of Far Rainbow. This electronics and drums duo make music that resembles crackling tinfoil riding an errant wind. There are tepid waves and scenes of a damp, night-time London projected in the background, drawing parallels between the loneliness of both vistas.

The last act I managed to catch before setting off for the night bus home was a collaborative set between Steph Horak and Tom Richards. Richards was launching his new cassette, ‘Selected Live Recordings 2013-16’, on the Fractal Meat Cuts label. Horak also features on this album. Using re-purposed and outmoded electronic devices in tandem with custom built modular systems, Richards creates bleak, but elastic atmospherics. To counter his “heavily textured, polyrhythmic improvisations” Horak works with rule-based compositional methods, which include modulating her voice using software and effects. Horak and Richard’s collaboration was dark, but full of energy.

Before heading home, I managed to catch Dunning once again and asked what he looks for when putting on an event like this: one that is a tape label, radio programme and sound art gig all-in-one. “Lots of like-minded people having a good time,” he answered. Fair enough. And with that, I went into the stifling summer night.

Fractal Meat website
Fractal Meat on Bandcamp
Fractal Meat on NTS Radio

July 28, 2016
Surround sounds: ‘pit parties’ are taking the gig to the crowd

Cult following: The Black Lips at a Fluffer Records pit party. Photograph: Carla Salvatore

Fluffer Records started out as a pub conversation but is slowly developing a bit of a cult following in East London.

This independent label promotes local rock and roll, and helped the likes of Virgin Kids get signed with US label Burger Records.

But for those in the know, Fluffer is the architect of the chaotic ‘pit parties’ held in secret locations, where bands play in the centre of the room with the crowd surrounding them 360 degrees.

In May, Hackney Wick venue Shapes hosted the biggest pit party to date. Ten bands played a one-day festival, with The Black Lips jetting in from Atlanta to headline.

With the stage in the centre, the PA system consisted of four speakers running around its perimeter. Support came from East London-based Japanese expats Bo Ningen, a beguilingly facetious Spanish group The Parrots, and Heck, a stage-diving, thrash-metal four-piece from Nottingham.

The drinks were expensive, the music was loud and cathartic. And the audience got into the mood with moshing, punching inflatable fruit, attempted stage invasions and giant panda costumes.

The Black Lips have a reputation for energetic and raucous shows, with stage invasions and drunken nudity not uncommon. Pulling off a gig like this required diplomacy, as both band and venue were concerned things could get out of hand. But on this occasion their set was a relatively civil, albeit sweaty, affair.

Dancing to Heck at Shapes. Photograph: Carla Salvatore

Last month I spoke to label boss Al Brown after Fluffer’s DJ set at Field Day. I was curious to find out if the carnivalesque atmosphere of their pit parties was intentional.

“The fans are part of the performance,” he confirmed. “Because, let’s face it, the more energy you get off the fans and the more people watching, the better the bands tend to play. It’s all part of the same puzzle and both feed off each other.”

New River Studios, in Manor House, held the most recent Fluffer pit party of the summer, on 18 June.

With Chichester’s Traams headlining the bill, it was a more modest affair, though equally as rewarding. You could stand behind the drummer and watch the sweat roll off his back as he kept time to energetic garage rock.

As the sun began to set in Victoria Park and PJ Harvey took to the stage, Al Brown would not be drawn into revealing details of future parties, though it seems likely that something will be offing soon.

“If people carry on coming, then we’ll keep putting [the parties] on,” he confirmed. Perhaps by next year, Fluffer will have a Field Day stage of its own.

pitparties.com

July 7, 2016