Congratulations to Capsule, who celebrate their tenth anniversary next month with a series of music and art events in Birmingham. Promoters come and go, but their dedication to exciting, challenging music and their fiercely independent attitude have seen them endure and grow in stature in the city, with their Supersonic festival drawing international acclaim. They’ve set a fine example of how to bring leftfield music to a wider audience.
December will see a series of gigs featuring acts that cross Capsule’s spectrum of genres, from avant-metallers Sun O))) to Beak>, the new electronic project by Geoff Barrow of Portishead. It all culminates in the 10th Birthday Concert at Town Hall on Wednesday 12, featuring electronic-folksters Tunng and tense post-rock from Six Organs of Admittance.
More Canals Than Venice has a concise run down of the full lineup of events. Back in July, Jenny Moore and Lisa Meyer of Capsule joined Ikon Gallery’s curator Nigel Prince for a fascinating discussion of their influences for These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things. You can listen to it here.
Back in 2006, Midlake released The Trials of Van Occupanther, arguably one of the finest albums of this decade. Taking ’70s folk and woozy psychedelia as the template for soaring, lushly ornamented songs about pre-industrial village life, it was at the vanguard of the latest folk revival.
While Fleet Foxes and their be-plaided brethren trod gently in Midlake’s footsteps, gathering critical praise and massive sales as they went, the band seemed to disappear quietly back into the woods. Nearly four years since Van Occupanther, they’re back with new album The Courage of Others, landing on these shores 1 February.
Frontman Tim Smith recently gave an interview to Pitchfork regarding the new record, in which he cites British folk as a continuing influence, in part because it’s a “more enchanted kind of thing rather than a bluesy, down home kind of thing”. Apparently it looks further back in folk music history than its predecessor and is darker in tone.
Midlake will be touring in January and mid-February, with the second part including a date at Town Hall Birmingham on 16 February.
They haven’t just been plotting their comeback all this time however – they’ve also worked with former Czars frontman John Grant on his solo album The Queen of Denmark. An absolutely beautiful demo of ‘I Wanna Go Marz’ recently featured on the Bella Union Beneath The Surface Vol 4. compilation; Grant’s rich vocals pair up perfectly with Midlake’s grand composition. The album will be released next year.
Peter Watkins is a photographer based in the West Midlands whose Americana series explores the idea of the photograph as a document of truth. Peter scoured the region for subject matter that when taken out of their context, could be mistaken for traditional American landmarks: diners, garages, dilapidated barns. All of the images were taken using film for a timeless, authentic feel.
If you read this site regularly you’ll know I’m fascinated by American culture and music. I have never been there: my perception of it is taken from books, films and songs, so Peter’s interrogation of authenticity and the enduring appeal of this imagery strikes a chord with me.
Peter will have his first solo exhibition next year at Light House, Wolverhampton, which played host to Richard Heeps‘ hyper-real series of Americana photographs back in 2007.
7 Inch Cinema recently unveiled the flyer for the fourth Flatpack Festival, designed by Gas. Although the full programme for one of the UK’s most exciting and ambitious film festivals won’t be announced until February, it promises to be the grandest yet. A heady mixture of animation, music documentaries, psychedelic films for kids, live soundtracks and more, spread generously across the city.
Have something to contribute? 7 Inch are taking submissions until 4 December.
ON/OFF was one of the most enjoyable events we’ve been involved in, not least because of worriedaboutsatan’s seamless 50 minute performance that completely filled the gigantic space and showed them to be one of the most exciting electronica acts to come out this year.
Many thanks also to Paul Manasseh for his stunning visuals and all at Ikon who were involved in the organisation of the party. Special thanks to Kate Pennington-Wilson for documenting the evening.
Visuals
Katie’s visuals for the evening consisted of inverted and edited diagrams from an obsolete sound recording manual, they were projected on the rear wall of the space. The soundtrack is ‘You Are In My Thoughts’ by worriedaboutsatan, taken from their debut album Arrivals.
Judging Unmap by its cover, you could be forgiven for thinking that Justin Vernon of Bon Iver hadn’t made it out of the wintery woods that enshrouded and shaped his astounding debut For Emma, Forever Ago. However, this collaboration between Vernon and fellow Wisconsin residents Collections of Colonies of Bees is a warmer affair, defined by gentle, ambient settings for Vernon’s vocal explorations.
Saying this, Unmap’s most straightforward track, ‘Island, IS’, is one of the highlights: tightly ordered electronic loops eddying along, Vernon’s vocals semi-submerged, intriguingly slipping between clarity and elusiveness. Volcano Choir also rework ‘Woods’ from Bon Iver’s Blood Bank EP as ‘Still’. In its original form, it was a striking vocal experiment that outstayed its welcome and could best be described as vocoder marmite. It certainly stood apart from Vernon’s earlier work, but it also felt forced and lacking. Here, …Colonies of Bees aid its transformation from spectre to full-bodied song, layers of ambience drawing you in to its alien desolation, his voice rising to an epic, multi-tracked chorus.
This collaboration apparently predates Vernon’s work as/with Bon Iver, even though the material wasn’t pulled together and mixed until Winter 2008. It feels like a comfortable conversation between friends, even if it occassionally lulls into a pleasant but dull murmur. Unmap stands as an interesting companion to Bon Iver, showing Vernon to be a musician with much more up his plaid sleeve than most singer-songwriters.
Spotify: Unmap
MP3: Bon Iver live Daytrotter Session
We’re pleased to announce that the Ikon Eastside Closing Party, On/Off, will feature a live performance by Leeds-based electronica duo worriedaboutsatan.
The pairing of Tom Ragsdale and Gavin Miller released their debut Arrivals earlier this year to great reviews. It subtly weaves ambient, minimal techno and post-rock structures to create an incredible sonic landscape, recalling godspeed! you black emperor and aphex twin’s ambient works in its ability to summon and sustain a vivid, otherworldly environment.
The album recently received a glowing 7.6 review from Pitchfork, who had this to say:
“like the back of an immense sea-creature rhythmically slipping above and below the waves. The percussion is manicured yet spritzy, with the baroque cadences of spitting rain. Periodic vocal samples are hung about in hazy washes, making it sound a bit like Burial for English-Lit majors. The structures are crescendo-based, but arrive by such creeping degrees that we’re never jarred, only soothed, lulled.”
Upon hearing Arrivals, we knew we had found the perfect band for On/Off: a British band that are pushing the boundaries of electronic music and integrating advances in digital technology. The stunning Eastside gallery space, an enormous former warehouse in Digbeth, Birmingham’s former manufacturing district, is the ideal setting for their soaring guitars and dramatic beats to envelop.
On/Off is inspired by the work of Ryoji Ikeda, whose instillation piece data.tron (2007-2009) is showing at Ikon Eastside until 8 November. The party itself will have suitably monochrome visuals, lighting and dress code and will feature Colour DJing classic electronic music new and old, from epic ambient soundscapes to synth-pop, IDM and glitchy pop.
Thursday 12 November, 7.30pm – Late, Free
Ikon Eastside, 183 Fazeley Street, Digbeth, Birmingham, B5 5SE
MP3: worriedaboutsatan – You’re In My Thoughts
This Saturday, many of the venues at the heart of the Birmingham live music scene will host a plethora of bands from a broad spectrum of genres for Oxjam. It will be the focal point of the month long, grassroots-organised festival which aims to raise awareness of Oxfam’s work on climate change.
If you’re heading into the city centre for it, be sure to check out Colour favourites Is I Cinema (Island Bar), James Summerfield (Sunflower Lounge) and Richard Burke (Sunflower Lounge). The full line-up is available on the site, while tickets for the whole day are just £6 and available from WeGotTickets.
Is I Cinema released a new track, ‘Innocent X’, on their MySpace recently, a serpentine of a song packed with more ideas than most bands manage on a whole album. Their live sets are awesome and we’re eagerly anticipating their next move.
