~ past event

with support from the PRS for Music Foundation

will

13 September 07 The Fleapit 49 Columbia Road London E2 7RG 8-11pm £5 with MIKE COOPER (Italy/Uk) PHIL DURRANT (Uk) ISRAEL M (Mexico)     After a summer break and the acclaimed SonicRecycler Festival and Interplay tour (read the nice review in the August Wire Magazine), Sprawl returns presenting more experimental audio, with distinctive quality in mind. As usual, we have an exciting line-up of artists, and this time at the Fleapit venue with 3 live artists. MIKE COOPER (UK/Italy/Hipshot) ** on tour celebrating his 65 birthday! ** For the past 40 years Mike Cooper has been an international musical explorer, performing and recording, solo and in a number of inspired groupings and a variety of genres. Initially a folk-blues (lap steel) guitarist and singer songwriter his work has diversified to include improvised and electronic music, live music for silent films, radio art and sound installations. He is also a music journalist, writing features for magazines, particularly on Pacific music and musicians, a visual artist, film and video maker, collector of Hawaiian shirts and appears on more than 60 records to date. In the 70s, 80s and 90s, he has collaborated with musicians such as Eddie Prevost, Keith Rowe, David Toop, Steve Beresford, Max Eastley, Paul Burwell, Viv Corringham, Lol Coxhill, Roger Turner, Mary Geddis, Tim Hill, Geoff Hawkins, Pete Beresford, Pat Thomas, Gary Jones, and Simon Price. Ambient Electronic Exotica is the genre and subtitle of recent solo performances, often accompanied with film or video, and three CD releases, 'Kiribati', 'Globe Notes' and 'Rayon Hula'. Ambient field recordings collected in the Pacific, South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, sampled, looped, treated electronically, and combined with acoustic or electric lap steel guitar improvisations to create Virtual Soundscapes. In 2000 he started HIPSHOT to produce limited edition cdRs from his studio The Steelworks in Rome where he currently lives. The first release Kiribati was chosen as one of the best 'Outer Limits' cds of the year by the prestigious UK magazine The WIRE and Rayon Hula won an honorary mention at the 2005 Prix Ars Electronica for Digital Music. Cooper continues to play and sing acoustic music as well as improvising solo and with other musicians and artists. www.cooparia.org.uk/ PHIL DURRANT (UK/MIMEO/Ticklish) Phil Durrant is an improviser/composer/sound artist who devises his own virtual performance instruments using Reaktor software. As a violinist (and member of the Butcher/Russell/Durrant trio and Chris Burn Ensemble), he was one of the key exponents of the "group voice approach" style of improvised music in the 1980s and 90s. His live sampling/treatments duo with John Butcher and his work (along with Keith Rowe, Kaffe Matthews, Thomas Lehn, Christian Fennesz, Peter Rehberg/Pita) in the international electronic ensemble MIMEO, have seen Durrant move from the use of hardware electronics to the use of a laptop in live situations. Durrant performs regularly with his acoustic/ electronic group Trio Sowari (with Bertrand Denzler and Burkhard Beins). He also works with Kev Hopper and Rob Flint in the audio/visual electronica project,Ticklish. www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/mdurrant.html ISRAEL M (Mexico/Nebula3) Israel M is stopping off after playing Ars Electronica festival this month, in which he's just won the Prix Ars Electronica's Award of Distinction in the Digital Musics category. Israel stepped into electronic music at the end of 2002, focusing on two fields: electronic "pop", with his project Nebula 3, and the composition of experimental music and sound art works.He has performed in festivals and concerts throughout Mexico (Mutek MX for example), as well as in London, Barcelona, Bourges and Bogota (Colombia). He has published tracks on compilations of mexican labels like Abolipop, Konfort and Eklegein, and released EP's in netlabels like Filtro and Umor Rex. In the last two years he has participated in electroacoustic music and sound arts workshops, including some activities of CMMAS (Mexican Center for Music and Sound Arts). He has also composed commisioned pieces for the most important festivals in Mexico like Instrumenta, Transitio or Visiones Sonoras. Israel M is currently finishing his first full-length album which will be available at the end of 2007, this work is composed with field recordings having interesting dialogs between digital processed and non processed sounds. www.israelm.com   venue: The Fleapit, 49 Columbia Road, London E2 7RG time: 8pm-11pm admission: £5 tube: Old St / Bethnal Green Telephone 020 7033 9986, email: everyone@thefleapit.com, www.thefleapit.com residents/curators: si-cut.db and Iris Garrelfs >> Thanks to all for coming to Sonic Rcycler 3! here we have some recordings of the event (thanks Magz !) and here we have some images see you in 2008...

Saturday 5th May 07 Sprawl, Brentford Recycling Action Group and Watermans present SonicRecycler3 - Reduce, Re-use, Recycle and be part of Late-Night London A unique evening of provocative, entertaining and sometimes experimental music. SonicRecycler3, the third in an annual series, is an event showcasing the many different strands of modern experimental music, all of which are based on the idea of recycling - the sampling of found sounds, electronic music, or acoustic song themes. It aims to highlight the issues of recycling by involving London-based as well as internationally known artists in collaboration with Watermans and Brentford based recycling group BRAG. There will be performers, DJ's, films, stalls and presentations. Each artist has been commissioned to perform or present work, on the theme of 'Recycling', and interprete that theme in any way they choose. They can recycle their own music in some way, creating something new from something older, or interprete traditional music themes in their unique own style. Waterman's Restaurant and River Terrace Bar will be open until late with live in the theatre (8-11pm): Stephan Mathieu (Touch) David Cunningham Rothko (Lo Recordings/Bip Hop) Boduf Songs (Kranky) DJs and live in the foyer (4-8pm): Bird by Snow (US) - live set [psychedelic experimental grunge from California] Jasmine Guffond (Minit/Staubgold) - DJ set Namour (no.signal) - DJ set Ed Pinsent (resonance/sound porjector) - DJ set film in the theatre (6-8pm): UK PREMIERE>> platform #09: Chicago (music by Fennesz) excerpts from Semiconductor's DVD 'Worlds in Flux' (Fat Cat) Janek Schaefer's 'Voice Box' (Bip Hop/Audioh) plus more by Stephan Mathieu, U- sun and Pimmon, People Like Us stalls: Hounslow Borough Recycling Team Friends of the Earth London Community Recycling Network Brentford Recycling Action Group http://www.climatecare.org/ Tickets £10 (Conc £8) from Waterman's Box Office or soon online, The Restaurant and River Terrace Bar will be open until late venue: Watermans Artcentre , 40 High Street, BrentfordTW8 0DS time: 4pm-11pm admission: free entry to the foyer, £10/£8 to the theatre from Box Office 020 8232 1010 or online www.wegottickets.com transport: residents/curators: si-cut.db and Iris Garrelfs For a feel of what SonicRecycler is about visit http://www.myspace.com/sonicrecycler David Cunningham Stephan Mathieu   Jasmine Guffond supported by: :

Our advent series at the Charterhousebar was as much fun as last year. Thanks to all of you who came down. The pictures show Imagination And My Mother making lovely x-mas cards for us whilst playing, Alex Czinczel on the decks and the rest of us having a good time...

We will be back in the srping with our 3rd Sonic Recycler Festival at Waterman's Artcentre, plus another instalment of Interplay.

venue: Charterhouse Bar, 38 Charterhouse Street, London EC1 - 020 7608 0858
time: 2pm-7pm
admission: free
tube: Farringdon
residents/curators: si-cut.db and Iris Garrelfs

DECEMBER O6 in December we will be back with a series of Advent concert at the Charterhouse bar. Watch this space... to the right are a few pix from last year's series.

What started last year as a build-up to our 10th Anniversary in January 06 has come around a second time: the Sprawl Advent Series. On 3 Sunday afternoons in Decemeber we will bring you free Yuletide afternoons of live music, Djs, good cheer and warm food.

Sunday 03/12, 2-7pm

LIVE: Beddoes, Mandelbrot, XYLITOL

DJ: Fail HDJ

Sunday 10/12, 2-7pm

LIVE: Robert Hampson (Main), Dithernoise (Simon Longo)

DJ: Jonathan Burnip (Soul Jazz)

Sunday17/12, 2-7pm

LIVE: devotchka.s conundrum, Michael Santos, Imagination and My Mother,

DJ: Thorsten Sideb0ard (HighpointLowlife), Alex Czinczel (Berlin)

Wed 13th September 06 JODI CAVE (UK/Fr/12k) - live VANISHING BREED (UK/D/ Pingipung) - live SEGUE (Ca/Thinner/Kyoto-digital) - live Chris Cobilis (Australia) - live

image: Segue

Sprawl is back! After a small spring / summer break, and we are back in action, presenting more experimental audio, digital & acoustic, on an occassional basis, with distinctive quality in mind. As usual, we bring youn an excting line up of artists, and we're back at our favourite venue, the Charterhouse bar...

JODI CAVE (UK/Fr/12k) - live
Jodi Cave is a sound artist and experimental musician from the UK, currently residing in Paris. He was first introduced to electronics whilst reading composition at university, and has since gone to study computing at Ircam. For Sprawl Jodi will perform with material from his forthcoming full-length release, due on Taylor Deupree's
12k label later this year. mp3s online at: www.12k.com

VANISHING BREED (UK/Germany/Pingipung) - live
Vanishing Breed is Alexander Holmes, formally of 'they came from the stars (i saw them)' how will perform a 'one man, one guitar, one loops machine' show taking inspiration from African Soukous, Maringa and Palm Wine music. He calls his music the 'New Electric Hi-Life'. Vanishing Breed's album 'Between arrival and departure' is released by Pingpung records. www.pingipung.de

SEGUE (Canada/Thinner/Kyoto-digital) - live
Segue is Jordan Sauer from Vancouver, Canada. He began making music a few years back when he discovered the more danceable forms of electronic music, but since then he has moved on to experiment and develop his own style of dub inspired minimal electronic music. With a background in classical violin, piano and guitar, he aims to infuse instrumentation with field samples in his own inventive way. Jordan recently started his own netlabel for dub/minimal/ambient music called Duckbay. He has one release out now on the netlabel Kyoto_digital and is expecting his next release to come out on the Autoplate netlabel (Thinner) later this year. http://www.seguemusic.ca

CHRIS COBILIS (Australia) - live
Chris Cobilis has been performing and recording improvised (and rehearsed!) music in Australia for the last 9 years. Along the way he has shared the stage with the likes of Damo Suzuki, Ikue Mori and Jon Rose. His roots are in indie-rock but has broad ranging influences from free rock & Japanese noise through to American folk & modern composition. His new EP on Meupe will soon be available through Smallfish within the coming weeks.http://www.chriscobilis.com

venue: Charterhouse Bar, 38 Charterhouse Street, London EC1 - 020 7608 0858
time: 7.30pm-11pm
admission: £5/£4 concs
tube: Farringdon
residents/curators: si-cut.db and Iris Garrelfs

Tuesday 15th August 06 DE SONIS Vol 7 [no.signal] & in collaboration with Sprawl presents: Christopher Willits (US /12k/fallt) Beddoes + DJ Sheikh Ahmed (failme/absorb)

image: Christopher Willits

Accomplished bay-area guitarist and multimedia artist Christopher Willits records for the Ghostly International, 12k, Sub Rosa and Plop labels. Applying a custom-made spectrum of signal processing to his guitars, Willits has earned consistent praise for his fluid compositions and complex textures, as well as his technologically innovative spirit. His work ranges from sweet avant-pop songs to cerebral glitch experimentation to the full-on noise attacks of Fl–ssin, for which he has collaborated with Kid606, Matmos and Zach Hill (Hella).
Having earned his Masters degree in Electronic Music working alongside the likes of Fred Frith and Pauline Oliveros, Willits has become part of the vanguard of modern electronic music. A frequent collaborator, Willits has recently worked with Taylor Deupree (12k), Latrice Barnett (Solo, Handsome Boy Modeling School), Paul D'Amour (Tool, Feersum Ennjin), and Ryuichi Sakamoto (Sony). Willits is also the founder of Overlap.org, a lens, meeting point, and distribution node for multimedia artists around the world. Through this outlet he directs regular events in the northern California music community like the OVERLAP and the LISTEN music series, showcasing a wide diversity of multimedia artists and styles.
http://www.christopherwillits.com

Beddoes is a duo from Melbourne, Australia and now reside in London. They combine elements of acoustic & electronic music which bring together a landscape of subtle melodies which can flow in and out or sideways and backways. Beddoes was formed in 2004 by Blase Roccisano & Tom Morris when their band A Florence Encounter decided to call it a day. Tom has only recently joined Blase in London & this will be their UK debut under Beddoes.

venue: THE FLEAPIT, 49 Columbia Road, London E2 7RG
time: 7.30 (8.30pm start) - 11pm
admission: £5
http://www.no-signal.net/desonis

To buy tickets click here

Thursday 23rd March 06 Sprawl live at Lovebytes Festival with Leafcutter John, si-cut.db and Iris Garrelfs

On Thuesday 23rd March will be in Sheffield for the Lovebytes festival with Leafcutter John, Iris Garrelfs and si.cut-db. You can catch us at the Showroom cinema. More information about the night and how to book can be found at www.lovebytes.org.uk or www.showroom.org.uk

Saturday 8th April 06 Sprawl, Brentford Recycling Action Group and Watermans present

a a night of reinvented sounds

The average family produces enough rubbish a yeart o fill a double-decker bus - and most of it could have been recycled rather than contaminating the land and air. Following on from 2003's inaugural event, Watermans, Sprawl and Brentford Recycling Action Group present SonicRecycler2, featuring an exclusive mix of audio & visual artists, plus DJ's, creating new work by reinventing, sampling, or recycling, pre-existing sounds and music, as well as an 'indoor fete' of stalls run by local waste action, recycling and environmental groups. So, this is what SonicRecycler2 is all about: a unique evening of provocative & entertaining music: folk, pop, experimental/impro, chill-out and electronica; exploring recycled digital sounds......Think: - reduce, RE-USE, RECYCLE!

LIVE in the theatre:
JANEK SCHAEFER (http://www.audioh.com/)
TUNNG (Static Caravan, http://www.tunng.co.uk)
THE BOHMAN BROTHERS (http://www.xs4all.nl/~lukas/pagina/bohmans.htm)
AM/PM (http://www.dreck-records.com/)

FILMS/Videos (in the theatre also):
ST ETIENNE'S film 'Finisterre' (http://plexi.co.uk/finisterre.html)
BECK'S Videos by DFUSE (http://www.res.com/magazine/articles/defusingbeck_2005-04-21.html)
IRIS GARRELFS short film Dumplinks based on an installation commissioned by Watermans (http://www.irisgarrelfs.com)

DJs in the bar:
JEM FINER (http://elrino.co.uk/JemFiner/JemFiner.html)
HERMEET CHADHA (BBC Radio 1 One World)
BEN ESHMADE (Classic FM's Chiller Cabinet)
IRIS GARRELFS (Sprawl/Resonance FM)

Plus Stalls & beer garden, a veritable fete including:
* Brentford Recycling Action Group
* Hounslow Borough Council Recycling Team
* Ealing Friends of the Earth
* The Green Trading Company

date: Saturday April 8th
time: 4pm to 11pm
admission: Theatre and films (6pm-8pm), live acts (8pm-11pm) tickets: £8 (£6 concs), the bar areas is free
venue: Watermans Art Centre
40 High Street
Brentford TW8 0DS
Box Office 020 8232 1010

http://www.watermans.org.uk
http://www.bragonline.org.uk

Wedneday 25th January 06 SPRAWL meets ELECTRONIC LOUNGE Scanner Tony Morley Iris Garrelfs Si-cut.db

image: Scanner

For this second of our birthday celebration events we are revisiting one of our big inspirations, The Electronic Lounge at the ICA. The Electronic Lounge was resident monthly club at the ICA for 5 years, its founder Scanner aka Robin Rimbaud and Lounge resident Tony Morley from the Leaf label will join us for a night of electronic music extremities.

venue: The ICA Bar, The Mall, London SW1
time: 8pm-1am
admission: £5/£4 and free for ICA Members (before 10pm)
tube: Charing Cross, Piccadilly
Telephone 020 7930 3647
residents/curators: si-cut.db and Iris Garrelfs

Thursday 12th January 06 SPRAWL 10TH ANNIVERSARY Taylor Deupree (live) Richard Chartier (live) Iris Garrelfs (live) Si-cut.db (live) Wendt (DJ)

image: Taylor Deupree

YOU CAN BUY YOUR TICKET NOW ONLINE AT WEGOTTICKETS.COM

The Sprawl is 10 years old! One cold November day after a concert in a dingy Kentish Town pub, we (Iris and Douglas) realised that - really - nobody was going to do it for us. Electronica' seemed to sizzle with excitement; drum 'n bass, sub genres such as IDM, Drill 'n Bass, Illbient, ambient and all sorts of warped sounds were emerging - we really wanted to hear it all! Live, as often as possible and with plenty of like-minded people to talk to after. The advent of laptops, internet link-ups, Xenakis quoting Djs. Little did we realise that 10 years later we would still be in transit; music tastes changed, London landscape changed but our initial urge to keep our ears out for new sounds still intact! To find out who has played over the years click here. To celebrate, we have invited two of the most exciting US artists, Taylor Deupree and Richard Chartier!

Taylor Deupree is a sound artist, graphic designer, and photographer residing in Brooklyn, New York. On January 1st, 1997, he founded the 12k label that focuses on digital minimalism and contemporary forms. In 12k’s 8 years of existance it has released 35 CDs and become one of the most respected experimental electronic labels in the world. In January 1999, Deupree currated a compilation for New York’s Caipirinha Music label that he called “Microscopic Sound.” This release was among the first to gather together artists of this style and helped put a name to a rising genre of electronic music. September, 2000, saw the launch of 12k's sublabel LINE, with collaborator Richard Chartier, exploring conceptual, ultra-minimalist digital sound and the relationship between sound, silence and the art of listening. In September, 2003, Deupree started a 3rd label called Happy to release what he terms as “unconventional japanese pop.” Happy was born from Deupree’s interest in Japanese pop music and the fact that it is quite unknown outside of Japan. He hopes to change that with Happy.
Over the past 12 years Deupree has recordedfor a number of other labels around the world including Spekk (Japan), Ritornell/Mille Plateaux, Raster-Noton, Disko-b, (Germany), Sub Rosa (Belgium), BineMusic (Germany), Fällt (Ireland), and Audio.NL (Netherlands). Instinct Records, Caipirinha Music, Plastic City (USA), and Dum (Finland), among others. Deupree has received much critical acclaim and recognition for his early musical projects including the techno and ambient sounds of Prototype 909, SETI, Human Mesh Dance, and Futique (1992-1996) and has many recording accomplishments and a substantial discography. His design work has appeared on dozens of record labels around the world and published in a number of design books in Japan and the UK.
For the past 8 years Deupree's music has taken influences from his passion for architecture, photography, and interior design and collaborative work with other musicians has played a large part in his output. Combining his computer techniques with guitarists (Christopher Willits), Pianists (Kenneth Kirschner) and vocalists (Sawako Kato) has pushed his sound in new directions and lead to one of the most pivotal recordings of his career: a complete re-working on an album by the acoustic, alternative/pop band Eisi from Japan. Such work has broadened Deupree's scope while helping to push modern electronic music into new frontiers.

Richard Chartier, sound/installation artist and graphic designer, has created critically acclaimed recordings for labels such as 12k/LINE (USA), Trente Oiseaux (Germany), Spekk (Japan), Mutek_rec (Canada), and Fallt (Ireland), including collaborations with artists Taylor Deupree, William Basinski, COH, and *0 and has appeared on numerous international compilations. His digital minimalist work explores the inter-relationships between the spatial nature of sound, silence, focus, and the act of listening. Chartier's sound works and sound installations have been presented internationally including at the exhibits Sounding Spaces at ICC (Tokyo, Japan), I Moderni / The Moderns at Castello di Rivoli (Torino, Italy), 2002 Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art (NY), Resynthesis at The Art Institute of Chicago and with the travelling sound exhibit Invisible Cities created by digital media curators Fehler as well as solo and collaborative installations for Fusebox (DC) and Diapason (NY). He has performed his work live across Europe, Japan, and North America at MUTEK (Montreal, Canada), GRM/Radio France (Paris, France), DEAF (Dublin, Ireland), Observatori (Valencia, Spain), Transmediale (Berlin, Germany), Lovebytes (Sheffield, UK), The Leeds International Film Festival (Leeds,UK), The Rotterdam International Film Festival (NE), Garage (Stralsund, Germany) and other noted digital art/music festivals and at exhibits such as Frequenzen [Hz] at the Schirn Kunsthalle (Frankfurt) and A Minimal Future? Art as Object 1958-1968 and Visual Music: Syneasthesia in Art and Music Since 1900 at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles).In 2000 he formed the recording label LINE since curated its continuing documentation of compositional and installation work by international sound artists and composers exploring the aesthetics of contemporary and digital minimalism. The premiere release on LINE, Chartier's Series as awarded Honorable Mention in the category of Digital Music by the prestigious Prix Ars Electronica, 2001 (Austria).

venue: Yacht Club (Thai food available) / Temple Pier / Victoria Embankment / London WC2R 2PN
time: 8pm-11pm
admission: £8/£6 conc . Buy online at WEGOTTICKETS.COM
tube: Temple, Waterloo
Telephone 020 7836 1566
residents/curators: si-cut.db and Iris Garrelfs

supported by the Sonic Arts Network through the Barry Anderson Bursary. (btw, it's VERY easy to apply...)

Sprawl FREE advent series SUNDAY DEC 4th SUNDAY DEC 11TH SUNDAY DEC 18TH WITH food, mince pies and:

image: DIEGO CONTI

Sunday 4th December Richard Thomas + Adam Bohman (live) Markus (Emilii Records, live) Bohmans Brothers (live) Tom Wallace (dj) Joshua Meggitt (dj) xxxx xxxx

Sunday 11th December Diego Conti + Iris Garrelfs + Stefano Tedesco (live) Mescalinaeden (live) Portabot (Emilii Records, live) Stephen McLaughlin (live) Fail HDJ (dj) marco_ino (dj)

Sunday 18th December Sideband (live) Imagination & My Mother (live) Ben Eshmade (Chiller Cabinet, DJ) Slow Sound System (DJ) xxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx

With a special Yuletide theme of Advent Sprawls we are counting down towards x-mas and - yes! - our 10th anniversary in January. Each and every Sunday afternoon that month there will be live music and DJs, and in the spirit of the season, there will be free admission. The music will be of good cheer, warm, and a bit laidback....(there may even be a Blue Peter-style-coathanger candle centerpiece, with a candle lit each week! who knows).

venue: Charterhouse Bar, 38 Charterhouse Street, London EC1 click here for map
time: 3pm-7pm
admission: free
tube: Farringdon
residents/curators: si-cut.db and Iris Garrelfs

Wed 9th November 05 at the Charterhouse Bar OCTEX (Slovenia/Rx:tx) - live MIKE COOPER (UK/Italy/Hipshot) - live AM/PM - (Switz/Dreck/Soul Jazz) - live JONATHAN (Soul Jazz) - DJ

image: OCTEX

Sprawl, the renown experimental audio club, is back in action in London this autumn at the Charterhouse Bar. Presenting another selection of oddbeats, soundscapes & eclectic sounds - it's a packed night of groundbreaking guests again, the un/usual Sprawl sonic art buffet... Some images of last month's event can be found on Wang Inc's blog at www.wanginc.it/wblog/ Thanks Bart!

OCTEX (Slovenia/Rx:tx) - live
Octex aka Jernej Marusic, has been experimenting with music equipment since late 90s, when he fell in love with the sound of old analog synthesizers. In all this years he found himself in doing Organic Crackle and Tone EXperiments (Octex), fusing his diverse infuences with a special flavor of Ljubljana. This resulted in releases on numerous compilations, the first one being Eletrotehnika Slavenika that later mutated into Tehnika 1. One of his tracks from Tehnika 1 already got noticed by the legendary John Peel and played on his radio show on BBC. In 2002 he has release his debut album Idei Lahesna on Tehnika records, which received high praises from both critics and the public. His self-made video for track "Emergon" got played on such TV stations as VIVA and Onyx TV, which is quite surprising for this style of music. In 2003 he has received Bumerang Award for best newcomer of the year, and for second year in the row, he was selected as one of the 10 finalist for Radio France International Electronic Music Award. In the mean time he has become one of the most active Slovenian live acts, and has performed as such prominent festivals as Club Transmediale, FutureSonic, ISEA, La Batie, Nuit Blanche, Exit... either solo or as part of multimedia project Signal-Sever. He's also regularly playing at Chilli Space events and at the legendary Club K4 in Ljubljana, where he was resident in the 2003/2004 season. soundoflj.com/octex/

MIKE COOPER (UK/Italy/Hipshot) - live
A Sprawl perrenial, Cooper for the past 40 has been an international musical explorer, performing and recording, solo and in a number of inspired groupings and a variety of genres. Initially a folk-blues guitarist and singer songwriter his work has diversified to include improvised and electronic music, live music for silent films, radio art and sound installations. He is also a music journalist, writing features for magazines, particularly on Pacific music and musicians, a visual artist, film and video maker, collector of Hawaiian shirts and appears on more than 60 records to date. His 1969 l.p. Oh Really!? is widely acclaimed as one of the best acoustic blues albums of the period. Cooper has worked alongside Howlin Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed, South Africans Dudu Pakwana, Keith Rowe, David Toop, Steve Beresford, Max Eastley, Paul Burwell, Eddie Prevost, and Lol Coxhill. He continues to work with these and other international improvisers. Travelling often through the Pacific, Mike has written extensively on Hawaiian Slack Key guitar styles and performers. He also wrote the Hawaii chapter for the Rough Guide to World Music. Ambient Electronic Exotica is the genre and subtitle of recent solo performances, often accompanied with film or video, and three c.d. releases, 'Kiribati', 'Globe Notes' and 'Rayon Hula'. Ambient recordings made in the Pacific, South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, treated electronically, combined with acoustic and electronic instruments and re-located to produce 'virtual soundscapes'. In 2000 he started HIPSHOT to produce limited edition cdRs from his studio in Rome where he currently lives. The first release Kiribati was chosen as one of the best 'Outer Limits' cds of the year inThe WIRE mag. on "Rayon Hula": "....a masterpiece of contemporary exotica." - David Toop in the Wire hometown.aol.co.uk/cooparia/hipshot.html

AM/PM - (Switzerland/Dreck/Soul Jazz) - live
Swiss born electronic musician Radovan Scasascia, who lives and works in London, trained as an architect at the ETH in Zürich, before concentrating fully on electronic music, which he has been making since 1993. He founded Dreck-Records with his long-time collaborator Laurent Benner in 2000 and has been releasing music under the names Secondo and AM/PM. Currently there are five double-track twelve inch records available from Dreck-Records (DRK02/03/04/06/09), all distributed by Kompakt. Earlier works were published on the labels first CD-Compilation 'Dreck-Reala Compil'. London based Soul Jazz Records has released the twelve inch record 'We Got It Like That' in 2004. Next to his own releases, Secondo has remixed various artists on labels like Staubgold, LO Recordings and others. Radovan is currently working on re-mixes for different artists and on new material to be released on Dreck Records and on Soul Jazz Records. Secondo has performed live at clubs all over the world, from Jacks in London, Mutek in Chile, Blå in Oslo, to Lethargy in Zürich among many other locations. AM/PM's first two releases (DRK-05/07) feature tracks composed mostly of final notes and humms recorded from the ends of existing pieces of music. Again a wide selection of source material is sampled here, but unlike with Secondo s chop-chop-technique these tracks do not refer to their source. A melancholia and angularity runs through these tracks - once removed from their original songs, these sounds adopt a feeling of finality as well as endlessness.The two Mini LPs were also released together on a CD in October 2004, named 'The Ends I &II '. Next to his numerous Secondo gigs Radovan Scasascia recently started playing live- sets of his AM/PM material, both in clubs and in gallery environments. "buoyant materila .. caught on the cusp between stasis and motion." - The Wire, March 2004 dreck-records.com

JONATHAN from Soul Jazz (soul jazz/microsolutions/uk) - dj
The enigmatic figure behind the desk at the excellent Sounds of The Universe record shop, but also the man behind the Microsolutions To Megaproblems Soul Jazz offshoot, a jaw droppping series, featuring the likes of Kit Clayton, Sutekh, AM/PM etc; a person of impeccable taste. souljazzrecords.co.uk

venue: Charterhouse Bar, 38 Charterhouse Street, London EC1 click here for map
time: 7.30pm-12midnight
admission: £4/£3 concs
tube: Farringdon
residents/curators: si-cut.db and Iris Garrelfs

 

Wed 12th October 05 JAMKA (Slovakia) - live STRCPRSTSKRSRK (UK) - live WANG INC (Italy) - live XELA (City Centre Offices/UK) - DJ

image: Jamka

Jamka (Slovakia) - live
In Slovak, “jamka” could mean dimple or pothole. Befitting their name, the duo pushes their live performance over rough territory with a cheeky smile. Electro beats to stride into Jamka’s landscape of crunchy clicks and jagged breakdowns, only to be stretched and segmented themselves, sacrificed to the duo’s digital-analogue dialogue. The mutant electronic offspring of Bratislava, Slovakia’s punk scene, they formed in 2001. Monika Subrtova plays sequencer and synthesizer while Daniel Kordik plays sampler and an instrument he designed on the Pure Data software platform. www.urbsounds.sk

Strcsprstskrskrk (UK) - live
Continuing with his Ultra-Imaginary Project, Strcsprstskrskrk uses samples from films and their directors' commentaries to create beatdriven dubscapes. He helps run Hive which supports new electronic music in Liverpool. www.thehivecollective.co.uk

Wang Inc (Context/Bip-Hop/Sonig/Italy) - live
A returining Sprawl act, Bartolomeo Sailer was born in Vipiteno in the 1971. He is known mostly as Wang Inc. Legend says he has experimented with digital sampling since the beginning of the ´90s, has played in a rock 'n roll band at the middle of that decade, and has DJed on the radio and in clubs up to the present. In the year 1999 he released his first record with the label SONIG, owned and directed by Mouse on Mars. Since them he has participated in several compilations and has released an album with the French label Bip-Hop. His latest album is "Woods Roads" for the San Francisco based label Context Free Media which is run by Sutekh and distributed by Kompakt. His musical mission is to bring the sounds of musique concrete into pop and dance music culture. His favorite sounds are the sounds of the everyday: "Every object has a wonderful sound if you listen to it carefully." www.wanginc.it

Xela (Type Records/City Centre Offices) - DJ
John Xela is one of the owners of Type. John's music has become quite well known since the release of his album 'For Frosty Mornings And Summer Nights' on Neo Ouija. This has become something of a blueprint for the soft sound of the club night Default which he runs in Birmingham (and recently at Ginglik in West London), and this sound is something which trickles through into the world of Type. John also records for legendary label City Centre Offices and had an album out in 2003 under the 'Yasume' alias (with writing partner and Type artist Logreybeam). This record is entitled 'Where We're From The Birds Sing A Pretty Song' and is a blend of abrasive DSP beats and soft soundtrack-influenced washes and drones. www.typerecords.com

venue: Charterhouse Bar, 38 Charterhouse Street, London EC1
time: 7.30pm-12midnight
admission: £4/£3 concs
tube: Farringdon
residents/curators: si-cut.db and Iris Garrelfs

After our usual summer break, Sprawl, the perennial experimental audio club, is back in action in London this September at the Charterhouse Bar. Presenting another selection of oddbeats, soundscapes & eclectic sounds it's a packed night of groundbreaking guests served up at the un/usual Sprawl sonic buffet.

Wed 14th September 05 MUSIC FOR ONE (Canada) - live FLUTTUAZIONI (Italy/Placard) - live LAWRENCE ENGLISH (Australia/Room40) - live ACHRID (Japan/UK) - live

image: Music For One

MUSIC FOR ONE (Canada) - live
Music for One is your breath that you see on a cold day. It is stark and simple guitar motifs that draw melodic inspiration from old acoustic blues and Erik Satie. They mingle with a modern experimental aesthetic that is created live in front of the audience with a guitar, effects, bits from the hardware store, and that thing you found when you cleaned behind the couch. As chaotic as the times we live in, it can change at any given moment, effects boxes twisting the sound into a cavernous roar of fee back and throbbing clicks. Light and dark, loud and quiet, it's somewhat comforting to know that a guitar can still confuse and enchant an audience. MUSIC FOR ONE is Sherry, a Canadian now living in London and she has played on bills alongside artists such as AGF, Steve Beresford, and Sunn0))) and had her first EP remixed by Justin of Do Make Say Think. www.musicforone.com

FLUTTUAZIONI (Italy/Placard) - live
Stefano Tedesco is a London-based percussion player who works with live electronics, feedback and field recordings. He has developed a solo that also involves a self made “pocket vibraphone”. His last two projects are “fluttuazioni”, minimal music in a Japanese mood for feedback, vibraphone and “Time”, commissioned by Counter Measure festival in London. At Sprawl he will present a mix of these two projects, titled “fluttuazioni sul tempo”.
Stefano Tedesco has a degree in Percussion Instruments from the Conservatorio Statale di Musica, Brescia, Italy. With with Giampaolo Campus he formed the electro acoustic duo 'Disegual', winning the Percfest competion in Laigueglia (SV) Italy. They have also been selected as one of the six new electronic ensembles at the Live!Ixem contest and they perform at the Live!Ixem festival in January 2005. They also played at the last contemporary music festival 'SpazioMusica' in Cagliari, Italy. "One of the main purposes of my work is the research into sound using unconventional techniques and unusual instruments. I'm always interested in new music and new technology. I have developed a solo project with a 'pocket vibraphone' (self made) and a great variety of percussion like cymbals, snare drum, metal bars and sound objects combined with multi effects units. Lately I performer using feedback." Recent performances include the Bonnington Centre, Scaledown at The Queen and the King, Resonance FM's 'Banality' show with Richard Thomas, Damned at Charterhouse, Alectro-ecoustic in Manchester, Re-sound festival in Stroud in duo with Kevin Quigley, Counter Measure at Florence church, Highbury, London. xoomer.virgilio.it/steted/

LAWRENCE ENGLISH (Australia/Room40) - live
Lawrence English is writer, musician and media artist based in Brisbane, Australia. Working across a broad range of art forms, English's work is eclectic and characterises a long-term exploration of various themes - including audio/visual environments seen in his recent installation work Ghost Towns. London's Time Out referred to his output as 'ambient twisted soundscapes and challenging sonic scree', and U.S. sound journal, Signal To Noise described English's work as 'extraordinarily gorgeous modern music concréte'. In recent years English has performed and improvised with the likes of David Toop, Ami Yoshida, Oren Ambarchi, Marina Rosenfeld, DJ Olive, Philip Samartzis, Toshio Kajiwara, Scanner, Tetuzi Akiyama, Janek Schaefer and KK Null. English has been producing a number of full length recordings for a variety of artists including Japan's avant-pop icon Tujiko Noriko and Australian noise-pop unit The Rational Academy. His most recent 3 screen video installation Ghost Towns, seeks to create an abstract 'virtual map' of remote Australian spaces, examining the micro and macro aspects of these environments with equal vigour. Previous works including the large-form temporal sculpture 'Field' and his curated 'Gravities Of Sound' exhibition in Singapore, explore the ways in which media can refresh and transform public spaces. Outside of his recording and art commissions, Lawrence English curates a number of ongoing sound events including fabrique at Brisbane Powerhouse and Syncretism at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts. He co-produces a number of national festivals including Liquid Architecture and What Is Music? and continues to curate numerous art exhibitions including Melatonin - Meditations On Sound In Sleep, which is touring internationally until 2006 and Incidental Amplifications showing in 2005. His imprint and multi-arts organisation ::ROOM40:: maintains a steady release schedule from an eclectic array of Australian and international artists. www.room40.org

ACHRID (Japan/UK) - live
Achrid (Michael Wright and Tadanae Fujimura) are a London-based electronic improvisation duo dealing with loosely structured music built from field recordings, exploited consumer technology, plundered samples and synthesis. The pair met at university where they crafted their sound under the guidance of tutors such as Peter Cusack and David Toop. Achrid's music ranges from static drones to rhythmic chaos, drawing influence from past and present movements in electronic music while consistently working towards a "future" electronic sound, instilling an urge in the audience for repeated listening. www.achrid.com

venue: Charterhouse Bar, 38 Charterhouse Street, London EC1
time: 7.30pm-12midnight
admission: £4/£3 concs
tube: Farringdon
residents/curators: si-cut.db and Iris Garrelfs

For our next live event we have decamped to the Meet Bar again:

Wed 11th May 05 GRANNY'ARK (Canada/Zora Lanson) - live DAVE MILLER (Australia/BackGround) - live FUNCTION (Australia) - live marco_ino - dj

Function

GRANNY'ARK (Canada/Zora Lanson) - live
Granny'Ark(real name Michelle Irving)is an artist from Vancouver, Canada who has releases on Zora Lanson Label (Berlin, thru Kompakt) and Interdisco (Basel). She has music all over the excellent documentary movie THE CORPORATION. Michelle composes soundscapes and floor flirting tracks from field recordings and acoustic samples creating distinct worlds with emotional atmospheres. She is also known for her video visuals, and creates sound installations using Max/MSP.  This summer she will release a second EP on Zora Lanson Label, and in the Fall an Album on Cognition Audioworks (Canada). www.zoralanson.net

DAVE MILLER (Australia/BackGround) - live
Hailing from Perth, Western Australia, the physical seclusion of living in the most isolated city in the world has inspired Dave Miller to create truly modern forms of electronic music.  In the mid-late 90's, before he was legal-age, weekends saw him sneaking into bars that were playing everything from deep Chicago house to Detroit techno, while the weekdays saw him listening to early IDM-influenced electronica. A handful of live sets followed, but it wasnít until Dave supported German ~scape artist Jan Jelinek that the move from local upstart to internationally released artist began. Handing demos to Jan, the tracks were eventually passed on to Andy Vaz, Background Records label boss when at age 20 he was instantly signed. Incorporating elements of his early influences ñ the warmth and funk of Detroit house combined with the innovation and experimentation of electronica, his first releases on the label were deep, emotive and personal.  He has performed alongside artists such as Prefuse 73, Manitoba, Greg Davis, Funkstorung, Four Tet, Portable, Andrew Pekler, Sutekh, and Machine Drum. Improvised collaborative performances with jazz musicians, pianists and fellow electronic music producers has helped keep his live shows fresh and dynamic. Late 2003 saw him perform his first European shows playing dates in France and Germany in venues such as a moored river boat, a church, a club, a theatre, and an art gallery alongside artists such as Portable, Mapstation (To Rocco Rot), Bus, Thomas Fehlman (The Orb) and others.  2005 sees the release of his debut album 'Mitchells Raccolta' on Background Records. Also in the works are albums in collaboration with Laurence Pike of Triosk (Leaf/~scape) and Harry Hohnen aka Victor Bermon/Fiam (Traum/Hefty). "There's some quite amazing rhythm manipulations, less muted perhaps than .snd, but with some of the same sprinkling of magic when we consider this as a debut release"  Phillip Sherburne (The Wire) http://thebodyraft.com

FUNCTION (Australia) - live
Matt Nicholson aka  Function, and friends based mostly between London and Melbourne, approaches music non-conceptually, so the resultant methods of construction are as varied as the ensemble itself from month to month.  Fluttering between layered acoustic recordings of individual orchestral instruments, free improvisation with prepared sources and mutant songform, Matt draws from a wide variety of mostly acoustically originating sources aswell as using effected voice, synth & guitar to render live collage, the results ranging from microsound to ecstatic multilayered sound-towers. Matt (born in1977) revels in the mesmerising, dimension-shifting and occasionally transcendental aspects of sound, having assembled approximately 10 hours worth of intricately synchronised soundtracks for the sacred art suites of Advaitayana Buddhist master Adi Da, premiered mostly in California and Holland.  Function have performed in USA, UK, Holland, Japan and Australia and are released thus far by Love & Mercy (Aus), Wonderground Music (Japan), Snawklor (Aus) and HellosQuare (Aus) and online by Fat-Cat on their demo archive site.  Current collaborators include Chris Smith (Fat-Cat, Emperor Jones), John Chantler (::Room40::), Ian Wadley (Birdblobs/Cargo), e.g.0 (Italy/UK), Bobby Birdman (Statesrightsrecords) and T (Green Milk From The Planet Orange/Beta-lactam Ring).  Matt is intensively involved in producing two new Function records presently, with a view to release in late 2005. www.functionensemble.com

marco_ino - dj
marco_ino (real name Marco Borghini) "first passion with electronic and experimental music goes back to early 90. As he has always been interested in anything which relates with body mind and soul, working as fashion designer, make up artist, holistic therapist, therapy dance and music. Basically his continuous but not strenuous search of beauty took him to collaborate also in contemporary fashion and art exhibitions in order to create unique sound landscape as listening background for the public who viewed these events (circuit in Barcellona @ MACBA, a museum of contemporary art and recently the YVY Gallery in Paris)."

venue: MEET, 85 Charterhouse Street, London EC1M 6HJ, (Next Door to Fabric.)
time: 7.30pm-12midnight
admission: £4/£3 concs
tube: Farringdon
residents/curators: si-cut.db and Iris Garrelfs

After this date we will be taking out customary summer break, coming back with a new series of events in September.

Our next regular event is:

Wed 13th April 05 ANTONELLI ELECTR. (Germany/Italic/Rhythm-Maker) - live WE'RE BREAKING UP (US/UK) - live MARC KNAUER (Germany/Italic) - DJ

Antonelli Electr.

Welcome to another of our sonic buffets with the tastiest morsels around:

ANTONELLI ELECTR. (Germany/Italic/Rhythm-Maker) - live
The London debut of Italic, Mille Plateaux & Background artist Antonelli Electr. (real name Stefan Schwander, aka Rhythm Maker). Antonelli Electr. combines pop with electronic minimalism. A Düsseldorf musician Stefan knows how to link the rigid structure of electronic music with very personal pop moments. Antonelli Electr. creates an inde-pendently unique language of music and means of expression: his own personal digital draft, minimally arranged, slender in aesthetics, hedonistic in attitude, abstract in programming and detailed in sound. Antonelli Electr. works mainly with sequencers and drum machines; a computer is used only for studio work. Only sequencers and drum machines are used for the live interpretation as well. This minimalist procedure has proved effective over the years and it has been perfected and viewed as a challenge. His way of working is often con-ceptional and serially motivated, which is reflected in the visual interpretation of his work as well (cover design, live performance, music video). He is also closely connected with italic project A Rocket in dub. www.italic.de

WE'RE BREAKING UP (US/UK) - live
aka Michael Rodgers on analogue electronics. Michael is a multi-instrumentalist who played in punk bands in Memphis before getting involved with free improvisation. Living in London since 2000, he brings a sense of urgency and openness to many musical combinations. Ongoing projects include Broken Hands (guitar duo with Anthony Guerra), We're Breaking Up (solo electronics), and has collaborated with Paul Hood, Lucky Rabbit, Dion Workman, Barry Weisblat, Pedro Lourenço and Manuel Mota. Performances include festivals and touring shows in Portugal, Germany and Austria, UK, and USA. Michael also runs london-sydney label TwoThousandAnd, with
Anthony Guerra, an acts as the label's resident designer. In November 2003 We're Breaking Up contributed 'Receiver 1' for New York-based Antiopic label, as part of their Allegorical Power series. 'Receiver 2' is included in Scotland's Drift Festival 2004 programme, Resonant Cities. Like much of his music, both pieces reflect personal ideas of distance, human relationships, density, and things that are invisible. www.twothousandand.com

MARC KNAUER (Germany/Italic) - dj
Marc's Italic label was founded in 1999 as a product of love and passion to dancemusic. In the shadow of the Cologne cathedral the label Italic blends pop appeal, minimal techno, dance pop and club elements together. The words "pop", "dance" and "digital" do somehow describe the look of italic. What makes Italic so likeable is quite simply its relaxed combination of, on the one hand, an awareness of its own past, i.e. musical socialisation (the adventures of pop) and a preference for a straight bass drum and digital clicks on the other. But it has a very broad and open-minded conception of this mixture´. This is because Italic, like many other labels, functions as a platform for a variety of approaches, and this makes it possible to present different sides, sometimes even different aspects of the same artist. Every artist in the Italic universe stands for him- or herself independently, but they all add to the label sound organically. With Italic in your luggage, it might even seem that Cologne lies on the coast - Cologne-on-Sea with the marina just behind the central station. The beautiful sound of "Minimal Dance Pop"? www.italic.de

venue: MEET, 85 Charterhouse Street, London EC1M 6HJ, (Next Door to Fabric.)
time: 7.30pm-12midnight
admission: £4/£3 concs
tube: Farringdon
residents/curators: si-cut.db and Iris Garrelfs

Wed 9th March 05 BOHMAN BROTHERS (UK) - live TUNER (Fr) - live RASHAMON (highpoint lowlife/UK) - live e/n [no.signal] - DJ

Rashamon

As always, we are presenting a selection of oddbeats, impro, soundscapes & digital mayhem:

BOHMAN BROTHERS (uk) - live
The Bohman Brothers are the creators of a unique and impure experimental music. Traces of Fluxus japery, musique concrete, sound poetry and free improvisation can be detected, yet ultimately the whole is greater and more arcane than the sum of it's parts. As a performing duo Adam and Jonathan Bohman have been operative since 1996 (Adam Bohman is also a member of Morphogenesis and The London Improvisors Orchestra). Their sound art oscillates between states of the absurd and (sonically) grotesque to highly articulate explorations of extra-musical sound. One can hear various traces of out-noise lurking in the undergrowth of their 2002 debut album 'A Twist For All Pockets' (Rossbin). Electroacoustic music and free-improvisation could be regarded as co-ordinates on the grid. However, unlike the hermeticism of electro-acoustic music or the purism of free improvisation, the Bohman's freely quote from any source and aren't afraid to show it. They have for two years run one of the handful of London's experimental music clubs at The Bonnington Center, in Vauxhall south London. www.xs4all.nl/~lukas/pagina/bohmans.htm

TUNER (Fr) - live
.....'still trying to find a station'. Tours (Loire Valley)-based Tuner are a duet proposing an intervention sound between the improvisation and the writing, born from a set of spontaneous answers between the rhythmic approximate ones and a matter collected in real time, reprocessed numerically. The interest of research, in addition to developing universes rich in textures, is to soften the rigour of the numerical tools by diverting them of their serial and robot-like use. Tuner consists of Nicolas Mallet, born 1977, musician, who has made creations for contemporary dance, is a radio operator since 1998, organizer of musical events (Gooom, Warp, Bip-hop, List, Active Suspension), and has studied and construction of modula tools for musical creation, and Stephanie Letaconoux, born 1981, electronic musician, who has made sound creations for contemporary dance, managed a numerical workshop for education employing sound (School of Beautiful Arts) & interior designer.

RASHAMON (highpoint lowlife/UK) - live
Gathering speed at an easy pace as he makes his way on the ramshackle trainway from the gaudy terror of Brighton, Lee Hume as Rashamon will equate sound textures with the gentle hum of a life in transit, seeking to play with thought processes in he most inocuous way possible. Joined by Seb Wyatt (Sparta Sal) and his plethora of guitaristic curves and nuances, this is usually an unpredicted and potent event. Rashamon also appeared at the London Placard Headphone festival and releases recordings on he wayward. www.highpointlowlife.com

e/n [no.signal] - DJ
Eric Namour (fr/lb), runs the london-based [no.signal] cell focusing on the production and organisation of ad hoc 'experimental' music projects. Its intent is to increase the interconnectivity between the London art/music community whilst presenting specific projects abroad, privileging cross-cultural artistic collaborations. [no.signal] is also active in Italy as curator and organiser of music events. Eric is a member of the Rome-based festival dissonanze. He also occasionally (pre)reviews music events/albums on the Italian sound art online magazine decibel, the london culture guide Kultureflash.net and sonomu.net. http://nosignal.slab.org

INTERPLAY

Once again we have invited a selection of incredible International artists for 2 nights of unique live collaborations, traversing the sonic realms of minimal & post-techno beats, dub, voice, pop, jazz and improvisation. As in previous years, Interplay 3 is dedicated to uncovering new relationships as well as established clashes of style and technique, from novel instrumental approaches to twisted technology.

INTERPLAY 3 Wed 9th and Thurs 10th Feb 05 8pm - midnight Spitz, Spitalfields Market 109 Commercial Street London E1 8BG

Wed 9th Feb
POLE + DEADBEAT
MARCUS SCHMICKLER + THOMAS LEHN
MAX EASTLEY + FREEFORM

Thurs 10th Feb
STEPHAN MATHIEU + SI-CUT.DB
LEAFCUTTER JOHN + JANEK SCHAEFER
IRIS GARRELFS + SCANNER

The early part of both evenings will feature a sound based visual programme, including audio-visual collaboations from DFuse, who have worked with Burnt Friedmann, Kid 606 and recently Beck

VENUE: Spitz, Spitalfields Market,109 Commercial Street, London E1 8BG
DATE: Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th February 2005
TIME: 8pm - midnight
PRICE: £8 / £6 concs, £12 for both nights
BOX OFFICE: 020 7392 9032
info@sprawl.org.uk

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

WEDNESDAY’s ARTISTS:

Max Eastley

Max Eastley is an artist whose work combines kinetic sound sculpture and music into an unique art form. Exhibits of installations include 'Sonic Boom' at the Hayward Gallery and 'Sound as Media' in Toyko. Max Eastley began in the late sixties to investigate the relationship of chance to music. Using kinetic sound machines or the environmental forces of wind, streams and sea. He has exhibited his sound installations internationally, and collaborated with a wide range of artists, musicians and filmmakers, including Brian Eno, David Toop, Peter Greenaway, Evan Parker, Thomas Köner and Eddie Prévost.

Freeform

Electronic adventurer Simon Pyke, aka Freeform, who’s latest offerings, Audio Tourism and Human explore some unusual territories and shape new grounds for his intricate electronica, has come a long way since ut playing with Autechre aged 19. Still only in his mid 20s, Simon is moving away from technology. Despite the solidly electronic structure of his music his compositions appear increasingly organic. But, whilst composed of field recordings of all sorts of cultures and environments, it is nevertheless dance music, filled with beats and fractured melodies. He's an ethnomusicological Richard Devine.
He has released on Skam, Warp, Sprawl, Sub Rosa and more. The perfect introduction to his work is the Burnt Friedman compiled and reworked compilation Condensed on Nonplace www.freefarm.co.uk

Markus Schmickler

A member of the thriving Cologne experimental music scene associated with Mouse on Mars, Nonplace Urban Field, Air Liquide, Mike Ink, Markus Schmickler is one of the more "composerly" contributors to that conglomerate's growing renown. A formal student of electronic composition, Schmickler was a member of late-'80s performance ensembles Pol and Kontakta, two freewheeling experimental/improv groups following in the footsteps of Cologne's most notorious musical lab technicians, Can. Schmickler has since released a growing number of critically acclaimed electroacoustic recordings of various levels of abstractness through Mille Plateaux (as Pluramon) and former bandmate Odijk's A-Musik label (as Wabi Sabi). Schmickler's Kaspar-Hauser studios, are located in a disused warehouse space at the outskirts of the city, and provide something of a window on Schmickler's musical conception: vague constructions of random and apparently inert sonic matter re-formed into fascinating environments of ambient and electroacoustic, occasionally beat-oriented electronica.

Thomas Lehn

Since the early 1980s Thomas Lehn has been working as a performer, interpreter, composer and improviser of contemporary music. His individual style of musical expression is rooted in the experience of a broad spectrum of musical fields. After studying recording engineering at the Hochschule fuer Musik in Detmold (Germany), he moved to Cologne and studied both classical and jazz piano at the Hochschule fuer Musik Koeln. As an interpreting pianist he has played concerts since 1982 - performing both contemporary new music including numerous first performances and traditional composed music of the classical and romantically period. In 1989 he initiated the chamber ensemble Trio Dario and four years later the Mengano Quartett, focussing on performing compositions of the contemporary avant-garde.
Parallel to his work as a pianist, he concentrates on composing and performing electronic music. Based on his background as an interpreting and improvising pianist in classical-, contemporary and jazz-music, he developed his individually language in live-electronic music. The electronic equipment he uses consists of analogue synthesizers of the late 1960s. The facilities of these instruments - e. g. to modify electronic sounds very directly as well as to combine and to control several parameters at the same time - allows him to spontaneously act and react in close contact with the process of tension, space and structure of the music during its performance. In 2000 his first solo CD 'Feldstaerken' has been released on German label random acoustics. His present ensemble activities include duetts with Gerry Hemingway and Marcus Schmickler, Tim Hodgkinson and Roger Turner, Phil Durrant, Andy "Ex" Moor, Evan Parker, and last, but not least MIMEO, which includes 12 representatives of contemporary electronic music from 7 European nations.

Pole

With plenty of musical history and an unfettered passion for contemporary club tracks Berlin based Stefan Betke aka Pole is probably best known for his eminently danceable minimal dub explorations. With plenty of musical history and an unfettered passion for contemporary club tracks Stefan Betke aka Pole is probably best known for his minimal dub sounds between the clicks and cuts of modern electronica. While the origins of Pole hail back to the summer of 1996, when he accidentally dropped his near legendary "Walldorf 4-Pole" filter (which, in its newly damaged state, began to generate seductively unpredictable crackles), Betke's musical playing field covers a much broader spectrum. An active remixer, label owner, musician, DJ, mastering engineer, promoter, studio owner and producer, all of Betke's outlets are governed by his urge to distil the substance of sounds and ideas, irrespective of any scenes. For Betke it's the content which counts, rarely the environment it was generated in. This is mirrored by both the titles of his previous albums, which were kept deliberately simple (blue/1997, red/1999, yellow 2000) to avoid any distraction from their actual content, and his very personal selection of other projects. Besides ~scape, the label he founded in 1999 together with Barbara Preisinger, he runs a music publishing company (~scape publishing), produces acts like Barbara Morgenstern and remixes tracks from Egoexpress to Depeche Mode.
With his new series ("45/45", "90/90", "Pole"), where two EPs merge in an album, Pole has gone back to the future, back to his own roots - from hip hop to techno and back again. A fertile way to come full circle, augmented by his own experience. Similar to the blue-red-yellow album, which only revealed its overall idea in the combination of all separate recordings, Betke has managed to create a series which continues to evolve with every instalment. And this almost architectural approach is accompanied by a fundamental musical change of direction. www.pole-music.com

Deadbeat

Deadbeat is one Scott Monteith, an adopted Montrealer who has been releasing his own special blend of dub laden, minimal electronics since 1998, for labels such as Cynosure, Force Inc, Intr_version, Revolver , and Scape. His work has been met with consistant critical acclaim from the industry's leading publications and websites, and drawn performance invitations for some of the world's most respected festivals, including Barcelona's Sonar, Berlin's Transmediale, and Montreal's own Mutek. From 1999 to late 2003, Scott worked, assuming various roles, for the Montreal based company Applied Acoustics Systems, makers of the Tassman Software Synthesizer. Having now moved on to pursue his own musical efforts full time, the experience has left him with a passion for the development of new creative interfaces, and a strong grasp of some the most cutting edge technology in the industry. Whether crafting quirky, not-quite-dancefloor techno, or rumbling digital dub,Scott continually strives to create music that honours the past beyond empty tribute or cultural appropriation, by infusing the digital tools of the present with a little of the magic spice known as human imperfection. Hindered only by the occasional buffer underrun or synapse misfiring, Scott continues to search for his own unique voice between the ones and zeros.

THURSDAY’s ARTISTS

Stephan Mathieu

Stephan Mathieu is a digital artist who lives in Saarbrücken, Germany. He spent a good part of the 90s as an improvising drummer in Berlin but now works mainly in the field of digital music. Stephan?s music [either released under his own name or as Full Swing] is infused with a warmth and glow usually associated with analogue sound production. Using extracts of melodies and texture from various sources, he weaves deep, beautiful evolving soundscapes bathed in swathes of static and hiss. He also creates sound installations, graphic design and teaches digital arts and conceptual practice at the University for Arts and Design, Saarbrücken and works as a guest lecturer at the Bauhaus University, Weimar and the Merz-Akademie in Stuttgart, Germany. Stephan's music has been released on Fällt, Ritornell, Korm Plastics, EN/OF, Lucky Kitchen, Brombron, Hapna and Orthlorng Musork. www.bitsteam.de

SI-CUT.DB

Hailing from West London, Douglas Benford has been releasing his digital music as SI-CUT.DB, with several albums released under this guise, since 1991. Benford has collaborated with Scanner, Rechenzentrum, Add N To X, Iris Garrelfs, Stephan Mathieu, Benge [currently as Tennis],  Andrew Weatherall and popsters St Etienne. Ranging from microsound and electronica to dub, Benford has released music on Fällt, Bip Hop, Back Ground, Highpoint Lowlife, Warp and 12K. The latest SI-CUT.DB album, 'From Tears; Beach Archive' (mastered by Twerk) is on the Bip Hop label. He has played Ars Electronica, Tate Modern, Nokialab, Synch, Transmediale, Sintesi and New Forms festivals, and has been a co-curator of Sprawl electronic music events and label for over eight years, as well as founding the Suburb Of Hell and Pantunes labels. http://home.earthlink.net/~efrans/benford

Janek Schaefer

Janek Schaefer might be best known for his technical innovations, notably the Tri-Phonic three arm turntable and the daring customised pressing of last year's experimental vinyl pressing 'Skate' which recently netted him joint second prize in the Prix Ars Electronica 2004. But live improvisations and installations are also a major element of his work. Janek was born in England to Polish and Canadian parents in 1970. While studying architecture at the Royal College of Art [RCA annual prize], he recorded the fragmented noises of a sound activated dictaphone travelling overnight through the Post Office. That work, titled 'Recorded Delivery' [1995] was made for the 'Self Storage' exhibition [Time Out critics choice] with one time postman Brian Eno and Artangel. Since then the multiple aspects of sound became his focus, resulting in many releases, installations, soundtracks for exhibitions, and concerts using his self built/invented record players with electroacoutisc collage. The 'Tri-phonic Turntable' [1997] is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the 'World's Most Versatile Record Player'. He has performed and exhibited widely throughout Europe [Sonar, Tate Modern, ICA], USA [The Walker], Canada [Mutek], Japan, and Australia, playing at the Sydney Opera House in 2003. Janek runs his own label [audiOh!Recordings] as well as releasing work with Asphodel, Sub Rosa, Staalplaat, Hot Air, Sirr, Rhiz, Alluvial, DSP and Diskono. www.audiOh.com

Leafcutter John

Although John Burton, aka Leafcutter John, started his artistic life learning to paint or playing the guitar, he soon discovered that there was more to a computer than spreadsheets and video games. Proof is his first album, Microcontact, released on Planet Mu. The album flirts with electroacoustic and music concrète, and demonstrates that the man is one of the most exiting new musicians around. His latest offering “Housebound Spirit” is out now, it has been described by IDJ m Magazine as a “masterclass in sonic manipulation.” Leafcutter John is also an accomplished re-mixer having worked on projects for: µ-ZIQ/Speedy J, Electric Company, Badly Drawn Boy, Capitol K amongst others. www.leafcutter.33-rpm.net

Iris Garrelfs

Iris Garrelfs is known for her emotive, improvised performances and multichannel sound-based installations.
She performs solo as well as in collaboration with others, for example Robert Lippok (To Rococo Rot), Kaffe Matthews, Scanner and Freeform, recently re-released as part of the Burnt Friedman compiled and remixed compilation Condensed on Nonplace. She has recently finished a track for Jem Finer's (The Pogues) Longplayer project.
Her new album Specified Encounters (BipHop) has been moulded from dissected, transmuted voice sounds, settling somewhere between Arvo Pärt and Christan Fennesz. Installations explore transformations of found sound into multichannel compositions, some of which include a visual element. Commissions have included pieces for the Centre of Contemporary Art in Glasgow and for Earational 2004 (Holland). As a director of Sprawl, Iris has been advocating experimental sound since 1996. With Kaffe Matthews she is involved with Field 61, currently hosting a monthly radio show on London’s soundart station Resonance FM. In her other incarnation as a photographer, Iris has been published by magazines such as The Wire, Mary Claire and others. www.irisgarrelfs.com

Scanner

Robin Rimbaud aka Scanner is a musician, writer and minimalist anti hero whose eclectic mix of activities places him at the crossroads of academic and digital pop culture. Ever the shape shifter, recent live performances have varied from a live concert over 20 KM of beach in Italy using the public phono system, a body building contest in Brazil, re-soundtracking Godard's seminal film Alphaville, and most memorably 16 concerts in just one evening with a series of lookalikes across the globe.
Focusing recently on time based media he has shown as part of the sound art show 'Sonic Boom' at the Hayward Gallery in London, 'As It Is' at the Ikon Gallery Birmingham and a permanent installation can be heard in the Wellcome Wing of the Science Museum London. For 2000 - 2001 he is Artist in Residence for BBC Radio 4's 'Front Row' flagship arts programme experimenting with the medium of broadcasting in a series of features, just after the Archers! www.scannerdot.com

D-FUSE
D-Fuse is a collective of artists and designers who work across video, design,and photography. Formed in 1995, their exhibitions and screenings have been shown throughout the UK and Europe, including the ICA (London), Sonar (Barcelona), the Bulgarian Film Festival (Sofia), Nokialad (Moscow/St Petersberg) and ISEA (Intl. Symposium of Electronic Arts), 'Cities on  the Move' (Hayward Gallery, London), Experimentadesign99 (Lisbon) and the OneDotZero4 (Wow + Flutter). D-Fuse's aim is to challenge the boundaries between art and design and was originally formed to create and install  club visuals. D-Fuse live  events combine analogue and digital video mixing, slide and film projections, web art pieces and installations - their client list ranges from Kid 606, Burnt Friedmann, Beck, Richie Hawtin, Dave Clark, AddNtoX, Orbital and Amon Tobin, to exhibitions at galleries and corporate events. The D-Fuse web site is a base for music labels,and other affiliated  media, including
Sprawl, Scratch, Sulphur Records, Scanner and   The Wire magazine's site. Their monthly "Gallery" piece in 'The Wire' music magazine provided an exhibition space for D-Fuse, as well as commissions from many  artists, musicians and graphic designers, including Intro (UK),  Elliot Earls (USA), Surface (Germany) & Búro Destruct (Switzland). D-Fuse activities now include title and ident design and music videos and designs for installations. Their work has been published in Shots magazine, Eye magazine, Typographica 3, Creative Review, Alphafonts, Sight for Sound and Discstyle. MTV and Viva are currently  broadcasting D-fuse -designed and produced music videos for Scanner  Spinique and Fluid Endeka. D-Fuse were featured in a three hour German documentary about Europe's most prominent visual artists, and also on ITV's Mixmasters series. www.dfuse.com

VENUE: Spitz, Spitalfields Market,109 Commercial Street, London E1 8BG
DATE: Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th February 2005
TIME: 8pm - midnight
PRICE: £8 / £6 concs, £12 for both nights
BOX OFFICE: 020 7392 9032
info@sprawl.org.uk

buy tickets for
INTERPLAY here

Interplay 3 is supported by the Goethe Institute London and the PRS Foundation

NINE YEARS of Sprawl!
January 05 and we are celebrating NINE YEARS of Sprawl: - 9 years of literally hundreds of different amazing acts and sounds, whether on a regular monthly basis (and the odd weeklies) or hosting special events at a variety of venues. If any of you have pictures flying around from any of the early events, we'd love to see them! please contact iris@sprawl.org.uk

Wed 12th Jan 05 Pirandèlo (live) Katzo (live) J-lab (live) o.acam (DJ)

As always, we are presenting a selection of oddbeats, impro, soundscapes & cutting edge sounds:

Pirandèlo (mou-lips/List/italy)
With many international live gigs and the release on 2003 for the french label List of "Peanuts and shells geometria" Pirandèlo is the joint project of Andrea Gabriele (previously connected with tu-m), Marita Cosma and Claudio Sinatti. As "mou, lips!" they took part at the many Italian and European festivals (Netmage, Sintesi, Dis.Lab @ Dissonanze, Peam2003, Avril.Dot Festival, Italian Live MediaSÉ). The live show with Marita Cosma has been presented on the last French tour; 'an excellent work of poetical fairness, far from the agility of machines. The slide show creates a natural motion looking like videos, in attempt to go over the dimension of the screen and the pixels'. Since the meeting with Claudio Sinatti, the most authoritative, as well as one of the earlier vjs/visualizers video in Italy, it has been born a new journey of research in between strong personal creative identities. The Pirandèlo project, marks the birth of a trio that, outside of whatever used media, recounts, provokes and entertains, moves and arrests, does whatever it feels, with a forceful consciousness of being one. The matter is the beauty of the emotion. http://www.pirandelo.org

Katzo (Countenance/Japan)
After organising events such as Ryugi in Japan, Katsuya Urushizaki went on to study sound engineering and programming, completing 120 tracks by 2004. Working on many collaborations and producing the Experiments Live CD, his music encompasses dub, click house, minimal and tech electronica. He has performed in Fukui, Japan and in London at Multi Vitamins, Synth@Mass, as well as releasing the Katzo Turbojazz EP. http://www.turbojazz.com

J-lab (Uk)
J-Lab's work covers many genres, as his improvised live performances this year will testify. Whether shaking dancefloors in Barcelona or melting braincells in underground galleries, no two performances are the same. A part of the Laptop Jam collective, J-Lab has also collaborated with VJ Agent Simon multimedia projects as well as performances with ex Test Dept. members. Currently working on tracks & the inevitable website.

o.acam (miso/deep burnt/scotland)
Half man, half hat, o.cam is responsible for flying the flag for all sorts of great electronic music in Glasgow with the long-running Miso club, and booking international act across the UK, with a regular show on Radio Magnetic as well. We salute you. http://www.ilovemiso.com

Wed 10th Nov 04 FM3 (live) Gavin Starks (live) Iris Garrelfs (live) Alex Czinczel (DJ)

FM3 (BipHop, Staalplaat) - live
FM3 play quiet music. Very, very quiet music. The kind of music that turns up your ears and makes you sit. Very, very still... Some reviewers describe fm3's live act as "daring." Audience members often call it "cathartic." Others say listening to FM3 is painful...
FM3 is US-born but long-term China resident Christiaan Virant. Active in the Beijing music underground for nearly a decade, Virant founded FM3 in late 1999 as China's first-ever experiment in live, abstract electronica act. Working with lo-fi computer software and a host of home-built instruments, FM3 distills ancient Chinese folk tradition into a barely-there organic glow.

GAVIN STARKS - live
After being Experimental Officer at the radio telescope Jodrell bank (with a degree in Radio Astronomy), Gavin now produces rich provocative sounds from its processed data & cosmological radio recordings - he recently performed some pieces at the Virac telesope in Latvia. He is known also as a software developer, internet broadcaster, studio consultant, investigator of virtual reality audio & computer musics. www.dgen.net/biog/gavinstarks.htm

IRIS GARRELFS (Bip Hop) - live, pictured
Iris Garrelfs, musician and co-curator of Sprawl is best known for her emotive voice improvisations. She has recorded tracks for numerous compilation albums, and has also collaborated with Freeform, Robert Lippok (to rococo rot), Kaffe Matthews, Scanner and others. She has also played at the CCA, ICA, the Scala, Podewil (Berlin) The Batofar (Paris), Tonic (New York) plus has created installations for Glasgow's CCA Watermans Art Centre, Marseille's Arborescence festival, Earational in Holland and many more. Her debut album due out soon on Bip hop.

ALEX CZINCZEL - DJ
German born purveyor of fine obscurities (eg Moondog, Mapstation) and resident DJ and curator at the infamous Horse Hospital, Alex has impeccable taste. This makes it unavoidable that she DJs at Sprawl...

Wed 13th Oct 04 Mike Cooper (live) Greg Headley (live) Didac P. Lagarriga (live)

Mike Cooper (UK/ITALY) - live, pictured
For the past 40 years Mike Cooper has been an international musical explorer, performing and recording solo and in a number of inspired groupings covering a variety of genres. Initially a folk- blues guitarist and singer-songwriter, his work has diversified to include improvised and electronic music, live music for silent films, radio art and sound installations. He also puts his vast knowledge to use as a music journalist, writing features for magazines such as Roots, concentrating on Pacific musicians. But mike does not leave it there. His artistic enthusiasm bursts through as a visual artist, film and video maker, and ardent collector of Hawaiian shirts. He appears on more than sixty records, most recently on his CD Rayon Hula, which is released on his own Hipshot label. The CD has been described as "....a masterpiece of contemporary exotica" by David Toop in the Wire. hipshot

Greg Headley (USA) - live
Los Angeles based composer and guitarist Greg Headley began in a relatively traditional vein of guitar experiments, but quickly mortgaged his musical roots to invest into electronics and noise. Each of his first three albums signalled a new stage on this process of personal de-contextualization: the solo tabletop guitar meditations a la Kevin Drumm of Adhesives (Bake, 2000), still rooted in his guitar techniques, the more abstract manipulation of guitar sounds of A Table of Opposites (28 Angles, 2001), and finally the noisy, frantic electronic soundscapes of Similis (28 Angles, 2002), which hardly related to the instrument anymore. The guitar is even less relevant on his fourth album, A Bulletin on Vertigo (28 Angles, 2003). Nine computer pieces that construct living sounds and then let them evolve in their artificial environment, this is actually a less abstract art than on the previous album. Night Blooming and The Water's Fall radiate very dynamic and organic textures. Headley briefly flirts with rhythmic effects in This Too Is Unknown, but stops short of entering the fray of post-techno music. gregheadley.com

Didac P. Lagarriga (Brazil) - live
Didac P. Lagarriga aka UN CADDIE RENVERSÉ DANS L'HERBE was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He moved to Barcelona (Spain) when he was a child. Working with texts and sounds since 1994 resulted of hundreds of unknown influences, specific temporary places, some souvenirs sampling older souvenirs, garden practices, pastiches and observations on not fitting in. He has released the results of his worl through albums on Hamburg's Dekorder label and on his own label oozebap. His music follows the rich tradition of Brazilian antropophagous concept, mixed with his own fictionidentity research, an amalgam of traditional instruments (mbira, balaphon, berimbau...) and digital processing. He also participates in numerous compilations on labels such as Audiodregs, k-raa-k, amanita, tu'm. The performing arm of his sound tkes him all over Europe, Argentina and USA. And "...who knew microsound could be so dreamy?" EI magazine, USA

A TASTER:

matt rogalsky live at sprawl

~ past radio

The Sprawl team will be back on Resonance 104.4 FM on Friday April 7th, 12-1am UK time, for our Small Pieces slot interviweing Bill Wells. As usual you can also listen on the web www.resonancefm.com.

The Sprawl team will be back on Resonance 104.4 FM on Friday March 3rd, 12-1am UK time, for our Small Pieces slot. As usual you can also listen on the web www.resonancefm.com.

The Sprawl team will be back on Resonance 104.4 FM on Friday Feb 3rd, 12-1am UK time, for our Small Pieces slot . As usual you can also listen on the web www.resonancefm.com.

The Sprawl team will be back on Resonance 104.4 FM on Friday January 6th, 12-1am UK time, for our Small Pieces slot . As usual you can also listen on the web www.resonancefm.com.

The Sprawl team will be back on Resonance 104.4 FM on Friday December 16th, 12-1am UK time, for our Small Pieces slot. As usual you can also listen on the web www.resonancefm.com.

The Sprawl team will be back on Resonance 104.4 FM on Friday November 11th, 12-1am UK time, for our Small Pieces slot with a live appearance by Octex. As usual you can also listen on the web www.resonancefm.com.

The Sprawl team will be back on Resonance 104.4 FM on Friday 2nd September, 12-1am UK time, for our Small Pieces slot. bringing you the latest from the digital and post dub frontiers. A further date is September 23rd, when you can hear us talking to Xenakis collaborator Brian O'Reilly. As usual you can also listen on the web www.resonancefm.com.

: The Sprawl team will be back on Resonance 104.4 FM on Friday 5th August, 12-1am UK time, when we shall be interviewing minimalist composer Andrew Poppy. You can also listen on the web www.resonancefm.com

The Sprawl team will be back on Resonance 104.4 FM on Friday 8th April, 12-1am. You can also listen on the web www.resonancefm.com.

Douglas and Iris will be back on Resonance 104.4 FM on Friday 4th February 12-1am, talking about the Interplay Festival. You can also listen on the web http://www.resonancefm.com

In the meantime, read a review of last December's advent series at furthernoise.org