Planetary Assault Systems – The Messenger

There’s a shit lot of stuff on in town tonight. An unfortunately huge amount of stuff on, in fact. Maybe it would have been a good idea if all the promoters could have got together at some kind of nice conference thing with free tea and coffee and biscuits out of a big blue tin (Fox’s, natch) and discussed the best weekends for them to all put on their nights, rather than just playing promotion darts with the calendar and all getting double tops in the same go. Not that any of them have done a bad job; please don’t get me wrong. Just that they’ve all done very good jobs at exactly the same time. And it means I can’t go to all of them. Sad face.

To not give particular preference to any of them I’ve decided to list them all and embed a track that has nothing to do with any of them. This may seem irritatingly evasive but I’d prefer to think it should help generate further exploration and a democratic cultural process. Which is a really great thing.

So, here’s the new album from Ostgut Ton’s Planetary Assault Systems. It’s three quarters of an hour of some of the best shifting phases, industrial thuds, malfunctioning displays and bare-boned minimal techno you’re ever likely to hear. Hello weekend.

And as for what’s on, here’s our round-up of the best…

Nail The Cross

Two nights at The Shacklewell Arms put on by the good people over at No Pain In Pop, featuring a stellar line-up that includes Pariah, Nite Jewel, D/R/U/G/S, Sex Worker, Miracle, Echo Lake, Patten, Doldrums, Halls and Holy Strays, as well as assorted DJ sets from the promoters and their friends. Phewph.

Blackest Ever Black

One of the most impressive labels around at the moment (and a huge personal fave) are putting on a showcase night at Baring House, steeping it in deep, dark, gothic dance music. It’s the new black.

Qu Junktions with Magic + Dreams

The pairing of abrasive analogue wizard Ekoplekz and trombonist Bass Clef, Ekoclef, heads the bill at Café Oto tonight, with Pipe Dreams and Some Truths in support.

Upset The Rhythm

The awesome Lucky Dragons will be playing at Space on Mare St, supported by Flamingods.

Oh, and there’s also the Carl Barat DJ set at the Barfly in Camden. ‘LOL’

Image is by Fredrik Söderberg.

Sotto Voce Festival 2011

The fourth year of the Sotto Voce festival starts tonight, at numerous venues across the city. A combination of intricate acoustic pieces and more full-blown electronic sets, its tone ranges from the delicate and introspective to the powerful, disturbing and abrasive, all the while exploring the boundaries of modern sound. There are a fair few screenings on as well, all intriguing looking documentaries on the kind of experimental musicians featured on the bill.

To get a feel for what will be on, check out this sampler…

… and then nip over to the website for more.

Image is by Doug Du Bois.

Roll The Dice – In Dust

The new album from Swedish duo Roll the Dice is really quite stunning; an epic journey through a vast industrial dystopia, created purely with analogue equipment that seems analogous to the beating heart of the world it describes. It’s bold, stark and, although purely instrumental, forms a rich narrative arc that conjures a vivid, emotive world replete with rattling chains, churning gears, dripping oil and the rhythmic thud of an eager yet desolate enterprise. Unsurprisingly, one of the two composers scores music for film and television, and the strong vein of storytelling that the album conveys seems well suited to accompanying something like Metropolis, Blade Runner or 1984. Fingers crossed a collaboration will be imminent: we’d really love to see that film.

To quell our impatience for that project, the good people at God Don’t Like It have thankfully scheduled them in to play at Cafe OTO (the only place we ever seem to bloody talk about!) tomorrow, the 20th of September. Should be a pretty great night.

To get you in the mood, here’s their awesome album – available to stream in full.

Image is by László Moholy-Nagy, many of whose best pieces you can currently see at the fantastic exhibition of Hungarian photography, currently showing at the Royal Academy of the Arts.

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Paul Clipson at Cafe OTO

As a brief addendum to our earlier post, here’s a video of Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Paul Clipson’s show at Cafe Oto last Wednesday. Beautiful sounds and visuals to ease you into the week.

Image is by ethereal Japanese photographer Rinko Kawauchi.

Paul Clipson

For those that attended the Jefre Cantu-Ledesma gig at Café Oto last night, please forgive us for trying to re-create what happened in this post. We know that all we are able to provide is a cheap facsimile, but providing even a homeopathically-scaled percentage of events is something still totally worthwhile.

For those that weren’t at the Jefre Cantu-Ledesma gig at Café Oto last night, please forgive us for what must seem like a slightly obtuse opening gambit. But bear with us; it’ll definitely be worth it.

Last night, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma’s gig at Café Oto (I suppose you’ve figured that bit out already) was accompanied by the Super 8 projections of Paul Clipson. Or, more accurately – in my mind at least – Paul Clipson’s Super 8 projections were accompanied by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma. He showed some of the most beautifully captured fragments of film that I think I’ve ever seen, all flowing in and out, penetrating deep within, floating on top and swimming around each other in what seemed perfect, serendipitous harmony with the engulfing music. Images ranging from the stark, geometric angles of industrial cityscapes to undulating, amorphous patterns to silhouettes of trees and fences and ghostly apparitions of colourful faces all moving and shifting incessantly with a gurgling, immersive fluidity. The subject – light – was utterly singular, but its treatment through texture, rhythm and pattern was phenomenally complex and it recalled so many of the most powerful and moving video art that’s ever been created (László Moholy-Nagy, Bruce Nauman, Len Lye, William Klein, Kenneth Anger, Fernand Léger – to name a few) whilst being in itself something totally new and, quite literally at some points, jaw-droppingly breathtaking (I think I may have even dribbled).

Unfortunately the excerpts provided below, as stated above, only provide a suggestion of last night’s events. But hopefully some of the effect might rub off and a few people, somewhere, will be persuaded to catch him next time he shows his work. If so, we will see you there.

Petrels – All Things In Common

We first covered Oli Barrett’s solo project Petrels back in February, when he released the immensely beautiful Haeligewielle LP. It’s been a firm favourite of ours ever since; provoking a plethora of emotional states and lending itself to myriad re-discoveries and interpretations. It’s obviously great news, then, that he’s got a new tape coming out soon on the awesome Patient Sounds.

The first side covers similar territory to Haeligewielle, combining a mired murkiness of electronic effects-sludge with hallowed, soaring strings to create something sublime, almost tangible. Side B sees him in a lighter mood, building a sweet little beat over looped marimbas and then chucking in his trademark strings to end on a massive high. It’s a great 20 minutes and the broadening of his scope should be a sign of even greater things to come.

The cassette will be available from August 8th. Check it out first though below.

If you like what you hear too, make sure you get yourself down to Cafe Oto on August 14th where he’ll be playing live, along with Trouble books and Outshine Family. Should be a great night.

Image is by Lukasz Wierzbowski.

Zun Zun Egui – Fandango Fresh

There’s something pretty exhilarating about the brio with which Zun Zun Egui attack their songs, whether it’s in their tightly wound instrumental interplay or the the staccato shock of Kushal Gaya’s vocals (that’s, “Sexy worm have you got the bird” in case you were wondering) they are an irresistibly energetic proposition. Their clattering, kaleidoscopic new single certainly delivers on the promise of early tracks like Praise the Waterfall Part 2, which we featured on these pages a few months back, and it’s great to see that they’ve been picked up by Bella Union, who are putting out their debut album in October.

If you happen to be in London on the 16th of this month then you could do a lot worse than to catch the Bristolians playing at the Dalston Roof Garden. As well as putting on what promises to be a pretty blinding show, the band will be screening the Kurosawa film Dreams after their gig. You can find the trailer below and details of the free gig here.

Image is by John. J. O’Connor