Efterklang – Cutting Ice To Snow from Rumraket on Vimeo.
It is directed by Jeremiah Zagar and produced by Herzliya Films

Efterklang play in Birmingham on Thursday 29th of October at The Asylum in Hockley, support from Nancy Elizabeth.
Advanced tickets from www.thetisketsellers.co.uk Polar Bear in Kings Heath + Swordfish Birmingham city Centre

Join Ikon and the Bloors in Eastside to launch Hey for Lubberland!, their specially adapted canal boat, utilising geodesic design and dazzle camouflage. Music by Khyam Allami.

As part of the Supersonic Festival Simon & Tom Bloor’s boat will be moored near Ikon Eastside. Visitors can make short journeys, accompanied by soundtracks selected by artists performing at the Festival.

To reserve a place call Ikon on 0121 248 0708

14 albums, more than 1000 concerts, one really doesn’t know what to say about this trio from Rome, Italy. One more record to come by the hand of Dälek, more than 1000 concerts all around the globe, a collaborations list from here to Mars (King Buzzo and Mike Patton from Melvins to mention a sample). That deep sound to their music that goes down to the abyss and further is what makes them so special.

The bass lines maintain a deep, hard structure, over that is chaotic rhythm looking for freedom until it becomes totally lost. These guys don’t waste their time smiling.

Influenced by everything natural, ancestral and imaginary, they never seem to find time to centre on human emotions. Isolated landscapes, remote geological ages, astral forces are part of the compositions that become more obscure each time a new album is released. They are far removed now from the innocent grunge from records like the self-titled Zu, now closer to abyssal and chaotic atmospheres.

While keeping their original line-up since 1999 (drums, bass, saxophone) they have been touring with Mike Patton and King Buzzo from Melvins whom they share a record label with.

By Nicolás Gómez

Zu will play the Saturday of Supersonic Festival

24th-26th July

Tickets for Supersonic Festival are available from www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Goblin played the Donau festival in Austria back in April and the reviews were good – it’s got us all extra excited for their appearance at this year’s  Supersonic Festival.

Italy’s Goblin proposed a world where punk never happened. At their first concert for 30 years, they played a selection of classic material from their 1970s horror film soundtracks, from Profondo Rosso, Suspiria and Zombi, plus material from their 2005 album Return of the Goblin. It was amusing to see the young, trendy crowd rocking out to Goblin – much of their set consisted of precisely the kind of symphonic Prog rock and Gary Moore-style guitar solos long considered the high watermark of cheese. But the exigencies of film soundtrack composition always saved Goblin from Prog’s worst excesses and gave them a unique palette, tempering their more grandiose moments with creepy nursery rhyme melodies and ghoulish whispers – current Black Metal fantasists like Deathspell Omega or Velvet Cacoon (and even NNCK) owe much to Goblin’s pioneering vocal work. The Wire – June 2009

And here’s the setlist from that gig:

Magic Thriller

Mad Puppet

Dr Frankenstein

Roller

E Suono Rock

Aquaman

Hitches

Suspiria

Zombi

Tenebre

Dlen Dlon

Profondo Rosso

L’alba dei Morti Viventi

Killer on the Train

Non Ho Sonno

We’re delighted to confirm that MARNIE STERN will be performing at this years Supersonic Festival in July  – New York native Marnie is described as a Guitar Hero showdown between Don Caballero, Hella and … Van Halen
www.myspace.com/marniestern1

Confirmed line up:
Friday: Army Of Flying Robots / Atomized / Drum Eyes / Kylie Minoise / PCM / Scorn / Taint / Venetian Snares

Saturday: Bobby Previte / Corrupted / Diaganol / Flower/Corsano Duo / Growing / Iron Lung / Kim Hiorthoy / Light Trap / Marnie Stern / Master Musicians Of Bukkake / Monotonix / Nisenenmondai / Remember Remember / Rose Kemp / Skullflower / Tartufi / The Accused / Thought Forms / Thorr’s Hammer / Tweak Bird / Zu

Sunday: 65 Days Of Static / Arbouretum / Caribou / Chris Herbert / Earthless / Goblin / Head Of David / Jarboe / Khyam Allami  / Nancy Wallace / Pontiak / Pram / Pre / Theo / The Memory Band / ZzZ

Tickets available from https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline

Roadburn 2009 poster by Malleus

We’re just back from Roadburn Festival in Tilburg and had a blast, saw some amazing bands and caught up with friends from all corners of the globe.  Highlights included being kindly invited by Walter to put a panel together as part of the networking event, we discussed the uniqueness, inspiration and similarities of festivals such as Roadburn, Supersonic, Beyond The Pale & Equinox, this was chaired by Louise editor of Terrorizer Magazine. It was a totally surreal experience sitting on a panel with Steve & Kristin Von Till and Scott Kelly from Neurosis as well as being  the curators of Beyond The Pale, sometimes you just have to pinch yourself!
Me, Walter & LouiseScott & Steve from Neurosis

The 013 venue which houses the Roadburn festival is an inspirational space, run mainly by volunteers, with 3 different size venues with in one – ranging from 150  to 2000 capacity (2750 all in), friendly staff, cherry beer, fantastic sound, also sells vegan food and most importantly is independtly run . Its exactly the sort of flexiable music venue Birmingham needs. Birmingham City Council please take note this is an excellent example of a state subsidised building, used for a range of events and is totally unique to it’s city – no need for a Bar Fly or Academy chain!

013 the host venue for Roadburn Festival

Music wise – highlights over the 3 days were Rose Kemp who mixes the heaviest sound with the most incredible folk vocals, the whole room was mesmerized by her performance and her shiny dress, if you don’t know her work you should check her out. Neurosis were fantastic, kinda goes without saying, they always give their all with their performances – totally focused. Mono managed to move grown men to a state of emotional bliss, a strange experience being surrounded by all these men of metal whom seemed melted by Mono’s emotional performance, Black Sun joined Eugene from Oxbow as part of his spoken word, which really put in context his stage persona, Zeni Geva were however the band of the weekend for me, everything that I hoped for as we were starting to flag by the third day, they rocked out and exuded some much needed energy by that point, think the heaviness of the Melvins with moments of free jazz. They finished their set with Deadsunrising…treats of treats! (and even better KK Null and I discussed our love of small dogs in broken English – indeed a subject that can unite folks).
Rose Kemp
As with all good festivals its a chance to catch up with friends from far away places and also meet new ones, of course a lot of this is done over a drink or three…David (+1 Magazine), Paul (Una Corda), Jamie (Guardian) + the guys from Baroness enjoying a good game of trying on found sun glasses by night – they were blinding.

With Yvonne our host for the weekend and also Supersonic international press person, clearly having fun backstage with the free beer!
And finally me doing me Keiji Haino impression

A massive thanks to Walter & Jurgen, Yvonne, the 013 team and all the artists that performed, it was our third visit to the festival and we hope to be back next year, was a wonderful weekend and would highly recommend a visit. (best get in quick though as this years festival sold out in 45 mins of going on sale)

please note Jenny does not feature in any of these photos because she is always taking them

Beestung Lips talk about doing it for themselves!!!
They play with Prurient + Cold Cave + Iron Fist Of The Sun + Nicholas Bullen at Vivid in May

As a New Years gift to you all, for a limited period our Supersonic Festival hoodys will be at a ridiculously cheap price. Just £20 for the Supersonic logo hoody which comes in either navy with a silver print or the grey hoody with the turquoise print, this is a saving of a whole 10 English pounds!!! They are printed on heavy weight Fly 53 hoodys. Buy Now

And then the Supersonic 08 limited artist edition by Gunsho is now £30 down from £35. Buy Now!!!

So what does Black Sabbath, Jasper Carrott and the Capsule Grannies all have in common?
Well we’ve been given a mention under the Custard Factory heading no.37 in the Birmingham Mail’ s 100 Great Things About The West Midlands.
“The campus also contains a first-class music venue, bar and theatre, all of which are fully used by leftfield promoters for nights of alternative mayhem.
Most established of these is Capsule, two switched on women, who constantly host nights of the world’s most cutting edge music and provide a platform for local bands.
Capsule’s Supersonic Festival, held every July at the Custard Factory is a world-class event and perfectly sums up the whole Custard Factory Vibe.”

Jenny and I will be taking a bit of time off from Capsule now, hopfully able to enjoy a little of our British summer. (its hard to say which is which in this highly accurate depiction of the Capsule Grannies at leisure enjoying a glass or three of bubberly)

However do not fear we never rest for too long and have already got in place some awesome shows for the coming months including some Japanese psychedelia in the form of ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE who will be playing a 2hr set at the Hare & Hounds on Friday 1st August. Advanced tickets from www.ticketweb.co.uk or from Polar Bear in Kings Heath or Swordfish in Birmingham city centre.
Poster designed by Ben Javens

Following in September with old friends of Capsule, the mighty TORCHE (ex Cavity whom I might add are one of my all time favourite bands and Floor), these guys are not to be missed and will be joined by PELICAN. Tickets will be on sale soon. In the meantime check out this film footage of Torche from a Chunklet show we had the pleasure of being at in Austen, Texas, it was a truely moving and sweaty experience and reminded us of why live music is so darn exciting! 200 kids squeezed into a 50 capacity warehouse space in 35 degree heat in the middle of no mans land.

and footage of the mighty Cavity RIP