“Keiji Haino’s 30-year career has encompassed a dizzying range of approaches from wild, guitar-led ensemble rock and near-Neolithic drumming; live electronics and untutored explorations of lute and flute; and the deconsecrated peals of solo gamelan performance. He has also collaborated widely with the likes of Derek Bailey, Merzbow, Jim O’Rourke and Tony Conrad. Throughout, Haino has retained a visionary focus upon temporary suspension through noise (and silence) whilst refining a mercurial, highly distinctive method and an arrestingly dramatic on-stage presence that borrows the raiments of performance art.” Cafe Oto

Haino leads the power trio Nazoranai, forging heavy psych and noise with Stephen O’Malley of Sunn0))) and Oren Ambarchi.  Haino is a master at pushing the possibilities of the guitar/bass/drums format. If you’ve not witnessed Haino live before, we thoroughly recommend you surrender yourself over. They play the CBSO Centre next Tuesday 9th July.

The last time Haino played Birmingham was Supersonic Festival 2008 with Merzbow, where the two artists almost seemed in battle on stage!

Tickets for this event are £15 in advance from www.theticketsellers.co.uk. Nicholas Bullen will also perform, launching his new ‘Component Fixations’ record.

Image courtesy of http://supergrouplondon.co.uk

Capsule have commissioned Morag Myerscough to design a bespoke space that, during the four month Discovery season for the opening of the Library of Birmingham, will house a series of creative residencies.

The build of the space, named the Pavilion, is well under way and is looking fantastic.

Image courtesy of http://supergrouplondon.co.uk  

Morag also gave a really interesting and insightful talk to the Birmingham 2022 group. The award winning designer talked about her working process and the various forms of inspiration she finds in her travels.

Morag Myerscough talking to the group of 16-24 year olds who make up Birmingham 2022

Capsule first worked with Morag Myercough and her team in the bold design of the Home of Metal exhibition at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

Snapshot of the Home of Metal exhibition at BM&AG

Stephen O’Malley is a musician and artist from Seattle, who has conceptualised numerous drone, doom and experimental music groups, most notably, Sunn0))), KTL, Gravetemple and Aethenor.

A long lasting friend of Capsule, Stephen has performed and exhibited under various guises at Supersonic Festival.

We are very pleased to present his recent collaboration; Nazoranai, another heavyweight collaboration under O’Malley’s sleeve, with Oren Amabarchi and Keiji Haino at CBSO Centre next Tuesday 9th July. Talking about the project,  Stephen says,

“…It was one of those ‘what now’ moments you never imagine happening, having been a fan/follower of Haino’s playing, concerts and recordings over the years. Five years later, somehow, we ended up as this trio. Haino, Oren and I were all in Holland for one reason or another and decided to try it. I played bass for the first time on stage with this group. Maybe it shows but the idea was a power trio backing up Haino-san, with a lot of amplification…It’s hard to describe the lessons through real-time communication in music with such a master of form, but needless to say, they were much different than what I was expecting and beyond! Proof again that expectations lead to dead ends. Was a most challenging experience in real-time music. I feel incredibly honored to be part of this trio.”

Tickets for this event are available via theticketsellers.co.uk

Support comes from Nicholas Bullen, who will be presenting his new album ‘Component Fixations’.

We’ve set you up for some good (though not necessarily sunny) sounds for July. This playlist features Nazoranai, Memphis Minnie, Clipping, Keiji Haino, Rhys Chatham and more…

Sarah Farmer’s residency at University of Birmingham focuses on the collections at Laptworth Museum and Winterbourne Gardens, and she’s making some exciting progress. Here Sarah tells us a bit about her process.

Sarah made this vacuum print bed…

“DIY has been the name of the game this month. I have been making my own vacuum print bed for screen printing record sleeves and posters, and a UV lightbox in order to make silk screens and photoetchings using imagery taken at the university’s collections. They won’t win any awards for design – they are made almost entirely from reclaimed materials, but they do work.

…and a UV lightbox

Along with making my tools, I have been starting to make my own collection of artefacts – copies of fossils, etchings, using the printing press and i even have my own slice of cactus awaiting further artistic treatment. At this stage, everything is in a developmental stage as I turn raw photos into physical objects through sculptural and printing process, which will ultimately result in the making of sound sculptures.”

Skeleton etching – these etchings will be used to make a sound piece

Casts of fossils

Thanks to all who came to our sell out show on Monday (including Charlotte ‘voice of an angel’ Church, Deerhoof with support from Free School and Victor. Tonight we’ll be dissecting the Mississippi Records and Alan Lomax archives with Vivid Projects.

Here’s some great pics of the Deerhoof show from Katja Ogrin

As ever, Deerhoof put on an amazing show!

Free School, now with ‘black sheep of the family’  vocalist

Victor kicked things off with a noisy start

The next Capsule event sees the heavyweight trio Nazoranai perform at the CBSO, Do not miss this! Made up of Keiji Haino, Oren Ambarchi and Stephen O’Malley, all incredible artists in their own right, we can’t wait to see them perform together. This event also acts as the launch for Component Fixations, the new solo record from Nicholas Bullen.Tickets are £15 advance and available via www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Alan Lomax was a musicologist who spent over six decades working to promote knowledge and appreciation of ‘people’s songs’, and he gathered an enormous archive of folk, blues, gospel, country and traditional music.

You can see an amazing collection of videos via the Association of Cultural Equity, which Lomax founded to research and disseminate the world’s traditional music, and to reconnect people and communities with their creative heritage.

Alan Lomax discusses Sacred Harp:

This Wednesday we’ll be at Vivid Projects with Eric Isaacson of Mississippi Records, enjoying some rare footage from the Alan Lomax and Mississippi Records archives. Tickets are £5 in advance and can be purchased via www.theticketsellers.co.uk. Doors are at 7pm.

Just a few tickets left to snap for this very exciting show. The indie noise darlings Deerhoof make a much anticipated return to Birmingham with excellent support from the electronic duo Free School and post rock/grunge band Victor.  Don’t miss out, get your ticket from theticketsellers or from Polar Bear records in Kings Heath. Doors are 8pm.