“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.

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’.

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.

Oren Ambarchi is an Australian sound artist, primarily using the guitar he investigates unconventional ways of playing traditional instrumentation. He’ll make one third of the power trio Nazoranai on Tuesday 9th July at CBSO Centre, along with Keiji Haino and Stephen O’Malley. Oren will performing drums at this show. Tickets are available via www.theticketsellers.co.uk

“From the darkest reaches of space comes Nazoranai, featuring Japanese underground legend Keiji Haino, Stephen O’Malley of avant-metal overlords Sunn 0))) and Australian experimentalist Oren Ambarchi. On their 2012 debut, Haino’s bleakly beautiful guitar and diabolical vocals slice through the creeping mass of O’Malley’s bass and Ambarchi’s minimalist drums; what they have in store for Glasgow, however, is anyone’s guess.

‘I try to keep all my collaborative projects spontaneous and organic. Working in this trio is no different’, explains Ambarchi. ‘I’ve worked with Haino-san many times and it’s always different – he constantly likes to pull the carpet from under your feet… There’s always elements of ritual and the psychedelic (in the truest sense of word) in a Nazoranai performance. Both Stephen and I are “fans” of Haino, and rabid fans of music in general, so we’re happy to support and complement Haino’s flights as much as we can’.” Read the full interviewvia The List here

A prolific collaborator, Oren has worked with Jim O’Rourke, Fire!, Fennesz, Robin Fox and many more, but don’t overlook his solo work!

Photo by Jonathan Morgan

The next Capsule event takes place on Monday 24th June at Hare & Hounds. There we’ll meet Victor, a young band on the local scene they promise noisy post rock with a grunge edge.

“The first taste of Victor we had was supporting The Chapman Family at The Rainbow in March – and what an unexpected treat they were. Victor don’t have any recordings online but we’d urge you to go and see them; their passionate vocals combine with a post-rock sound verging on grunge, subsequently creating a wall of noise that will make you deafer than your nan.” Counteract

Along with the mighty Deerhoof and Free School, this is going to be a great Monday night. Tickets are selling fast so snap yours up for £10 via www.theticketsellers.co.uk

FACT magazine have released a great interview with Nicholas Bullen. The interview delves into his long history of extreme music creation, and the making of his new record Component Fixations. The official release show for this album will take place Tuesday 9th July st CBSO Centre in Birmingham. It’ll be a special event, with Nazoranai also on the bill.

“The common thread is an interest in new strategies of engaging with both the material and the wider world. Napalm Death was informed as much by Power Electronics as Punk or Heavy Metal (for example, the middle section of Sacrificed on the Scum album was intended to reference the ‘walls of noise’ of Throbbing Gristle and Ramleh’s attack of sound). Just as the Power Electronics I made in 1984 operated in a realm where the agitated and active meets the laminar, so Napalm Death moved – through velocity and abrasion – towards a form of stasis which I think also characterises Scorn, where the creativity operated within a seemingly endless but closed space. These elements all have their place within my compositional approach.”

Read the full interview here

Tickets for the show are available via www.theticketsellers.co.uk