“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

From a new library, to a new record shop – Birmingham is really bucking the trends!

“Milque & Muhle is an independent record shop based in Birmingham’s Custard Factory. Coming from a combination of music and art backgrounds Milque & Muhle is the creation of Nathan Warner and Ellena Donlon, recognising Birmingham’s demand for a unique music outlet, they hope to be a place where people can find rare material and discover the new.

Milque & Muhle not only provides vinyl and cassette, covering all left field material from Punk/Hardcore, Metal/Doom through to Industrial, Jazz/Free Jazz, Psyche, Soundtracks and Experimental; You will also find music fanzines, comics, presses and occasional art prints. With due course Milque & Muhle hope to curate local gigs and music/art based events targeted towards curious audiences in Birmingham.”

Birmingham’s newest record shop will open on 21st September, from 10 am – 6 pm (located next door to the Custard Factory reception), followed by an evening of live music from Black Veins, Female Smell and Ghold with DJ sets from Nicholas Bullen, David Grindi and Scott Johnston held in Muther’s studio Digbeth from 8 pm, free admission.

twitter.com/MilqueMuhle

Deputy Director

Capsule is looking for an experienced and enthusiastic arts professional to join one of the UK’s most dynamic arts organisations.

Fresh from our latest major project, a four-month multi-artform festival to celebrate the opening of the new Library of Birmingham, and building on the momentum from other high profile projects like Home of Metal, we’re now preparing to open a new chapter for Capsule. You’ll work with the Director to help reimagine and deliver our flagship project Supersonic Festival, now in its 10th year, and shape the future of the organisation.

You’ll have a successful track record in project management and fundraising, with hands-on experience of delivering complex arts events, a proven ability to manage budgets and cashflow, and the ability to lead small teams of staff.

Contract: Fixed-term for 12 months initially, with potential to extend

Hours: Part or full time

Salary: £28 – £32k depending on experience

Deadline for applications is 15th October 5pm.

To apply, please email lisa[at]capsule.org.uk to request an application pack, with Deputy Director in the subject line.
For more information about the role see About/Recruitment

Still Walking is a one of a kind festival, it covers a wide range of experiences, with no set remit, as long as it involves walking! And their Kickstarter project is currently live, they’re looking for support for the edition of the festival and there’s lots of tempting rewards for your generosity, from historic maps to personalised events.

Ben Waddington is a local historian, with a list of interests longer than anyone’s arm I’ve seen. He created Still Walking to showcase different people’s pockets of enthusiasm and expertise. Previous tours have focused on subjects from brutalist architecture to typography to Black Sabbath and moss growing on buildings.

Read more about their fundraising campaign at www.kickstarter.com/projects/stillwalking/still-walking-festival

I’m delighted to have been asked to take part on a panel for Supernormal Festival this weekend. The line up is looking great and includes some Supersonic Festival favourites Richard Dawson, Mugstar, Descalator Shit & Shine and Grey Hairs plus loads of acts we haven’t seen before which is always a treat.

WOMAN’S HOUR (AND A HALF)
An open forum to invoke discussion and celebrate the creative and vital practices of women working within creative and cultural fields. Join women from the programme to discuss their significant contributions to the visual and sound arts and consider points such as:
– Gender equality and the representation of women within the arts and music industries
– The relevance of this subject in today’s society

See more details of the full line up HERE

We are very pleased to welcome Spencer Hickman to Capsule’s Advisory Committee. A long friend of Capsule, Spencer has been really supportive of Supersonic Festival over the years and we’re thrilled to be

receiving his invaluable input to Capsule’s planning.

With over 20 years experience, music industry veteran Spencer Hickman is one of the loudest supporters of independent music in the UK. Hickman spent years working in record shops including setting up and running Rough Trade East (the UK’s largest record store), it won retail brand of the year twice under his management. Spencer co-ordinates Record Store Day for the UK, which in six short years has become the largest celebration of record shop culture in the world and is worth £3 million to the UK music industry. He left Rough Trade in 2012 to concentrate on his specialist soundtrack label Death Waltz Recording Company, which

within its first year has won numerous awards and has seen artists such as Dinos Chapman deliver exclusive new artwork for classic film scores.

www.deathwaltzrecordingcompany.com

Spencer joins Anna Russell of the National Trust, Warren Fisher of Urban Audio Productions, Gina Crane of Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, artist Mark Titchner and our chair Angela Maxwell.

David Hand has created some lovely limited edition screen prints of his super cool design for the Daniel Higgs show in black/gold or white/pink. Be warned, they are SUPER limited and shan’t be available for long. You can also buy screenprints from the Barn Owl show, in an equally lovely design. Snap one up for £20 via the shop

The Outcrowd at Supersonic Festival

Another busy and varied year for Capsule, 2012 saw a number of extraordinary events and crucially, saw us celebrate 10 years of Supersonic Festival in October. This year’s edition of the festival was one of the finest of the past 10 years, a truly excellent way to celebrate a decade of experimental music and art. Highlights included the Vinyl Rally installation, Kim Gordon performing as Body/Head as well as bringing her Reverse Karaoke installation. We saw thrilling new acts grace the stage like Richard Dawson, Goat and Clifford Torus as well as firm favourites Chris Corsano, Drunk in Hell and The Bug and new collaborations and special performances from the Oxbow Orchestra, ORE vs KK Null and Moon0))). We also extended our Kids Gigs programme to include a number of workshops in the lead up to the festival with Juneau Projects and two gigs with Flower/Corsano Duo and Islaja. An enormous thanks goes out to everybody who supported this year’s Supersonic Festival via our We Fund campaign. Your donations truly helped to make the anniversary festival one of the best yet. We are now looking forward to the opportunity to re-imagine the future of Supersonic Festival.

In May we were awarded the role of curators for the Library of Birmingham’s Opening Season. Taking the theme of ‘discovery’, the season of events will celebrate the opening of a dynamic new cultural space in Birmingham with a mix of performances, exhibitions and special commissions. The events will take place in the lead up to, and after the opening on 3rd September 2013. Watch this space for more news.

At the very heart of Capsule, we’re fans, so every show feels like a highlight, but to name a few we’re extremely proud this year of:
– Esmerine with a beautiful visual show in the stunning setting St Paul’s Church in the Jewellery Quarter with drone guitarist Adam Beckley in May.
– Grouper presenting new work at Vivid in March as part of Fierce Festival with an excellent set from Diamond Catalog and commissioned performance from SWLLWS.
– Also in collaboration with Fierce, we presented the Secret Show where Francisco Lopez sent the audience on a disorientating sound journey.
– Panopticon in March was a wild night of psych rock with White Hills and Pontiak, part of Flatpack Festival

Grouper performing at VIVID in March

It was also great to invite back firm favourites Bardo Pond, Harvey Milk, Unsane, Big Business, Boris, OM, Justin Broadrick and Khyam Allami to Birmingham.

It is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to co-founder Jenny Moore at the end of the year – she will always remain a firm member of the Capsule family.

Thank you to all who have supported us this year and come along to our events, watch this space for news of our 2013 programme.

Courtesy of http://www.popcards.fr/

Happy new year, from Capsule HQ