A playlist of tracks we’re currently enjoying, including Barn Owl, Lee Gamble and Drunk in Hell

You can now listen online to Adam Beckley’s performance at St Paul’s church in May last year, supporting Esmerine. Physical copies of the recording have now sold out but you can stream online or buy a digital copy. Click through to listen.

“This record came out of a recording where I was lucky enough to support Esmerine (featuring members of Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Set Fire To Flames, Silver Mt Zion). It was made extra special by being able to play in the beautiful St Paul’s Church in Birmingham. Thank-you to Capsule for asking me to play, and all who came to the show!”

Our next event at the lovely St Paul’s church takes place Saturday 27th April and features Barn Owl, Grumbling Fur and Ex Easter Island Head. Tickets are available via www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Grumbling Fur artwork by Alexander Tucker

In advance of our special event in April at St Paul’s church, check out Grumbling Fur who will be performing along with Barn Owl and Ex Easter Island Head.

The duo of Daniel O’Sullivan and Alexander Tucker will be familiar to any Supersonic fans, Tucker performed to a packed out Theatre space in 2011 and also performed in 2006 and 2008 (watch). O’Sullivan  has performed at the festival under various guises including Miasma and the Carousel of Headless Horses (watch), Guapo and Mothlite.

“The dual vocals of O’Sullivan and Tucker are a defining feature, but the masterful, metamorphosing fluidity of their instrumental play is just staggeringly attuned and requires your attention at the nearest possible opportunity if you’re into anything from Barn Owl to Æthenor or The Haxan Cloak.” Boomkat

Saturday 27th April
Supersonic Festival presents:
Barn Owl + Grumbling Fur + Ex Easter Island Head
St Paul’s Church, Birmingham
Tickets are £14 advance via www.theticketsellers.co.uk

In addition to pushing the genres of drone and ambient guitar further than most, the Barn Owl guys seem to have pretty good taste when it comes to selecting records. Check out their playlist for Self Titled mag featuring Swans, Les Rallizes Denudes and Fushitsusha.

You can purchase advance tickets for their show in Birmingham on Saturday 27th April at St Paul’s Church with Grumbling Fur and Ex Easter Island Head via www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Capsule are delighted to embark upon a new partnership with the University of Birmingham, supporting an artist to make and display work in response to the university’s fascinating and varied collections.

Sound artist Sarah Farmer will be working with both the Lapworth Museum of Geology and the Winterbourne botanical collection through spring 2013. Farmer will explore the collections, spend time with the curators and staff, and will create sound based works in response to her time there.

This a new artistic venture for the university, and an exciting opportunity for Capsule to further our artist support programme.

Read more about the project here

For the Heavy Metal of course!

In its recent UK city culture guides, the Guardian highlighted the city’s Heavy Metal heritage as the key cultural highlight of Birmingham. With a nod to Capsule’s Home of Metal project and 2011 programme, they recommend a visit to Brum to check out the current heavy music scene.

Mark Fell’s performance at the Berghain

A couple of us at Capsule had the good fortune of spending a few days in Berlin  to witness the digital arts event Transmediale, and its sister music festival CTM.

The theme of this year’s Transmediale was ‘Back when Pluto was a planet’ so there was plenty of 90s early 00s references and investigations into the rapid changes in digital art and communications. There was also a lot of discussion around paper and publishing, the future of the book and digital book production and distribution. Some really interesting stuff that will no doubt feed into the opening season for the Library of Birmingham, which we are currently programming.

CTM had a pretty vital line up this year with performances by current essentials such as Andy Stott, Dean Blunt and Holly Herndon as well as special events with Pantha du Prince and Capsule favourites People Like Us, Sunno))), Khyam Allami and Eugene Robinson. One highlight was the excellent PAN showcase at Berghain, a line up of wholly distinct artists who made perfect sense of one another, featuring Lee Gamble, Florian Hecker, Jar Moff, Heatsick and Mark Fell and Keith Fullerton Whitman.

The new album ‘V’ by Barn Owl will be released on Thrill Jockey on 15th April.
“This record marks a shift in approach from the duo. The pair augmented their arsenal of guitars and effects with an array of electronics, vastly expanding the album’s sounds and textures. Special attention was given to implied rhythms

nestled within dense slow building environments, giving album a rhythmic presence, albeit one that is buried beneath intricate layers. There’s a ghostly rhythm, almost beyond reach.”

They play Birmingham’s St Paul’s Church on Saturday 27th April. Tickets are available via www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Watch the live video for the opening track ‘Void Redux’ which was filmed live at Thrill Jockey’s 20th Anniversary event in San Francisco last year.