Matmos is M.C. Schmidt and Drew Daniel, from San Francisco aided and abetted by many others. In their recordings and live performances from 1995, Matmos have used the sounds of:

Amplified crayfish nerve tissue, the pages of bibles turning , liposuction surgery,  chin implant surgery, contact microphones on human hair,, rat cages, tanks of helium, human skulls, cards shuffling, field recordings of conversations in hot tubs, frequency response tests for defective hearing aids, a steel guitar recorded in a sewer, electrical interference generated by laser eye surgery, latex fetish clothing, rhinestones on a dinner plate, Polish trains, insects, aspirin tablets, dogs barking, people reading aloud, life support systems and inflatable blankets, an acupuncture point detector conducting electrical current through human skin, rock salt crunching underfoot, solid gold coins spinning on bars of solid silver, the sound of a frozen stream thawing in the sun, a five gallon bucket of oatmeal and the vagina, uterus, and reproductive tract of a cow, among other things.

http://brainwashed.com/matmos

Saturday April 9th M.C. Schmidt will have a special screening of his video work at the IKON Gallery.

J Lesser is a musician known for his unrepentant approach to sound creation. Born and raised around California, Lesser began his music career listening to, and playing, black metal and punk. In San Diego, he had a job coloring New Kids on the Block comic books using computers. Lesser became an honorary member of Matmos when they toured with Björk as an opening act in addition to playing as supporting musicians in her band on her Vespertine tour in 2001. Also in 2001, his album Gearhound won an Honorable Mention for Digital Musics in the Prix Ars Electronica.

John Wiese is an artist and composer from Los Angeles, California. His ongoing projects include LHD and Sissy Spacek, but is known for his collaborations with many artists as diverse as Sunn O))), Wolf Eyes, Merzbow, Thurston Moore, No Age, Smegma, Kevin Drumm, Cattle Decapitation, and C. Spencer Yeh as well as his work as a solo artist. He has toured extensively throughout the world, covering Europe, Scandinavia and Australia as a member of Sunn O))), the UK as part of the Free Noise tour (a tentet including Evan Parker, C. Spencer Yeh, Yellow Swans, etc.), the United States alongside Wolf Eyes, and recently performed in the 52nd Venice Biennale with artist Nico Vascellari. While releasing albums on a variety of international labels, Wiese often releases work on his own label, Helicopter.

http://home.earthlink.net/~johnwiese/

Matmos with J Lesser +John Wiese will be playing at The MAC on Sunday 15th May 2011

“Could you imagine Elgar, Bach or Vaughn Williams’ cello adagios thunder-busting the bass-bins? Before tonight, me neither. Which is why Lori Goldston’s not quite so mellow cello opening set of angst-fueled arpeggios, left punters mesmerized, bewildered, fascinated and eye-bleedingly catatonic in equal measure.”

Lori Goldston opens for Earth

Followed by Earth joining Lori on stage

The godfather of drone Dylan Carlson

Earth play to a sell out audience – Thanks you

“Tonight, it bordered on reverence, and we know how H&H punters don’t take prisoners. Primal, tribal, viscerally asymmetric, it has to be said Earth’s dronal incantations are not everyone’s chosen vat of hemlock: their bruised muse being very much for the alternatively, esoterically inclined. But, subtle wiles are this band’s perplexing charm. And damnably nice people as well. Happy Daze! Thanks to Capsule for another great gig.”

Read full review by John Kennedy on Brum Live with thanks to Katja Ogrin for her fantastic photos

Last Wednesday the Arts Council announced their National Portfolio, unfortunately Capsule’s application was not successful.

This was the first time that Capsule had been invited to apply for such support through Arts Council, with the intention of supporting our year round program and underpinning the activity of the organisation. Our application was received very positively in the first round, however we were turned down in the second round and feedback was that due to the current financial landscape & competition we were not taken on.

Whilst the decision is of course extremely disappointing to us, it will not halt us in our dedication to conducting a first class, innovative programme of activity.

2011 is set to be an exciting year with the ground breaking Home of Metal project to be launched across the region in late June.

We’d like to thank our audience for their continued support and to say that we need you now more than ever, so watch this space for exciting announcements over the coming months!!

What a success! On Saturday 26th March Home of Metal filled The Public with Metal lovers in celebration of the region as the Home of Metal.

The mix of people was very eclectic, from old

To young! 

Juneau Projects’ offering of letting people create their own guitar from cardboard, which were then made PLAYABLE went down an absolute treat and many incredible creations were made.

The Public’s Saturday Art Club had to remain open past it’s 1 o’clock deadline due to such high demand! People of all ages enjoyed colouring in Black Sabbath and adding those special finishing touches to their guitars.

It was the same busy story with our memorabillia desk. We were (thankfully) over run with fantastic artefacts that will be gradually added to our online Archive, so keep your eyes peeled for some amazing new additions!

Johnny Doom compered the event interviewing both Rock Photographer Ian Harvey and the legend that is Krusher.

Other activities of the day included a blow up igloo in which Johnny Doom would give you a very metal interview, an amazing large display, which I can only describe using a picture:

This was courtesy of The Public’s education department. Finally, the ‘Animo’ where you could have your picture magically taken with giant bats, wolves, Ozzy and other Heavy Metal Images!

Renowned Photographer Steve Gerrard delivered an incredble fully booked up masterclass on the day as well as photographing our Band Photoshoot competition winners Action Replay. Take a look at Steve’s blog at some amazing pictures from the day.

We would like to thank all of you that attented and those that took part in creating the day for making it such a success!

Home of Metal hit West Brom last weekend – which included a number of large scale vinyls of fans portraits taken by photographer Steve Gerrard.

Image taken from http://dachshundlove.blogspot.com/

RIP Elizabeth Taylor, the actor best known for her roles in Cleopatra, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and National Velvet died of heart failure aged 79

…another excellent event coming up at Flatpack Festival. This Thursday 25th March at IKON Eastside, Flatpack will be screening ‘We Don’t Care About Music Anyway’, a portrait of the Japanese experimental music scene with a performance from Sakamoto Hiromichi, an intriguing cellist who also uses voice, musical saw and an array of instruments to craft beautiful, and always surprising, pieces. I’m personally hugely excited, having discovered him through his collaborations with sound artist Haco.

Tickets are available here, and there will also be opportunities to donate to the Red Cross at the event in the wake of recent events in Japan.

Don’t forget on Saturday 26th March Home of Metal will be screening ‘In Bed with Chris Needham’ at IKON Eastside, tickets for that event are available here

ARBOURETUM
Arbouretum first began in late 2002 as a vehicle for singer/guitarist David Heumann’s songwriting. The sweeping, atmospheric textures of the first record soon gave way to a more visceral, elemental approach.  Amplifiers were turned up, drums were hit harder, and songs crescendoed into spiraling, noise-soaked climaxes on the second full-length, Rites of Uncovering.  Released on Thrill Jockey in early 2007, the record garnered much attention and critical acclaim.  XLR8R called it “the best doom-folk record of all time” and Uncut referred to it as an instant “cult classic”.

Arboretum’s 4th Album,’The Gathering’ was inspired by Carl Jung’s ‘The Red Book’, with the central metaphor of the song ‘The White Bird’ referring directly to the work. The album’s theme is one of loosing one’s way and finding it again, detailed by ellaborate allegorical imagery. Heumann’s lyrics take you on an adventure through conflict, redemption and revelation.

The Examiner stated that, ‘The attention to detail in recording and in writing, in concert with the performance, result in the other-worldly experience of The Gathering.’

http://www.myspace.com/arbouretum

HEALTH AND EFFICIENCY
The Band say of themselves: ‘Twelve feet strong with a head for dizzying heights, Health & Efficiency were raised by wolves in a forest. Leaving the pack and relocating to their practice space in historic Deritend, they experiment with sounds and music, surrounded by priceless works of contemporary art.’

Their music traverses an encyclopaedia of influences; psych, folk, no wave noise and electronic perhaps being some of the more predominant. They utilise banjo, two basses, two guitars, synths, samplers and more effects and loop pedals than it’s reasonable for one band to need.

Uniquely tuned guitars howl, chiming harmonics sing, drones and loops are punctuated by distant chanting and crisp syncopated drumbeats. Sometimes loud, sometimes quiet, always Health & Efficiency.

Free music download : http://music.healthandefficiency.net/

http://healthandefficiency.net/

TIGERNAUT
Tigernaut make instrumental rock music that combines delicate guitar melodies with serious riffs. Folk elements vie with math and jazz time signature changes and inviting soundscapes to make music that always drives forwards, but often hides pleasant surprises.
Spending years practicing in garages and bedrooms (in their words, ‘gathering momentum like New Labour circa 1994’), unable to afford the latest musical technology advertised in Guitar Monthly, Tigernaut were forced to fall back on music carefully written to engage the listener. They now have two delay pedals between them, but the habit has stuck.

http://www.myspace.com/tigernaut

http://tigernaut.wordpress.com/about/

To guarantee yourself a ticket, head to http://www.tickesellers.co.uk

OR pop down to either:
Swordfish – Temple Street, Birmingham
or
Polar Bear – York Road, Kings Heath

Doors will be at 8pm and we can’t wait to see you there!!