As a pre-Supersonic warm up, we’re delighted to be partnering with Ideal to host long time friend and supporter of all things Capsule, John Doran the editor of The Quietus. Doran is celebrating the publication of his first book – Jolly Lad – by going on a 31 date reading tour called An English Trip. He is teaming up with other writers, poets, film makers, musicians and DJs over the course of a month and putting on nights in prisons, churches, libraries, record shops, book stores, village halls, warehouses and cinemas and his musical support on every night of the tour is Kjetil Nernes aka Arabrot, the Norwegian noise rock musician.

The night they have planned at Birmingham’s Eastside Projects is a real cracker. Anglo Trinidadian wordsmith Roger Robinson (King Midas Sound, Techno Animal, Attica Blues) is performing dub poetry from his new album Dis Side Ah Town (Jahtari Records). Twisted Leeds party starters Chrononautz are bringing the live techno vibes. John Doran is reading passages from Jolly Lad and also performing various incantations and rituals concerning black holes, the dismemberment of Dapper Laughs, ghosts and Birmingham bus timetables while backed ably by Kjetil Nernes from Arabrot.

Tickets for the event are available here
(Be warned that the venue has only got a limited capacity)

On Sunday BBC 6 Music’s Stuart Maconie focused the spotlight on Supersonic Festival on his weird and wonderful show, Freakier Zone

The special featured a selection of choice tracks by artists performing at this years Supersonic, selected by the festival’s Creative Director, Lisa Meyer. Lisa was also be in conversation with Stuart, taking us through her choices and telling us exactly why she is so excited about Supersonic 2015’s programme. Those of you who caught her sludge special with Stuart last year will know you’re in for a treat.

Listen to the show on BBC 6 Music website

Artists playing at Supersonic include Holly Herndon/The Pop Group/Gazelle Twin/Liturgy/Richard Dawson and many more. Tickets available now.

 

As a pre-Supersonic Festival warm up we’re delighted to host the one and only Circle at Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath on Thursday 21 May.

Formed in 1991, Circle is the most visible and prolific name in the Finnish avant-rock underground. Circle have constantly reinvented themselves, weaving hypnotic mantras out of exacting Krautrock beats, heavy riffs, arty noise, dark psychedelia, and soundtrack-like beauty. Hard, chilly repetition has served as the lone unifying theme throughout 20 years of experiments.

As if that wasn’t special enough we also have Hey Colossus performing. Emerging in a haze of demented riff science and booze-addled abandon, Hey Colossus have carved out a notable niche for themselves in the British underground’s murkier quarters. They’ve dished out a formidable array of wax over the last decade, specialising in a primordial barrage of abject noise from overheated ampstacks.

Opium Lord complete this killer line up. The band make desolate doom-sludge with a coal black heart. Filthy grooves meet abrasive noise to convey a menacing atmosphere akin to the dodgiest drinking establishments that only a band from Birmingham could make. Made up from the ashes of History of the Hawk and Stinky Wizzleteat, Opium Lord are certainly on a different level from previous ventures. Blending genres into a sonic chokehold, they will make you re-evaluate what doom can be.

Tickets available here

You can also RSVP on Facebook here

Hailing from the real ale capital of the Midlands, Derby, Russell is splitting his time between Capsule and his own promotions and events project, Sound Of Static.

After volunteering at last year’s Supersonic Festival and other Capsule events such as the Grand Crosse Fayre and the Ben Frost show, Russell has now come on board as Festival Intern. Volunteering at Supersonic was such a valuable experience that has led on to many interesting projects and opportunities for him; anyone toying with the idea shouldn’t hesitate to get involved.

Back in Derby, Russell is part of the music and art collective, Holy Smokes! and is slightly obsessed with cats and hot sauce (but not necessarily together!).

Open call for British Library Sounds Commission

To be premiered at the Supersonic Festival

 

Deadline for applications: 5pm Friday 27 March 2015

Commission dates: April – June 2015

Performance/installation:

Supersonic Festival, Birmingham, June 11 – 14 2015

 

Supersonic Festival are delighted to be partnering with the British Library to offer an opportunity for an artist to develop a new work as part of the festival programme in June 2015. The successful artist will have the opportunity to work with selected material and their associated documentation in the Library’s archive to create a new work culminating in a performance or an installation at the festival, as well as being archived within the British Library’s sound collection.

 

This commission will be presented at the Supersonic Festival, 11 – 14 June, the UK’s premier experimental music and arts festival. Its international reputation and multidisciplinary programme draws audience, artists and industry professionals from across the globe ensuring a great showcase for this new work. For more information on the festival visit www.supersonicfestival.com

 

The British Library is home to the nation’s sound archive, an extraordinary collection of over 6.5 million recordings of speech, music, wildlife and the environment, from the 1880s to the present day. It has recently launched the Save our Sounds programme which is a major digitisation project to preserve the nation’s sound heritage www.bl.uk/projects/save-our-sounds.

 

For this commission, selection of wildlife and environmental recordings from the collection will be made available and will include, among other things, the songs & calls of British birds, the soundscapes of natural habitats such as woodland, marshland and the British coastline, and a range of environmental recordings covering weather, waves, streams, rivers and more. Additonal content from other curatorial areas may also be available, subject to availability and rights clearance
More information on the collections can be found at http://sounds.bl.uk

 

The selected applicant will receive a £750 fee for the development and performance of the commission. They will receive mentoring from the Supersonic team and an introduction to the collections from the British Library’s Curator, Wildlife and Environmental Sounds.

 

How to Apply:

To apply please send a proposal that includes all of the following:

Your name, contact details and website address.

A short statement explaining why you want to undertake the commission and what you hope to gain by working in this context (300 words max). Also tell us about two pieces of recent work that you are most proud of (200 words max) please save these documents together as a PDF or .doc file.

Evidence of your current work in the following form:

2 x links to your work uploaded to Soundcloud or You Tube/Vimeo.

Please send to [email protected] with ‘BL_SS commission’ in the title
Email attachments must not be larger than 5MB. Application is by email only.

Deadline for applications: 27 March 2015

The Pop Group released their first album in 35 years this week. Entitled Citizen Zombie, the new album has so far received warm reviews in The Line of Best Fit, The Guardian, The Scotsman and The Independent.

According to reviewers, the album is ‘a collage of the unexpected’, ‘breaking sonically satisfying new ground’.

In case you missed it last week, you can still stream the album:

In advance of The Pop Group’s performance at Supersonic Festival this year, we also thought we’d draw your attention to an interview between Mark Stewart and Thurston Moore, published on The Quietus last month. Mutual admirers of each other’s work, the interview gives a fascinating insight into the intertwined relationship between punk in the UK and the USA. Read the interview here.

We also came across this great footage of The Pop Group super fan , Nick Cave, describing the life-changing impact that the band’s single, We are all Prostitutes, had on him.

Lest ye forget, Supersonic Festival 2015 initial line up and tickets are available now! See the line up announcement for further details and for the links to buy tickets via our Kickstarter campaign. Keep checking back here for further announcements in the coming weeks and months.

Sleaford Mods played a sold out show at Hare and Hounds last Friday. After an incredible year since their last performance in Birmingham at Capsule’s Bring to Light Festival in 2013, for their Supersonic Presents show Sleafords played to a crowd chanting along to every razor sharp line.

An DJ set from Defunkt Dialekt set the atmosphere for an adrenaline-filled set from Youth Man and the sludgy wallowing of Rainbow Grave. DJ X’s jungle set kept the post-Sleafords lager party going.

A big thank you to all those who attended and who helped make such a memorable night, not least to photographer Steve Kilmister for taking some great shots.

Defunkt Dialekt, credit Steve Kilmister

Youth Man, credit Steve Kilmister

Youth Man, credit Steve Kilmister

Rainbow Grave, credit Steve Kilmister

Rainbow Grave, credit Steve Kilmister

Sleaford Mods, credit Steve Kilmister

Sleaford Mods, credit Steve Kilmister

Sleaford Mods, credit Steve Kilmister

Sleaford Mods, credit Steve Kilmister

Don’t forget that the initial line up is out and tickets are now on sale for Supersonic Festival Limited Edition 2015. Check out the programme at the Supersonic website and buy tickets via our Kickstarter campaign.

Our Kickstarter campaign for Supersonic Festival 2015 reached its goal of raising £20,000 on Sunday, just over a week since it went live. We’re thrilled and would like to say a huge thank you to everybody for pledging and sharing. Your support will help us to bring you the best festival that we possibly can.

Its not quite time for us to don our party hats yet, though. Supersonic Festival is an incredibly expensive event to put on, so all your support would be greatly appreciated. There are still 19 days to go until our Kickstarter campaign ends, so still time to pledge on some fantastic limited edition prizes and to nab your tickets. Please do share with your friends too. www.kickstarter.com/projects/1603728230/supersonic-festival-2015-0

Big thanks again from Team Capsule.