to the relentless overdrive tempo of their one of-a-kind prog-core, MELT BANANA have long resided in a cybertopia of their own devising where the limits of technology and human capability are old-world concerns as quaint and cumbersome as bartering with a blacksmith. The demos for Fetch, their first studio album since the severely fried pop-punk of 1997’s Bambi’s Dilemma, were completed in March 2011, but the Fukushima earthquake changed everything, including their ability to concentrate on recording. Which stopped completely.
Once they felt ready to return to their music, they decided to approach the songs on a sound-by-sound basis, choosing each tone with meticulous attention to detail, affirming their personal connections, being themselves naturally and openly.
They’ve been performing live as a duo since summer 2012, and will do the same for their “2 do what 2 fetch” tour in support of the album. After nearly 20 years of playing with a live rhythm section, their use of a PC, while opening possibilities for a variety of drum and synth voicings, does not signal a move away from the traditional live band sound, as heard, for example, via the future transmissions from downtown Noiseapolis on 2009’s Lite Live: Ver. 0.0. Yako and Agata say they need to feel real band sounds onstage as much
as someone in the audience. This is a group that routinely excels at several kinds of impossible simultaneously, so of course any new challenge they come up with for themselves is sure to blow the doors off your Mini Cooper.
Swelling from out of the cosmic putrescence of the Wizzleteat corpse, Thrilling Headgear force day-glo colours into angular shapes, holding groove as dogma. At turns both despondant and ethereal, TH play bleeted punk rock, transcendent and engaged, psychonautical engineering for earth-bound space mechanics.
3.00 Shangaan Electro Amphitheatre Library of Birmingham free performance
Library of Birmingham Studio Theatre doors 4.00
4.20 Grumbling Fur
5.30 Richard Dawson
6.40 High Wolf
8.00 Robedoor
9.15 Josephine Foster
10.30 Kogumaza
11.30 – 2.00 after party Prince of Wales pub 85 Cambridge St, Birmingham, West Midlands
Sunday 27 Oct
Library of Birmingham Studio Theatre doors 2.00
2.00 A celebration of the pioneering composer Delia Derbyshire
4.30 Laurence Hunt
5.30 Sarah Angliss
6.45 Masaki Batoh
8.15 Clipping
9.45 Evil Blizzard
We’re very pleased to confirm that as well as performing with Bill Nace as Body/Head, Kim Gordon will be presenting her installation Reverse Karaoke at Supersonic Festival. This collaborative installation by Kim Gordon and Jutta Koether consists of a painted Yurt style tent housing a lo-fi rehearsal set-up with guitar, microphone, bass, and drums. The visitor is invited to play the instruments and record their own music along with a pre-recorded vocal track of Kim Gordon’s voice. The track is recorded live by a sound engineer who burns two CD copies of the track, while the visitor decorates two CD sleeves using materials in the gallery. One copy of the CD becomes part of the piece itself on display in a record box, and the other the visitor takes home. This installation will take place at Eastside Projects 19-21 October.
Another new highlight includes Modified Toy Orchestra , festival alumni who first performed in 2005 (some may remember the set that was cut short due to the bomb scare) and again in 2006. In 2012, Modified Toy Orchestra continue to explore the hidden potential and surplus value latent inside redundant technology; a process creating sophisticated new electronic instruments from abandoned children’s toys. The results of this process can be shockingly beautiful, funny and also extreme.
In partnership with Sound and Music, Supersonic present a half-day extended panel discussion exploring contexts for the presentation of sound works and performances and approaches to listening. Bringing together artists, academics and industry professionals Counting In:The Art of Listening is an opportunity for a discuss how artists and producers can best stage work, how audiences can be best encouraged to enjoy it and how we can all become better listeners. Participants in the panel discussion include artist Lucas Abela (aka Justice Yeldman), music writer Frances Morgan (deputy editor at The Wire Magazine), curator Irene Revell (Electra) and Dr.Simon Hall (composer, sound engineer and academic).
In-keeping with tradition, Supersonic proudly announce the Kid’s Gigsprogramme which will this year feature Flower/Corsano Duo and Islaja, the sole aim being to create big sounds with little people. Though really, this is fun for all the family!
Other programme additions include:
Grey Hairs – The kind of raucous grunge that can only be created by kids from the 90s
As well as getting you hyped for Supersonic Festival with the heavy sounds of Kevin Martin (as King Midas Sound System, performing as The Bug in October) and JK Flesh, we’ve taken the opportunity to programme some exciting sounds from some of Birmingham’s own experimental sound artists.
One of these will be percussionist Laurence Hunt. Best know for his work with Pram and Modified Toy Orchestra, Laurence will be performing a new solo project – here’s a glimpse and what you can expect.
By way of introducing you to some of this yearsSupersonic Festival line up the wonderful Chris Brumcast has created the first of three Supersonic Festival podcasts for your listening pleasure. Be sure to share it with all your friends.
You can follow Chris – www.twitter.com/Brumcast
And of course weekend tickets are just £80 and available from HERE
This year has been pretty stellar for Capsule, as well as some great shows and another fantastic Supersonic, Home of Metal became a powerhouse of a project. Here’s a little round up of the year with details of our Christmas party – we hope you can join us to see out this incredible year.
The year started with some great shows at the Hare & Hounds, showcasing local talent alongside international touring bands. We were thrilled to host Kayo Dot, Seefeel, Woods and Arbouretum in Birmingham, an ever bass heavy set from Dead Fader and a great new discovery in Cambridge’s The Doozer.
Woods at Hare & Hounds on 14th March 2011 – photo by Katja Ogrin
Just one of the awesome gig posters produced for by Tom J Hughes
March saw us revving up for a full on year of Home of Metal events with a screening of ‘In Bed with Chris Needham’ at Flatpack Festival, a cult piece of video that follows a 17 year old Thrash Metal fan through those difficult teenage years. We also held a Home of Metal Open Day – think Antique’s Roadshow for Metal fans, at The Public with special guest Krusher and a DIY cardboard guitar making workshop with Juneau Projects.
Some pretty serious guitar design, photo by Katja Ogrin
Spring saw some really special shows take place as Capsule favourites Earth played in April, the ever intriguing Matmos and Emeralds played in May. We also had our own Royal Wedding party with some great Birmingham bands, including new favourites Backwards. Behind the scenes we were busy putting together our major Home of Metal exhibition at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and planning for the season of Heavy Metal celebrations.
Matmos at the mac, 15th May 2011 photo by Kate Fitzgeorge
Backwards at Hare & Hounds, 30th April 2011
‘Home of Metal: 40 years of Heavy Metal and its unique birthplace’ opened at BM&AG on 18th June 2011 and ran through out the summer. We were more than a bit hyped when Black Sabbath guitarist and all round hero was our special guest of honour at the opening. The exhibition explored the ingredients that together created Heavy Metal and was greeted with amazing audience figures and a huge amount of press attention. Thanks again to all who contributed to the show’s success – it was a landmark moment for the project and for Capsule as an organisation.
Johnny Doom keeping it casual in our recreation of Ozzy’s Aston home, photo by Katja Ogrin
The show included a number of key objects from the featured bands history, including Judas Priest stage costumes and Sabbath’s Mob Rules stage cross. Photo by Katja Ogrin
Yeah, that’s right – Tony Iommi. Photo by Katja Ogrin
The Home of Metal season also saw exhibitions across the Black Country, exploring various themes relating to Heavy Metal, from the music’s visual impact to the metal working industries of the region. Home of Metal also hosted the UK’s first Heavy Metal academic conference which saw world leaders in the field of metal studies discuss ‘Heavy Metal and Place’. A weekender of activity around the Black Country included the ‘Metal on Film’ festival, the touring Vintage Mobile Cinema, more DIY guitar action with Juneau Projects and as ever some great live music from bands like Gentleman’s Pistols, Stinky Wizzleteat and Selfless.
A newly commissioned work by Nicholas Bullen and Damien Deroubaix, referencing the first Napalm Death record. Photo by Katja Ogrin
Crust/grind band Selfless perform at the screening of ”Heavy Metal Parking Lot’ at Wolverhampton Lighthouse. Photo by Katja Ogrin.
The crowd watching Gentleman’s Pistols at New art Gallery Walsall. Photo by Katja Ogrin.
Clearly, you never quite know what to expect on a day out in Dudley
It was an exhausting but awesome summer, but the momentum couldn’t stop there as that little ol thing Supersonic crept up on us in October. We were thrilled to have Tony Conrad, Secret Chiefs 3, Alva Noto and many more influential names on the line up as well as showcase exciting new or underground artists such as Teeth of the Sea, Drunk in Hell, Agathe Max and Ore.
This (literally) ceiling shattering set was one of the last chances to catch Scorn live. Photo by Greg Neate
After filling the Theatre Space in 2010, Barn Owl took to the largest stage at the festival, and played a beautiful set. Photo by Robert Knowles
Lucky Dragons’ participatory performance was a highlight for many. Photo by Craig Earp.
Thanks to all who came along, performed, volunteered and generally supported. Since then we’ve has two excellent shows with firm favourites The Melvins performing in November, may a Capsule fist in the air! IKON invited Capsule to curate a night as part of their Autumn Almanac series of events. It was the Sound of Birmingham and saw performance from tuba doom band Ore, a Black Sabbath inspired improvised piece by Andrew Moscardo Parker and a collective of string players plus field recordings inspired by ‘metal’ by SOUNDkitchen.
Buzz of The Melvins, 1st November 2011. Photo by Katja Ogrin.
Don’t forget we’ll be having a Christmas party on 18th December at Hare & Hounds with our friends Polar Bear Records, Birmingham Bike Foundry and Ideal. There’ll be live music in the form of Backwards, Stinky Wizzleteat and Selfless, a raffle and other treats. Tickets available here, hope to see you there!
Some exciting additions to the line up are announced today, along with a screenprinting workshop for those of you who don’t mind getting your hands dirty. Day tickets are also on sale from today and can be found HERE.
First of all, some sad news. Due to illness within the band ZU93 are forced to cancel their appearance at this year’s Supersonic. This is indeed, really sad news and we wish a speedy recovery.
In happier news, we are utterly thrilled to announce two very special performances at the fest this year. Mike Wattwill be joining the festival line up with his Missingmen. A hero to many, Mike Watt has most known for his work in the Minutemen, fIREHOSE and his current work with Iggy and the Stooges. MC Will Brooks of Dalek will be bringing his new solo project iconAclassto the festival this year, his new material sees him maintaining the gritty view of boom-bap he is know for, while returning to his roots.
For anyone interested in screenprinting and DIY production we are bringing you a screenprinting workshop in collaboration with GET A GRIP. You can design and print your very own Supersonic T-shirt to keep, a perfect festival memento. Spaces are very limited for this workshop, so sign up quickly by emailing [email protected] with the subject SCREENPRINT.
Day tickets are now on sale:
Friday 21st October – £20
Saturday 22nd October – £35
Sunday 23rd October – £35
There are still weekend tickets available for only £75, giving you three days of exciting music, art, film and of course cake.
SATURDAY – AGATHE MAX/ALEXANDER TUCKER/ANTILLES/BACKWARDS/BARDO POND/BERG SANS NIPPLE/ELECTRIC WIZARD/KLAUS KINSKI/KOGUMAZA/LUCKY DRAGONS/MONARCH/MUTE SYNTH/NATHAN BELL/ORTHODOX/PHAROAH OVERLORD/SKULL DEFEKTS/TEETH OF THE SEA/WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM/ZOMBI/
