Turné dagbok - England oktober o november 2022 - del 5 - Dubrek Cinema, Derby

And so the end of road is here. I started this tour 3 weeks ago in York and after many trips on trains and many different houses slept in, the concluding show is at Dubrek Studios in Derby. This is by far the venue in the best nick and looks all shiny and new and the vegan pizzas are decent. I get the sound man to make all the lights red as per usual and get down to work. Bit more testing of radio picking up internal electronic action from kaosilator and the resulting feedback. To be worked on further on return home. I am asked questions after, especially from second act Maggie Rogers, who is from the west coast of Ireland studying Music Therapy and was interested in the noise I was producing. She thought it could be used in therapy and I told her about the psychiatric hospital I played in 10 years ago.......Anyway, her songs are very Gaelic inspired folk songs and occasionally in Gaelic and it's somewhat of a different vibe after me, but all good all the same. This is a very eclectic and international lineup and a nice way to end the tour! 

Ora Cogan and her band are on tour and her songs are really atmospheric, bass-driven and reverb laden, with occasional nods towards goth and shoegazy pop. Really nice music and a shame there weren't more there to see it. If I have one gripe tonight it's the (apparent) lack of promotion for this gig, but sound, lights and people there are all sound. 

The tour is over, I am tired, but I have had a decent run around England. Many many thanks to all the folks who helped make this happen - the promoters, the other artists and all the great people who put me up. No tour is possible without lots of help from very ace folk, we should all remember that. 

LoS

 

New DRET!!

There is new music from DRET Skivor today - listen below! 

 

 LoS

Turné dagbok - England oktober o november 2022 - del 4 - Bristol, Cube Cinema

 

Back down to the West Country for the first time in ages and a visit to a new space (for me), Cube Cinema, a former/current cinema space near the bus station, which hosts many an interesting evening of experimental music and artforms. I met up with Charlie from the Liquid Library collective and some very welcome soup is on offer - needed after the pissy autumnal weather bit through earlier.......

Tonight there are 5 acts on and this kicks off with RRS, whose performance is dadaist, daft, funny, really funny, sad and happy all at the same time. Objects are used, repurposed and employed as weapons against himself. I stupidly forget to take any pictures, as it's easy to get lost in what's going on. There are some skilful beats set up on his micro-keyboard and I stupidly forget to ask him which keyboard it is (I need some little keys for future tours.......).

The Swine is up next and I am very happy to have a really good quality monitor, a stage flooded with red light and a really good sound man. This set is more gristly than glitchy and Liquid Library's Owen has recorded the audio, looking forward to listening back.....

Next up is Robin Foster - the ad on the CC website suggests "rummage and clutter". The stage setup features the aforementioned, a table and a box full of "clutter". Robin rummages about in the box and a couple of condenser mics pickup the sounds. Really interesting, very physical (a proper workout is undertaken) and lots of fun. Towards the end of the set, the box becomes more battered and things escape creating their own noise show on the way to the floor. 

Ivy Nostrum has a table of all sorts of stuff pre-performance, but I resist the temptation to look too closely, wanting the surprise of sounds. Metronomes on the wonk, tape recorders left in places around the audience on visits offstage, penny whistles, loops and dark synth atmospheres. Bloody good all told. 

This leaves us with the pairing of Sascha Brosamer and Graham Dunning to finish the night off. Glitched and broken turntables, guitar textures, broken loops of bird call vinyl LPs. And the opportunity to join in via the server they had set up, via glitchy and scratching audio to join in with the PA audio. This is a really nice touch and everyone has fun and the ambiences created makes this set a perfect evening ender. 

Overall, mighty fine evening and decent turnout in spite of the pretty shitty weather. Many thanks to all the acts and the folks involved in running the night and to Steve Scara for the lift back to Portishead. 

LoS