Sadly, 2013 won’t witness the diverse Supersonic Festival as it’s on a year’s hiatus; finger’s crossed for a 2014 return. However, for all those pining this sort of eclectic, modernist approach to music events, then the inaugural Bring To Light event, presented by the brain behind Supersonic Festival, Capsule, takes place this weekend instead (25-27 October) at the recently opened Library Of Birmingham.
In true Supersonic style, Bring To Light sets out a smorgsabord of adventurous music, along with a wealth of art installations, workshops and classes, sculptures, and of course, literary treasures to discover, With this event Capsule have created a new blueprint for libraries as public spaces in the 21st Century, bringing communities together on a sensory journey.
The weekend will play out a little something like this: Recently announced, Evil Blizzard will join a wide variety of artists including visual artist turned sonic performer Dinos Chapman visualising the acclaimed Luftbobler, South Africa’s high-speed dance phenomenon, Shangaan Electro, Clipping, whose music making arrives at the intersection of harsh noise/gangster rap/music concrete, Sarah Angliss’ peculiary uncanny ensemble of strange automata and the ‘brain pulse music’ of Masaki Batoh.
Post-metallers Deafheaven will also perform at Bring To Light, and if you have a penchant for gnarly black metal and sludge then Birmingham’s chief oppressors, Hordes, will appeal. Having performed at Supersonic Festival previously with his other bands, Laurence Hunt (Pram/Modified Toy Orchestra) will be performing solo, crafting electronic soundscapes that venture into realms of free jazz and improv. Also performing is the captivating songwriter Josephine Foster, and equally beguiling story teller, Richard Dawson. Bring To Light also welcomes the electronics of Delia Darlings who shall honour the legacy of the late great Delia Derbyshire (one of the pioneers of electronic and experimental music in UK in the 1960s) as well as the unique and confrontational sounds of Sleaford Mods, whilst Robedoor shall twist minds with their blackened drone. Also playing at Bring To Light are Kogumaza who marry the hypnotic pulse of Lungfish and the thick gloop of Master Of Reality-era Sabbath to produce their own form of modern psychedelia, and High Wolf, who shall open a mental and synaesthetic window with his equatorial electronic psychedelia.
Finally, in place of Zomes who were forced to cancel all UK/European shows, are home-grown Grumbling Fur. The two talented players who make up the duo (Daniel O Sullivan and Alexander Tucker) are no strangers to Capsule, having played Supersonic Festival regularly in previous years, under various guises. As Grumbling Fur, they will be supporting their new album of transcendent and utterly powerful music.
Day ticketing info and lineups as follows:
Friday 25th October
£15
Rainbow Warehouse
Shangaan Electro
Dinos Chapman
Deafheaven
Sleaford Mods
Hordes
What else can you do?
Shangaan Electro dance workshops [FREE]
Saturday 26th October
£20
Library Of Birmingham
Josephine Foster
Robedoor
High Wolf
Kogumaza
Richard Dawson
Grumbling Fur (replacing Zomes)
What else can you do?
Box of Light – Mirror Mirror Lantern Workshops -create your own lantern slides and experiment with colour projection [FREE]
Box of Light – Optical Toy Workshops [FREE]
Box of Light short films [FREE]
Box of Light – Projecteo – Designer Benjamin Redford will be giving a talk about his ingenious miniature slide projector [FREE]
Big sounds for little people returns – Kids Gigs act as an introduction to experimental music for children and their families. Ideally suited for the under 7s, the Kids Gigs are a fantastic opportunity to show children the beauty of live music.
On Saturday, Richard Dawson, singer and storyteller from Newcastle will be performing for the kids. There are few performers quite like him, from the serial between-song belly laughs he induces to his unique and playful guitar style and raw, soaring voice. This event will take place in the Symphony Hall (next door to the Library) and is also free.
Sunday 27th October
£15
Library Of Birmingham
Masaki Batoh
Clipping
Evil Blizzard
Sarah Angliss
The Delia Darlings
Laurence Hunt
What else can you do?
Box of Light – Mirror Mirror Lantern Workshops – create your own lantern slides and experiment with colour projection [FREE]
For a full summary of the music, installations, activities visit the Capsule website for ticketing info. Tickets can still be purchased. You can sample some of the artists through the latest Capsule monthly playlist here, which features Grumbling Fur, Shangaan Electro, Deafheaven, Evil Blizzard, Richard Dawson and more.
