How could the August show have felt so autumnal?

For Email Members: www.spiritofgravity.co.uk email: spiritofgravity@btinternet.com

GRAVITATIONAL PULL

Dispatches from the Spirit of Gravity / Edition 107 / September 11

·         Happenings:

Next Spirit of Gravity gig:          Thursday 29th September 2011

Spirit of Gravity presents

KAY GRANT / THE ZERO MAP / HOOFUS / HOBO SONN

The Komedia Studio Bar, 44-47 Gardner Street, Brighton, BN1 1UN
Time 8:30 - 11:00 Cost £5 / £4

Kay Grant (with Paul May and Lepke B): Boat Ting Vocalescent processing
The Zero Map: Psychedelic noise wedge duo (A Band)
Hoofus: Norwich 8 bit sinusoidal electrodrone returns

Hobo Sonn: Ian Murphy brings uplifting noise to The Spirit of Gravity.

Kay Grant (Voice) is "one of London's finest, free-thinking virtuosos" (Time Out), with genre-busting roots in rock, classical, and electropop. She often uses live electronic processing to create a hybrid sound. Kay developed her free approach whilst living in New York, working with a range of downtown figures including John Zorn, Shelley Hirsch, Nicolas Collins and Elliott Sharp. Her recent collaborators include Alex Ward, John Russell, Hannah Marshall, John Edwards, Steve Noble, Veryan Weston, Steve Beresford and Mark Sanders.

Kay will be performing with:
Lepke B (CD Mixing) who describes himself as a "Primitif moderne lo-fi maverick vilm / sound producer of popular detritus, an excellent renegade who remains disturbing and undisturbed,
Paul May (Drums) with 25 years experience in improvised and alternative music. Paul has played with many musicians, some of which include Carolyn Hume, Duke Garwood, Alan Wilkinson, Hugh Metcalfe, Dylan Bates, Alfredo Genovese, Tim Harries, Petra Jean Philipson, Simon King and Philip and Colin Somervell. Paul has made or appeared on records for Leo, Emanem, Loog, Fire, Butterfly, Gronland, Bo Weevil, Forwind, Stuck, Feetfirst, ATP and Thrill Jockey.


The Zero Map are an electronic improvising duo, you could describe their music (as we have) as being psychedelic drones interrupted with great Wedges of sound. You could describe them as Mathematician Noise Freaks (The Zero Map is an object in symmetry theory). You could describe them as a nice couple who also happen to be in the A Band. The last thing is the only one not relevant to what they'll be doing for us.

Hoofus (www.hoofus.comis the alter ego of Norfolk based musician Andre Bosman and his music is a collision of bleeping blooping 8 bit melodies; sine wave frequencies twisting and rubbing against each other, oscillators humming and purring in an electro drone rock soup. Hoofus has a very hands-on, performance-based approach to electronic music. Not content to simply sit behind a laptop and press a few buttons, Hoofus on stage is a frenzy of activity - battering midi controllers, jumping up and down, sweating and engaging with the audience, he is the antithesis of po-faced live electronica. Previous performances include appearances at the Faster than Sound Festival, Encompass Festival, Sonic Arts Network Soundcircus, the Dublin Conservatoire and Norwich Arts Centre.

Hoofus has featured on two split singles, both of were played on BBC Radio One, and has also performed a live session on Resonance FM. His debut album has just been released by Twitchy Eye Recordings, and has so far received airplay on Resonance FM and BBC Radio's On The Wire show.

We've also sneaked the Legendary Hobo Sonn onto the bill. Nice.

The possibility of visuals exists.
Hosted by our very own 'Laptop' Lee Hume
There will be the elektrocreche available for any unaccompanied toys who will be looked after during the intervals by our professionally trained team of volunteers. And anybody else that wants to bring along a sound toy to play with.

For details of future Spirit of Gravity events, go to www.spiritofgravity.com/.

Video and audio on the Spirit of Gravity mp3 blog at spiritofgravity-brighton.blogspot.com/

Video and audio on the Spirit of Gravity MySpace page at www.myspace.com/thespiritofgravity

Facebook group with shows and information at www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=75568366205

Downloads of complete Spirit of Gravity sets at www.archive.org/details/the-spirit-of-gravity

_minimalVector films featuring Spirit of Gravity acts and guests at www.vimeo.com/thespiritofgravity

·                     Greetings:

24th September 2011: Splitting the Atom IV, an all-day co-promotion with Club Zygotic at the Green Door Store and its going to be free! Lots of SoG related acts including a big band collaboration with the Safehouse collective. Get there for 3pm, stay till 11…

7th October 2011: Another co-promotion, this time with Bristol-based Bit-Phalanx that brings Coppe', the godmother of Japanese electronica to Brighton along with revered Life President Hot Roddy and the legend that is Mr Hopkinson’s Computer, also in attendance will be a Spirit of Gravity Quartet and Phone, Microwave & Sandwich.

·                     Reviewings

Spirit of Gravity at the Komedia Studio Bar, Brighton, Thursday 25th August 2011

Getting ready for their tour supporting Aiden Baker, Plurals bought along a lot of guitars and three guests, adding saxophone, Cale-ian violin drones and old keyboard swirls, it was a very dense plurals with quite some subtlety for an improvising group of this size. After a squalling free form soundcheck they started their actual set in a very subdued manner, edging their way into a mind melting scrunge where feedback met sax met voice met everything else, Duncan feeding his guitar lead into his teeth for the finale. Yeah fun.

Nil took it right down again, Dan Powell sat at a table in the middle of the room with his small percussions and bowed things (singing bowls thrum, wine glass whines) while Chris Parfitt stalked the room jangling and pinging various acoustic things, before heading for the stage and picking up his flute and getting something going on the loopstation. After a while Dan left the table to get stuck into the guitar and laptop sending some great sounds out from the inimitable bowed guitar technique.

White Tiger had some lovely home-made boxes that housed unusual controllers for whatever devices they were actually using to make the sounds, nicely finished too, not like the shoddy stuff I'd do. They used them to produce peculiar songs, from a whimsical self contained world that wasn't at all fey. They're like a couple of lads who heard Jonathan Richman at 4 and got into the Residents at 6 and now have peculiar ideas of what pop music is, though its right in their hearts. They finished by getting someone called James up from the audience who is going away, and did a brass fanfare, two saxophones and trumpet. Very affecting, but I'm a sucker for brass bands (where’s my deckchair gone?)|

A three piece with more home-made instruments, this time Tiger Walking Downhill exposed circuits to be thumbed and pressed for effect, effects, field recordings and laptop-trickery. I love this kind of gadget play especially when it’s as active as this: people leaning across, moving stuff, sounds with no discernible source, interplay between the elements as things evolve, humming, crackling, swooping or chirruping. Louder than Morgan Whetham Jones who did an ostensibly similar thing a few months ago, without being full-throttle noise, this was nicely playful, contemplative and pleasingly abstract.

Yours as ever

El Maestro Con Queso

Editor.


Gravitational Pull is the official newsletter of The Spirit of Gravity Collective, though the opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Collective. Your email address will not be passed on to any organisation outside of The Spirit of Gravity Collective. If you wish to unsubscribe to this mailing service please contact: spiritofgravity@btinternet.com