A malevolent presence between golf and archery.

For Email Members: www.spiritofgravity.com email: info@spiritofgravity.com

GRAVITATIONAL PULL

Dispatches from the Spirit of Gravity / Edition 80 / May 09

·         Happenings:

Next Spirit of Gravity gig:        Tuesday 12th May 2009

Spirit of Gravity presents

TIM EXILE / ITAL TEK / CEEPHAX ACID CREW (DJ set) / SHITMAT VS MINIMAL IMPACT / STRANGERS FROM BIRTH

The Komedia Studio Bar, 44-47 Gardner Street, Brighton, BN1 1UN
Time 8:30 - 12:00 Cost £7/£5

The perfect match-up of experimental and beat based electronic music. The Spirit of Gravity are very happy to have special guests from Planet Mu and Warp records for a one off audio visual feast.

We have Tim Exile with his new custom built equipment showing just exactly how well beat based music can be improvised. Henry 'Shitmat' Collins in a live mash-up with the SoG's King of noise minimal impact, Strangers From Birth with wandering analogue improvisations were formed many years ago by a robot sent from the future and Ital Tek’s highly detailed dubstep electronica. Rounded off with a set from Ceephax Acid Crew.

There will be an 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.

Hosted by our very own 'Laptop' Lee Hume
Visuals by _minimalVector

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

We have video and audio on the Spirit of Gravity mp3 blog from all our recent shows at spiritofgravity-brighton.blogspot.com/

There are other videos on the Spirit of Gravity MySpace page at www.myspace.com/thespiritofgravity

We now have a Facebook group where you can be kept up to date with shows and information:

www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=75568366205

There are also downloads available of some complete Spirit of Gravity sets at

www.archive.org/details/the-spirit-of-gravity

There are now also some of _minimalVector’s films featuring Spirit of Gravity acts and guests at the Vimeo HDTV page

www.vimeo.com/thespiritofgravity

·                     Greetings:

Some news from friend of SoG Clive Craske of Radio Reverb:

RadioReverb started a new schedule on Sunday 3rd May. There are new times for "The Sound Laboratory" experimental and improv music show, which has previously featured acts from the Spirit of Gravity and is always worth a listen. It is now going out Sundays at 8pm with a repeat on Mondays at 4pm.

·                     Reviewings:

Spirit of Gravity at the Komedia Studio Bar, Brighton, Thursday 15th April 2009

The first show where I walk down in daylight is always a bit special and this one was no exception.

The evening started off with an improvised collaboration between Dan Powell (tuned percussion and processing) and Chris Cook (Sitar and processing). This was the first time they had played together and it was interesting to see the interaction between them: listening and talking as the set progressed. Not the sort of thing you see that often.

Given the amount of processing it was generally hard to see who was producing which sound. washed swoops of singing bowl reverbed melded with a thrumming sitar and they both turned round as the machines ran away with their sounds. Another time saw Dan loading a music box chime into his processor which came out at a pitched down, slowed down rate, almost arpeggiating and giving Chris space to build some shapes.

Returning for her third set at the Spirit of Gravity was Gillian Alder aka The Vainglories with a set of excellently melancholy electronica, with an evocative slide show from _minimalVector all yellows and psychically sepia'd old photographs.

This time out the set was built from vocal sounds rather than keyboards, backing tacks crafted on the laptop and live processed over the top. The whole set was very good and then Gill said something like "This is a new one: sorry if it doesn't go as well as all the others. . ." Then she started playing "Crystalloid" and everything went quiet, every single person in the room was rapt. This was epic: a piano cascade with a twist, vocal swoops, a shimmer. About 8 minutes in a beat came and shifted the mood several degrees. This was a really special moment. Fantastic.

MSG present a masterclass in misdirection. Four bass players in furry suits (even if they weren't all playing bass guitars, we KNOW they were all bass players). MSG come on like a giddy fool and then completely outflank you with a set of subtle complexity.
Two bass players - Tom dropping heavier basslines while Richard textures the space with fan played bass. Dave (fellow bass player with Richard in Tomas Hiltz last year) played melodica and some keyboards while a fourth member processed everything.
With no drum tracks it started with a powerful rhythmic pulse before dissolving into environmental sounds and washes and then cranking it back up again.

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: info@spiritofgravity.co.uk