Sunday 18 February 2024, 7.30pm
'Rashad Becker’s work is probably the closest thing we currently have to a disturbing glimpse through a rupture in the fabric of reality. Cherish it appropriately' — Brainwashed
His compositions are multilayered narratives populated by an ensemble of sonic entities, some smug, some shy, some agitators, others ready to surrender. Often there’s a tragic-comical touch, like a cartoon version of what could be a requiem from a dream (or just as much a fertility dance from another dimension).
Recent works include the cycle Traditional Music Of Notional Species released across two volumes on PAN, and a multi-part work called Based On A True Story that derives scores from historical occurrences in a sort of ‘sonic staging’. He has been commissioned by New York-based ensemble Alarm Will Sound, Berlin string ensemble Kaleidoskop and leading German theatre company Berliner Ensemble.
Joanne Robertson is a musician, painter and poet. Joanne collaborates regularly with her friends, most recently with Dean Blunt on ‘Black Metal 2’, and Sidsel Meineche Hansen on ‘Alien Baby’. She moved to Glasgow in 2018, after having lived in London. Her painting and music both form from improvisatory moments of expression. ‘Blue Car’, is a collection of songs from her archive of unreleased solo recordings, similar to ‘Painting Stupid Girls’, these tracks attempt to record the moment, and where she was at emotionally that day, similar to diary entries. The dates she wrote these songs is unknown, they span roughly a ten year period.
American musicians Jeff Witscher and Jack Callahan are known for their far-ranging work under various monikers and deep individual histories within noise, computer music, and new music circles. Joining forces to helm new music and contemporary composition label FLEA, the duo has recently produced a series of beguiling and forward-thinking compositions including The Past, Present And Future Of Experimental Music (Uncut GRM), Stockhausen Syndrome, and ISSUES (What Happens on Earth Stays on Earth), as well as video works and curatorial projects. Their collaborative work often experiments with transparent composition systems and the limits of our current music technology, sharing sensibilities with radio art, A.A. meetings, group therapy sessions, formatlist and fluxus generative poetry experiments, and Q&A formats. They probe into the purpose and meaning of experimental music and showcase tensions inherent to the communication of ideas—exploring what music can be in a world where almost everything is reduced to signals and information. Together, their alliance charts a path for truly avant-garde music in the 21st century. (Nick James Scavo)
Nick Malkin is an artist based in Los Angeles, CA.
