Slowfoot Records hosted evening featuring three trios - MONKEY PUZZLE TRIO [Charles Hayward, Viv Corringham, Nick Doyne-Ditmas], HELLO SKINNY [Tom Skinner, Shabaka Hutchings, Hugh Jones] and PRESCOTT [Kev Hopper, Rhodri Marsden, Frank Byng].

MONKEY PUZZLE TRIO

A long term slowly evolving music project featuring This Heat drummer/lynchpin Charles Hayward, bassist Nick Doyne-Ditmas and the words, voice and textures of avant-vocalist Viv Corringham, whose music walks a tightrope between song, improvisation and sound-as-sound.



Charles Hayward – drums, keyboards, melodica

Known as the pioneering drummer with seminal experimental rock band This Heat and Camberwell Now, who has an ever growing list of solo concerts and cds, special collaborative performances, and is in Massacre with Bill Laswell and Fred Frith.

Recent releases include – About Group with Pat Thomas, John Coxon and Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip [with whom he has also recently collaborated] and Clear Frame with Hugh Hopper, Lol Coxhill, Orphy Robinson and Robert Wyatt.

Viv Corringham - electric voice, mini-disks

British vocalist, currently based in Minneapolis, USA, who makes performances, installations and soundwalks.  Her work has been presented extensively worldwide, and she has collaborated with the likes of Didier Petit, Milo Fine, Peter Cusack, Lol Coxill, Pat Thomas, Eddie Provost, Gino Robair, Maggie Nicols, Ansuman Biswas and Paul Burwell.

Nick Doyne-Ditmas – double bass

Since working with acclaimed avant-jazzers Pinzki Zoo in the mid 80's he has been a mainstay of the south London music scene for many years, collaborating many times with drummer Charles Hayward and with artists/bands as diverse as H2C7, Charles Stuart, Skip Macdonald, Vibration Black Finger & K-Scope. He is currently recording and performing with Crackle, whose debut album ‘Heavy Water’ was released on Slowfoot in 2008.

'When this particular threesome converges, the result is a music that only exists as a very particular collision. The roots of their soundscapes are inextricably entwined with the German avant-groove combo Can, producer Adrian Sherwood's output and The Slits, in their dubbier incarnation... ...A lightness of rhythmic touch is the main character of these improvised pieces.' [BBC online]

www.slowfoot.co.uk/monkeypuzzletrio.html

HELLO SKINNY

Hello Skinny is the brainchild of drummer Tom Skinner, who's other current involvements include Sons Of Kemet, Mulatu Astatke, Matthew Herbert, Finn Peters and The Owiny Sigoma Band amongst many others. The project is Skinner's first as bandleader, composer and producer [playing most of the instruments on the album] and sees him exploring areas around and between psych-dub, electronics, downtown jazz and folk stylings. His live band features on this occasion Shabaka Hutchings [Reeds], Hugh Jones aka Crewdson [electronics].

The debut album was released on Slowfoot Records in November.

"...existing in that fertile zone where jazz, dub, techno and avant-pop deliquesce into an exhilarating free-for-all... ...Introspective, eclectic brain-groove of the month." [Mojo]

www.slowfoot.co.uk/helloskinny.html



PRESCOTT

An instrumental trio of bass player, Kev Hopper (Stump, Ticklish) keyboard player, Rhodri Marsden (Scritti Politti) and drummer, Frank Byng (Snorkel).

Prescott deliver a curious mix of the melodic and discordant with syncopated funky, skewed beats and lopsided, sometimes jabbing riffs that emerge from a complex web of musical interactions and expand or contract like sections of a stuck record. There is more than a reminder of Hopper’s previous band, Stump, echoes of Prog Rock (Soft Machine, Van der Graaf Generator) a whiff of Post-Punk outfits like Palais Schaumburg and a hint of the contemporary Kraut-groove of Byng’s own Snorkel ensemble.

www.facebook.com/pages/Prescott