Friday 6 November 2015, 8pm
Jam-packed residency from the pre-eminent exponent of UK noise, Russell Haswell, with three curated days featuring collaborators and conteporaries old and new. A multi-disciplinary artist and sonic polymath, Haswell is a record producer, free improvisor, computer musician, noise aficionado, curator and collaborator, and this residency should run the gamut of all these and more. Haswell will kick off the proceedings with a different solo set at the start of each night.
“Noise with purpose. Lean, economical and tremendously exciting.” – The WIRE
"Formed in Vienna in the mid-1990's, the farmersmanual collective represents media art at its most anarchistic. While being best-known for their recordings, in recent years the group have shifted their emphasis towards extensive live performances, in which imaginative computer animation, synchronized with 'chaos-particle-accelerating' music, and the overall ambience of uncontrollable technology form a seamless whole." (Anton Nikkilä, http://www.avantofestival.com)
Julian Simmons based in Suffolk UK, has emerged as something of a mystery. Haswell claims to have first been confronted by him in 2007 materialising from a blackthorn hedge, and bizarrely immediately asking Simmons “are you one of those people who what they say can program people to act differently?”, this is possibly why he’s sometimes known as ‘Acid Man’, even though that’s not his method. He sites his major influence as Early Man.
In the 90’s Simmons had 5 of the 8 output-data pins of a BBC Micro Model B’s parallel-port wired to a couple of stepper motors [X+Y] and a solenoid [Z], and so developed an axis machine capable of employing various grades of pencil to produce densely layered cross-hatched drawings. Research into cosmological tone led to a PhD in 2004. A few years later this intensity for layered tonal detail was applied through Pure Data to produce electroacoustic instruments and compositions. Since 2013 this continued with sonic research directed through 4-channel surround: live positioning of multiple instruments within quad environments being an essential component to these ‘NUMBERSTREAM’ performances.
‘A dark and abstract work which reverberates around the space, omnipresent and powerful. The sound purples and shimmers like a darkening bruise, deliciously discordant and completely immersive’, The Journal of Wild Culture.
Russell Haswell is a restlessly forward-thinking, multi-disciplinary artist, performer and curator. With a background steeped in computer music, black metal, noise, techno and solo improvisation, his practice is renowned for broaching the extremities of visual and sonic arts. He’s performed in noted live and HDJ [hard disc jockey] actions with Aphex Twin, Gescom, Pan Sonic and Masami Akita (Merzbow), among others, and worked with Florian Hecker on Iannis Xenakis’ UPIC system in their Haswell & Hecker duo, whoseBlackest Ever Black LP is widely considered a milestone of modern electronic music composition—and zweikommasieben Magazin has been a fan ever since.
http://haswellstudio.com/
https://twitter.com/russellhaswell
