Tuesday 21 May 2024, 7.30pm
EARTH BALL are a wild ensemble from Canada, mainly based on Vancouver Island. Their inception was serendipitous, emerging out of necessity when Isabel Ford, John Brennan, and Jeremy Van Wyck needed a name for a gig. What began as a pragmatic solution blossomed into an artistically conceived project. Embracing complete improvisation, free expression and a truly psychedelic sound, the group's lineup expands for different projects and now features Kellan Maclaughlin on Guitar and Liam Murphy on Saxophone. Each member brings a diverse musical background, having been part of various bands such as Shearing Pinx, Plan Your Future, Kamikaze Nurse, Eschatons and Psychedelic Dirt. Their individual collaborations with artists like Deerhoof, Raven Chacon, Chris Corsano, William Hooker, and others enrich their collective experience, forging a powerful musical force.
Earth Ball’s first cassette 'Fruiting Bodies', released in 2021 under Misophonia Records, was followed by the self-released album 'Go to Earth.' The creative momentum continued with the digital and cassette release of 'Have One' in 2023. Earth Ball's dynamic presence has reverberated across the west coast of Canada. The group’s live shows are ecstatic and spontaneous, offering audiences a unique experience at every performance. Notably, their appearance alongside legendary experimental duo Wolf Eyes in August 2023 underscored their standing in the experimental scene. As Earth Ball continues to push the boundaries of improvisation and sonic exploration, they remain a guiding light for those seeking a transcendental musical experience. The group’s upcoming album ‘It’s Yours’ will be released on LP / digital by Upset The Rhythm this May and marks another significant leap forward. This second show at Cafe OTO will see Earth Ball and Chris Corsano play a selection of sets with the following guests: Petronn Sphene, Container, Agathe Max and Steve Beresford.
https://earthball.bandcamp.com/
Chris Corsano (b. 1975, USA) is a New York-based drummer who has been active at the intersections of collective improvisation, free jazz, avant-rock, and experimental music since the late 1990's. He's been the rim-batterer of choice for some of the greatest contemporary purveyors of "jazz" (Joe McPhee, Paul Flaherty, Mette Rasmussen, Zoh Amba) and "rock" (Sir Richard Bishop, Bill Orcutt, Jim O'Rourke), as well as artists beyond categorization (Björk for her Volta album and world tour, Michael Flower, Okkyung Lee).
Corsano began a long-standing, high-energy musical partnership with saxophonist Paul Flaherty in 1998. Their style, which they occasionally refer to with (semi-)tongue-in-cheek humor as "The Hated Music", combines modern free-jazz's ecstatic collectivism with the urgency and intensity of hardcore punk. A move from western Massachusetts to the UK in 2005 led Corsano to develop his solo music -- a dynamic, spontaneously-composed orchestra-of-one utilizing extended techniques for drum set, non-percussive instruments of his own creation (e.g. bowed violin strings stretched across drum heads), circular breathing on modified reed instruments, and stockpiles of resonant metals. He spent 2007-08 as the drummer on Björk's Volta world tour, all the while weaving in shows and recordings on his days off with the likes of Evan Parker, Michael Flower, and Jandek. He moved back to the U.S. in 2009 and continued touring in an ultrawide array of ever-evolving collaborations. In 2017 he won the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award. A renowned solo performer in his own right, Corsano has a new solo record, The Key (Became The Important Thing [and Then Just Faded Away] out on the Drag City label.
His dedication to collective improvisation has led to Corsano to join forces with many kindred spirits and his appearance on over 180 records and thousands of live performances. He's worked with, among others: Paul Dunmall (released by the label: ESP-Disk), Joe McPhee (Roaratorio), Okkyung Lee (Open Mouth), Bill Orcutt (Palilalia), Mette Rasmussen (Hot Cars Warp Records & Clean Feed), John Edwards (OTOroku & Dancing Wayang), Sylvie Courvoisier (Relative Pitch), Nate Wooley (No Business & Astral Spirits), Jim O'Rourke & Akira Sakata (Drag City & Polystar), Merzbow (Family Vineyard), Jessica Rylan (Load Records), Rodrigo Amado (Trost), Nels Cline (Strange Attractors), Heather Leigh (Volcanic Tongue), Ghédalia Tazartès (Ultra Eczema), Ken Vandermark (Audiographic), and Sunburned Hand Of Man (Manhand).
https://chriscorsano.bandcamp.com/music
PETRONN SPHENE (the solo project from Xapheena aka Q.Q. Utslekk aka Urocerus Gigas of GUTTERSNIPE) is the singular manifestation of queer punk cyborg convulsing body music known as “No Wave Rave”. Deploying disrupted polyceleratrix rhythms via MPC1000 drumviolence in symbiosis with icy, futuristic synth flashes and alien femme fatale vokills, PETRONNE SPHENE induces a deranged state of hyper-mobile xenofeminist hysteria recalling ADHD manic episodes, acid flashbacks from speedcore parties and abduction on the dancefloor! Miss XQQU will have several new traxx prepared especially for the fest so prepare yourselves to submit to yet further psychotic results of the eminent Radical Queer Formula for Rhythm and Tonality applied to dance music structural paradigms. Check out new album ‘Exit The Species’ out now on Arcane Pariah!
https://arcanepariahrecords.bandcamp.com/album/exit-the-species
Steve Beresford has been a central figure in the British and international spontaneous music scenes for over fifty years, freely improvising on piano, objects, electronics and other things with people like Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Han Bennink and John Zorn. Long-standing groups have included Alterations (with David Toop, Terry Day and Peter Cusack), The Melody Four (with Lol Coxhill and Tony Coe, both RIP) and London Improvisers Orchestra.
He has written songs, composed for large and small ensembles, and scored short films, feature films, TV shows and commercials. He was part of the editorial teams of ‘Musics’ and ‘Collusion’ magazines, writes about music in various contexts, and was a senior lecturer in music at the University of Westminster.
Steve has worked with Christian Marclay on various Marclay mixed media pieces. He has also worked with The Slits, Najma Akhtar, Stewart Lee, Ivor Cutler, Prince Far-I, Alan Hacker, Tania Chen, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Faradena Afifi, Blanca Regina, Ray Davies, Mandhira De Saram, The Flying Lizards, Zeena Parkins, The Portsmouth Sinfonia, Ilan Volkov, Rachel Musson, Vic Reeves, Lore Lixenberg, Valentina Magaletti and many others.
Beresford has an extensive discography - around 500 releases - as performer, arranger, free-improviser, composer, conductor and producer. He was awarded a Paul Hamlyn award for composers in 2012.
In 2021, Bloomsbury published a book by Andy Hamilton: ‘Pianos, Toys, Music and Noise: Conversations with Steve Beresford’.
In 2022, Siglio published the book ‘Call and Response’, which partnered photographs by Christian Marclay with notated improvisations by Beresford.
France-born, London-based Agathe Max, violin and viola player, beside different collaborations (Abstract Concrete, UKAEA, These Towns, Ondata Rossa) works on projects including electroacoustic composition, music and sound design for documentaries, animated movies, short movies, theatre, contemporary dance and art exhibitions. Max’s last composition Shadoww, journeys from blissful voice and yearning bow work on ‘Ylang Ylang On Heart’ through to intricate synthesis and pounding beats. It’s widescreen, panoramic music propelled by fervid energy, but never at the expense of detail and nuance. Partly inspired by shadow work exercises from her friend Louise Bolla – that is, a practice of psychological therapy which aims to connect with what’s hidden in the unconscious – Max’s music traces a parallel possibility in sound. Music’s ability, whether in a church or a club, to give a brief glimpse of being plugged into something beyond your own ego.
www.agathemaxmusic.com
https://instagram.com/agathe.max
https://agathemax.bandcamp.com/
Container is the long running electronic solo project of American-born London-based musician Ren Schofield. Combining his background in noise-rock and tape music with techno and rhythmic electronics, his sound is characterised by propulsive beats and liberal doses of distortion. Container has always danced the absurd space between serious and stupid, and on his latest release, ‘Yacker’ (2024), all elements are turned up to eleven as he delivers a pristine field guide to furious frenzied fun. Citing his inspiration on ‘Yacker' as the Nirvana song ‘Oh, The Guilt’, the Mindflayer album ‘It’s Always 1999’, and the Rah Bras song ‘Sooop Toe Pump Girls’, Schofield strikes an even balance between heavy, relentless, joyful, silly, and sloppy.
https://www.ursss.com/2021/10/container-luff/
