Noisegate

Noisegate is a group of artists dedicated to the explorationof sound as an artistic medium.

Since 1995, Noisegate have been a staple of the U.S. experimental musicand sound-art scenes, constantly touring, recording and promoting otherexperimental artists. Their live performances are usually collaborationswith experimental filmmakers, which create rich, immersive multi-mediaenvironments.

In addition to their work in sound, Noisegate members Trevor Paglen,Chris Fitzpatrick, and Nicolas Lampert are practicing visual and installationartists

Noisegate began in 1995, when Trevor Paglen, Nicolas Lampertand Tae K Kim began to experiment with using timbre as a basis for amusical language. In November of 1995, Excavation Day was released.A tape-only release, limited to 500 copies, this is an early documentof our development.

Barren Earth was released in the summer of 1996. At this point, Noisegate'smusical language had expanded to include a much wider range of textures,all of which were composed into one another. An early version of 'SolarEclipse' was on this release.

In the fall of 1996, Noisegate embarked on their first major tour ofthe US, with filmmaker Laura Klein. Upon their return, Chris Fitzpatrickwas enlisted to run sampler. The new lineup began work on the musicwhich became the Towers Are Burning LP, released in 1998 by the OneHundred Years of Solitude label. After several tours supporting theLP, it was decided to record two more tracks, and release all four onTumult and Legion as the Towers Are Burning CD.

After more touring, Chris Fitzpatrick and Trevor Paglen began workon Suspended Animation, where the new emphasis of the compositions werefluidity and subtlety. Suspended Animation was released in May 2000,and supported in the Summer of 2000 with a lengthy multimedia tour ofthe U.S., accompanied by filmmaker, Jon Frechette.

As We Were Walking was a recorded version of the interpretations ofSuspended Animation that Noisegate performed on their U.S. tour, andwas released exclusively in Europe in December of 2001. In January of2001, Noisegate toured Europe in support of As We Were Walking. Wherein the past, Noisegate tours have created rich, immersive, multimediaenvironments, for this tour, the opposite was achieved. The performancesoccurred in absolute darkness with the performers unseen, disarmingrather than facilitating spectacle.

Noisegate members Chris Fitzpatrick and Trevor Paglen currently liveand work in the California Bay Area and are dedicated to the explorationof sound as an artistic medium.

Napalmed

Napalmed was formed in June 18th of 1994. After several personnel changes in the band's line-up, and a transitional solo period under the name NPLMD, the duo MartiN.B. and RadeK.K. emerged. The new member brought matter into the existent style (spontaneously improvised harsh industrial noise), along with new vital energy and invention - therefore, the sound proven and sharpened over the years sparkles and resonates. The result is the newest CD album "iii" (2008, Napalmed) and continuous live activity.

Stupor

Stupor's black beast creates a separate universe which encapsules you into your own world of thought. A ritual that invites you to take a look inside yourself. The cd of this south german/polish project kicks off mixing in pregnant and tense atmospherical sounds with repititive clanging percussion. Through the following flood of distorted pulses, repetitive, abrasive, yet introvertive, higher pitched details appear on the path that leads to derech. More electronic sounding, spacier now, an echoing scream seeps through and serves as the introduction for a solemn passage whispering through the speakers, only to feed into the evolving ritual drumming spiral. The drums are pounded in an almost martial way. They only give in to the humming sequence of jamaragda, soon becoming a sonic travel which gives us the impression we're heading to the east - tribal sounds and chants - the flush of repetition in evolution. In the 30 minute track Bete Noire, the dark percussive parts transform to invocations on hymnic soundplains and then raise to the surface again. The introvert journey ends in the surprisingly titled Jack the Brainslasher.

Sardh

SARDH setzen neben elektronischen Instrumenten auch selbstgebaute oderzu Klangerzeugern umfunktionierte Fundstücke und Gebrauchsgegenständendes Alltags ein.
Jeder bedient im Verlauf des Programms mehrere verschiedene Klangmittel.Dadurch werden für die Platzierung des umfangreichen Equipments (mindestens)ca. 6x4 Meter Stellfläche benötigt.
Alle einzelnen Kanäle laufen im eigenen Stage-Mixer zusammen und werdenselbst gesteuert.
Für den Saal-Mix ist lediglich die gelieferte Stereo-Summe auf das Beschallungsfeldeinzupegeln.
Für kleine bis mittlere Veranstaltungsräume kann die eigene Beschallungsanlage(3kw) eingesetzt werden.

SARDH agieren als flexibles system.
Neben Konzerten des aktuellen Programms werden auch einmalige Performancesbezogen auf konkrete Orte, Anlässe und Themen konzipiert - in reduzierterBesetzung für kleinere Veranstaltungen, wie Ausstellungseröffnungen...oder kombiniert mit multimedialen Möglichkeiten für grössere Projekte.
SARDH sind offen für alle veranstalterischen Ambitionen und unkonventionelleSpielorte, soweit sie das konzeptionelle Spektrum tangieren.

Damian Catera

An improvised, site specific electroacustic performance for radio and live electronics. For this piece, live radio is sampled and spatially, algorithmically manipulated with performance software Catera wrote in the MAX/MSP programming environment. The results are constantly changing soundscape where the sampled sounds are cut up, randomly rearranged and altered. This is a music of the moment which is generated and experienced in real time. He do not bring any sounds with him, only processes. Space and location are integral elements to this piece.

Sangredans

Extrémní-performační skupina, která spojuje pohybovou expresi s vlastní, experimentální, elektronicko-industriální hudbou. Extrémní fyzická performance s prvky moderního tance, butó, klasického baletu, akrobacie, capoeiry, zpěvy, fire a pyrotechnic show (plivání ohně, dým, červený oheň) reflektující lidskou bolest v rituálu posthumání kyberkatarze. Představení na pomezí pohybově-výtvarné extrémní performance a koncertu. Hudba je tvořena jak z vlastních hudebních nahrávek a upravená na počítači, tak živě při představení. Nástroji se stávají industriální materiály - z tyčí, železných součástek, plechů a pružin jsou vytvořeny hudební nástrojeve tvaru různých postav, robotů a věcí. Rozeznívají se v hudbu za pomoci neobvyklých nástrojů jako jsou např. rozbrus, svářečka, vrtačka, motor z auta... Velmi výrazné jsou kostýmy a scénografie, kdy aktéři jsou natřeni grafitovou barvou a evokují tak kovové-cyberpunkové pololidi a poloroboty. Fyzicky náročná, akrobaticko-taneční choreografie dokreslují výsledný dojem celé performance.

Theatre group formed in 2001 in Praha. In Sangredans performances,the protagonists use a wide variety of theatrical forms. The strongest emphasis is enjoyed by a motoric expression. In their images, we canfind elements of acrobacy, modern dance, classical ballet, butoh, capoeira, steppe, pantomime and fire show. Using different props, tools, lights and elements (water, fire, sand, smoke...) the actors create a mystical atmosphere streaming into a dramatical whole of the story.

Tereza Georgievová, Radka Hetmánková, Petra Bucková, Dan Pavel, FilipKačírek

Skrol

Mit großer Verzögerung erscheint nun endlich das Debüt von Skrol aus Prag, die bereits vor einiger Zeit mit einer 10" auf sich aufmerksammachen konnten. Das Trio läßt sich grob der Neo-Klassik zuordnen, gehtbei ihrer Ausführung jedoch wesentlich individuellere Wege als die meistenanderen Vertreter des Genres. Das Klangbild wird über weite Teile vonschweren Orgelklängen geprägt, die an Arbeiten von Dupré gemahnen undden idealen akustischen Untergrund für die Stimme von Sängerin MartinaSweeney aufbauen.

Einer der Höhepunkte des mit knapp 40 Minuten Spielzeit leider etwaskurzen Albums ist das auf Strawinsky-Samples aufbauende "Non Organic",das sich mit seinen geschickt arrangierten Orchesterloops in akustischerTradition zu den frühen Laibach stellt.

"Fire Scene" hingegen dürfte mit langsamem Schlagwerk undexpressivem Gesang speziell in Gothic-Kreisen mit ausgeprägtem TraditionsbewußtseinAnklang finden. Ob Skrol ihre Qualitäten auch live-haftig umzusetzenwissen, wird sich unter anderem am 27. November auf dem vom Sonic Seducerpräsentierten Noise Transmission Festival in Düsseldorf überprüfen lassen.

Zygote

The project has arose in 1998 as another model alternative of integrated musical form. Its foundation was the primarily instrumental version of the album called Sense Geometry. This album is inspired by structural principles, based on the musical application of fictive geometrical symbolism of certain physiological mechanisms of the psyche. It is an attempt to detect or demonstrate the existence of a certain order within the seeming chaos. The author titles this musical form of mathematical theory analogously as the so-called fractal musical geometry. For this purposes he makes use of intervals logic signals, rhythm, structure and instrumentation.

Andrew Liles

Andrew Liles has been recording since the mid 80's. His music, which both eclectic and diverse is often minimalist, surrealistic, experimental and hypnotic, and attempts to transcend any noticeable style or clique.Andrew Liles has been described as "thoroughly chilling" with"incredible sonic depths of dark ambience." and by industrial.orgas "foreboding and at times [a] truly unsettling aural examination, a Rorschact rain cloud streaming out blurred images and tangled memories".

Liles has taken many small portraits of the soundtrack for the underside of the world and has carefully meshed them with samples that are as theoretically unsettling as any of the authentic EVP recordings conducted by Friedrich Jurgensson. A deceptive lullaby of electronic tones, stereophonicacrobatics and drowned words; the samples continue, that of wind-blownrain against the window, voices down the hall, piano interludes, indiscernible conversations in muffled tones on the other end of the line and sinewaves expanding in rooms otherwise acoustically dead.
Liles carves his own distinct sound, but a natural comparison may hinttowards the instrumental works of Coil, the Hafler Trio (particularlyHow to Reform Mankind), Eliane Radigue (Trilogie de la Mort) as wellas the subtle influence of Bernard Parmegiani. A moribund and profoundly disquieting.

Liles' interest in erotica forms a singular vision for this extensivework. his influences range from high culture - hans bellmer, georgesbataille, anais nin - through to fetishism and obsession - such as artiststrevor brown, romain slocombe - onto the submissive and dominant scenarioscreated by the likes of eric stanton, john willie, and tomi ungerer.everything is here - the double entendres of dick emery and benny hill,the toilet humour of "carry-on" and the top shelf seedinessof "readers wives" and "rubberist" musically the records are as diverse and complicated as anyone's fantasies or sexualproclivities. each song and each record is entirely different. complex twisting sounds suddenly disappear to give way to minimalist drones; moroccan medinas melt into manhattan moonlights. sensual voices metamorphose into mumbling perverts. the records are surreal and confusing, relaxing and subduing - both everything and nothing all at once.

Such wonderfully dreary music obviously isn't intended for the masses,but taken for what it is, Liles' work here continually startles you,both with its hushed subtlety and psychological effect.

Nocturnal Emissions

For his 25th CD as Nocturnal Emissions, Nigel Ayers has created a work that balances noise and vocal samples against a wild array of loops and rhythm tracks. It's a tantalizingly spicy cocktail that sounds nothing like an out-of-control hip-hop dump truck being driven backwards through an octogenarian's barn dance.

"Collateral Salvage" is beat-oriented toe-tappin' music constructed from hundreds of different samples of indie guitar-pop, interspersed with fragments of song and surreal speech. Strong bass lines run throughout,and the rhythms are a blend of funk and exotic eastern promise. Subtle tonalities, acoustic guitar flavors, swingin' saxophones, flutes and horns are piled high over tabla and soaring vintage analogue synthesizers. Mbiras mix with driftwood marimbas, wicky-wicky guitars and pitch-shifted sitars in a swirling belly-dance dub sock-hop.

"Collateral Salvage" was inspired by the sounds of modernMorocco. Late at night, lying in a bath, listening to the output ofthree different nightclubs, each with their own blend of local music mixed with international pop hits, all in a constant struggle for dominance,with water running in and out of the ears. The resourcefulness of human endeavor in the Third World and its contrast with the luxuries and carefreewastefulness of the developed world provided the foundation for thealbum. This is the music of resistance against the constant war beingwaged by the powerful elite in rich nations against the poor. When Bushsays "you're either with us or you're against us" Ayers replies"There is no separation. Social divides are socially constructed.A forgotten branch of the avant-garde once suggested that art can directthought along new lines and enable us to generate more positive patternsof social behavior."

The title of the album is a play on words, referring to the term "collateraldamage" and, perhaps somewhat more obviously, "salvage".Collateral damage was brought into common use as a byproduct of GulfWar I. It got another boost as a result of Gulf War II. It's a politeeuphemism for what happens when the non-combatants (another euphemismfor "civilians") are unintentionally injured or killed duringthe course of an attack on a target, but it has come to symbolize muchmore, and is now used to describe other situations in which unintendedconsequences result from sloppy execution of plans. "Salvage"as it relates to recycling and recovery, has become very important totoday's society. The earth contains a limited supply of renewable andnon-renewable resources. Finding ways to reuse the components of ourtrash is paramount to our survival.

"Collateral Salvage" is the musical expression of a kindof sonic recycling that seeks to reuse previously recorded sounds, buthas unanticipated and unintended outcomes. With the best bits from allthe best songs, it's the ultimate distillation of the last fifty yearsof civilization. Nigel Ayers has been running his anti-career in NocturnalEmissions since 1979. Nobody really knows what he does for a living.He is described by his friends as "a professional freak".

VO.I.D

We are an orchestra, manoeuvring in storms and white-light. We trans/be-thunder the world's din into transcendence´s Silence. We operate with intensivity, we being Robert Hnát - computers and Martin Jarolím - effect-ed vocal outbursts.
A magnanimous uproar with a circular conception of time. A fulminating prayer, joyous gushing forth of expression. It is a spontaneous "articulation"of energy, equivalent to the music's texture. Verbalisations may be misleading. The purpose of our "words" is phonic, not semantic.

An "eidetic" ideal of sound is beyond our given possibilities. It would be a hypersonic outburst, an absorptive Proto-tone, burning its way into the Unbeholdable. Words cannot approach its essence - perhaps a fragrance or death could come nearer. It should be created by a strong electromagnetic emission, the shimmer of the stars. It should contain tectonic vibrations, the smell of roes, proteins and angelic lovingness, loving agression.

Francisco López

Over the last twenty years Francisco López has developed an astonishing sonic universe, absolutely personal and iconoclastic, based on a profound listening of the world. Destroying boundaries between industrial sounds and wilderness sound environments, shifting with passion from the limits of perception to the most dreadful abyss of sonic power, proposing a blind, profound and transcendental listening, freed from the imperatives of knowledge and open to sensory and spiritual expansion. One of the leading figures of the international experimental underground, he has realized concerts and sound installations all over Europe and the Americas,and his work has been released by more than fifty record companies through out the world.

absolute concrete music

Over the last twenty years Francisco López has been developing a powerful and consistent world of minimal electroacoustic soundscapes, 'trying to reach an ideal of absolute conrete music'. To date, his prolific catalog comprises more than 90 sound works, which have been releasedby 50 record labels from Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, France, UK,Italy, Poland, Austria, Canada and USA. He has toured extensively throughEurope and America doing acousmatic performances, and he has receivedcommissions from a number of reknown institutions and organizations,such as the Dutch and Spanish National Radios, the Goethe Institut,V2 Organization, Yale University Theater and the Ralph Lemon Company.Through what he once called as 'the exploration of the universe of broad-bandnoise from the real world', his music arises from the processing ofenvironmental recordings. In deep contrast to the classical soundscapemovement (and even despite his paradoxical past involment with relatedorganizations as the Environmental Tape Exchange, the World Forum forAcoustic Ecology and the Nature Sounds Society), his vast activity doingfield recordings all over the world (nearly 30 countries in four continents)never pursued a documentary or representational goal, but a dramaticallyopposite object sonore perspective. And in this sense, the evolutionof his aesthetics and conceptual background is a profound process ofrefinement towards an extreme musical purism, with a voluntary and forcefulrefusal of any visual, procedural, relational, semantic, functionalor virtuosistic elements. What is left is an astonishingly powerfulmusical essence capable of reaching both the deepest and most dreadfulabysms of crude strengthness and the most subtle and diffuse aural edges;a complex territory of anti fast-listening where perceptual awarenessand the power of naked music are strikingly rediscovered; a world wherethings are uneasy, unclear, unsolved and where one is forced to inmerseand search. He calls it belle confusion.

( Pedro Higueras, Sonom Studios)

Hybryds

Since the mid 80' working in the ritual - mythical - industrialand magical music scene. This band is known for its mind expanding sound.Primitive ethnical and contemporary industrial influences are blendedto create an unique style that has influenced many who were lookingfor spiritual dimensions. In the beginning of the 80 -ties, Magthea,the male side of the Hybryds was involved in THE KLINIK, in the mid 80' he worked on his own personnel music style. Based on ancientinfluences and modern technology, the first tape demo: "Mythicalmusic from the 21 St. century " (1986 - 3RIOART) did not get anyreaction in the music scene.

"Octahedron " (3RIOART) a limited 7 inch followed but againno one was interested. At the start of the 90-ties Yasnaia joined the Hybryds concept adding her clear vocals and acoustic instruments.Workingtogether with Djen Ajakan S and Vidna Obmana resulted in the first ofmany CD releases: "The ritual should be kept alive part 1" (3RIOART-1991). An ethnic styled trance piece.Suddenly the music scene discovered theoriginal, eclectic and powerful Hybryds sound. Many CD releases followed,each release covering an aspect of the path Magthea and Yasnaia werewalking."The ritual should be kept alive part 2", containedcollaborations with other musicians and remixes of the first demo tape.In "Music for rituals" (ARTWARE) the pure magical sound of Hybryds became reality, a struggle between female and male energiesgave birth to one of the most original releases in the magical musicscene. "Soundtrack for the Aquaria of the Antwerp Zoo" mysteriousdeep ambient music created with Ah Cama Sotz for the 150th anniversaryof the Zoo (1993).

"The ritual of the rave"(DAFT) was their answer on the commercialrave scene, the soundtrack of the rave of their tribe and "Theatavistic Fetisj " (3RIOART) an industrial mini CD were the nextsteps in their evolution. Each release different from style, yet it is Hybryds. "Dreamscapes from a dark side"(DAFT), their mostdark and deep ambient masterpiece,was the reflection of 5 years studiowork. A CD so strong and intense,covering the descending to the blackcaves of your mind, a trip in your personnel subconsciousness whereall your fears are born. Although many think " Cortex Stimulation"(DAFT) and Mistrust Authority (vinyl on SOMETHING WEIRD) is abreak with their musical past, Hybryds themselves label this projectas cyberpunk, all the elements which makes Hybryds so unique, are stillthere. Industrial rhythms and hypnotic electronic sound that crawlsinto the brain and brings the listener in alternated states, this timenot with ethnical techniques but with LO-TEK technology. " TectonicOverload "(ANTZEN) (1997) a limited art release goes on and overthe edge of industrial music, dead-techno influenced rhythmtracks andhypnotic industrial noise brings Hybryds closer to the dance floor ofthe madman.

Each release being accompanied by spare live performances, these cyberpunkreleases gave birth to their new live project: MISTRUST AUTHORITY- PROMOTEDECENTRALIZATION, dedicated to all LO-TEKS (and William Gibson), intheir fight against political and religious suppression. A project dealingwith the media, virtual reality and the future of the human race.Thistime they took the meaning of industrial a step forward. This projectbalances on the edge of tolerance. Extreme, structured sound,frequenciesthat goes straight to the brain. Back uped with a lo-tek cybervideoand blended with the mystical and emotional vocals from Yasnaia, thenoise evokes trance. Trance evokes spiritual dimensions.

"Virtual Impact" (DAFT 2000) the provisional latest Hybryds release contains an excellent selection of this powerful live soundand a live recorded videoclip (made by the Stubnitz crew).As contrastin the Hybryds apocalyptic live gigs, Yasnaia brought her solo projectlive as a dark, ethnical and more ambient show. A video based on herdreamscapes and slide projecting creates the athmosphere for floatingand soft danceable rhythms and her esoteric vocals brings you in a sensualdream state of mind.All these reflections you can find in the first CD ROM release of Hybryds; (Orders at vuz@conx.de) An immense collectionof artwork, video, digital poetry and information of 16 years of Hybryds existance, available for Macintosh and Windows.

Look out for new projects: NA-DHA ( Magthea & others), Haydhra (Magthea & Leigh Hunt) and MesmerEyes ( Yasnaia, Djen Ajakan & Deprofundis).

Inade (d)

Velmi zajímavým projektem je německá dark-ambientní dvojice Inade. Potvrzuje to i jejich nejnovější, nesmírně kvalitní album Samadhi State, realizované vlastním labelem Loki Foundation. V rámci uvedeného žánru se ubírá celková zvuková koncepce skupiny, která nahrála své první album již v roce 1993 a od té doby patří mezi zásadní formace světové ambientně-industriální scény. Již na svých předchozích albech Burning Flesh, Aldebaran nebo The Crackling of the Anonymous prezentují Inade dotaženou a živoucí koncepci temného ambientu, ve kterém hutné atmosférické nálady doplňují expresivním sonickým zvukem. Hudba Inade má zároveň vysoce psychoaktivní účinky, které posluchače uvádějí do stavu hlubinného psychického transu. Neodmyslitelnou součástí hudby Inade jsou rituální prvky a důmyslně rekonstruované orchestrální motivy. Dvojice René Lehman a Knut Enderlein umí jako jedno z mála dark-ambientních těles prodat své kvality také naživo, a to nejen díky perfektně propracované vizuální složce.

Tonton Macoutes

Tonton Macoutes is a formation of many faces. Engaged in dark, rawperformances, influenced by Japanese butoh dance and Nitsch´s Theatreof orgies and mysteries, the group has created a score for the theatrepiece Crime and punishment in Liberec Theatre and for The last judgementof Belgrade Academic Theatre. Furthermore, the band is performing liveas well - they underwent the acoustic tour with the Residents singerLaurie Amat last year, with whom they are about to finish a new albumthese days. And we don´t have to forget that from their inception in1991 they were strongly influenced by industrial music and they arestill using unusual sounds and noises...