Aki Onda is an electronic musician, composer, and visual artist. He is particularly known for his Cassette Memories project – works compiled from a “sound diary” of field-recordings collected by Onda over a span of two decades. Onda’s musical instrument of choice is the cassette Walkman. Not only does he capture field recordings with the Walkman, he also physically manipulates multiple Walkmans with electronics in his performances. In another of his projects, Cinemage, Onda shows slide projections of still photo images, shot by himself, as a performance or installation. Onda has collaborated with artists such as Michael Snow, Ken Jacobs, Paul Clipson, Alan Licht, Loren Connors, MV Carbon, Oren Ambarchi, Noël Akchoté, Jean-François Pauvros, Jac Berrocal, Lionel Marchetti, Linda Sharrock, and Blixa Bargeld.

You can see Aki Onda, and his Walkman, perform live next Wednesday 14 November at Town Hall Birmingham. Also on the bill are Supersilent feat. John Paul Jones. Unmissable! Tickets are available via www.thsh.co.uk

Our next Capsule event should be very special indeed; an exciting collaboration between Norwegian avant jazz group Supersilent and Led Zeppelin member John Paul Jones. This show will take place in the spectacular Town Hall Birmingham and we’re told to expect to enter uncharted sonic zones!

You can listen to the legendary Led Zeppelin bassist discuss this collaborative project here: audioboo.fm

Tickets are available direct from www.thsh.co.uk and support comes from Aki Onda, whose preferred instrument is the cassette Walkman.

We’re very pleased to announce that tuba duo ORE will support OM at their gig at the Rainbow Warehouse on Tuesday 25 September, adding to the abstract doom theme of the night. Tickets are selling fast, don’t miss out – https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk

They have recently released their first EP ‘Beyond Tree and Stone’, which can be purchased digitally via http://oretubadoom.bandcamp.com/

You can also catch ORE in a special collaboration with Japanese noise maestro KK Null at this year’s Supersonic Festival. Read more about that here http://www.supersonicfestival.com/line-up/special-performances/ore-and-kk-null

MV & EE with the Home Comfort Sound System

Vermont is perhaps best known as a leading producer of maple syrup and for being the birthplace of a certain ice cream company. It is also the home of another ‘sweet thing’, MV & EE, a musical collective focused on Matt “MV” Valentine and his partner Erika “EE” Elder.

With past contributions from musicians such as J. Mascis and Chris Corsano, the past decade has seen MV & EE release an impressive number of albums. Their latest, ‘Space Homestead’ (on Woodsist, 2012) is a wall of sound applied through DIY sensibilities recorded over the course of a year in 9 different studios. Sometimes lunar blues, sometimes fingerstyle space noise, sometimes lonesome frontier folk…always environments.

It makes sense then that the duo have decided to construct and tour with their very own handcrafted environment in the form of their ‘Home Comfort Sound System’. In this special one-off tour, hand-built PA and analogue visuals will be installed to beautifully twisted effect, immersing the audience in MV & EE’s other-wordly aesthetic. Built in blissful collaboration with sound engineer Tall of Suffolk’s Ambush Cinema, the performance space constructed will combine 16mm projections, slides, oils, and customised lighting devised by Hogge of Bristol’s infamous Cube Cinema. Created will be a unique sonic and visual experience capturing the curious and exploratory DIY nature embodied by this free spirited musical partnership. Acoustic folk is experimentally combined with spaced out acid rock jams and psychedelic vibes à la Grateful Dead.

Listen to “Sweet Sure Gone” from the new album streaming on adhoc.fm here.

http://mvandee.blogspot.com/

Health & Efficiency

Support comes from Health & Efficiency who have a penchant for using effects and loops pedals to create inspired novel post-rock electro-folk compositions. Banjo, bass and guitar feature heavily in this experimental noise collective.

Listen and download their 3-track album for free here.

http://music.healthandefficiency.net/

MV & EE with the Home Comfort Sound System + Health & Efficiency will perform at Birmingham’s Custard Factory Gallery on Wednesday 19th September. For tickets visit: https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/

Sleepy Sun, San Francisco’s answer to sweet psych rock arrive this Monday 10th of September to play Birmingham’s very own Hare & Hounds. The self-proclaimed ‘rambling band’ are fresh from a summer tour which saw them take to the stage at ATP’s I’ll Be Your Mirror festival and both Primavera festivals in Spain and Portugal.

After years of honing their skills in the van, this collective of dreamer-vagabonds have finally released an album which captures something of both the beautiful and the brutal in the form of this year’s ‘Spine Hits’. Recorded against a desert backdrop with Dave Catching (QOTSA, Eagles of Death Metal) producing, Sleepy Sun have managed to fuse the heavy jams they became known for with saccharine laced pop melodies that are hard for anyone to resist.

ATP netted a snapshot of the recording process viewable below:

You can also listen to the new album ‘Spine Hits’ streaming in its entirety courtesy of Clash Music here.

Support comes from Mustard Tiger and a new band featuring ex members of Mothwasp and Stinky Wizzleteat. Tickets for Sleepy Sun’s show on Monday 10th September are available now via https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk

Not long to go til our late summer event with Sleepy Sun, they’re touring their new record ‘Spine Hits’ and are a must for fans of Dead Meadow and Jefferson Airplane.

“Sleepy Sun’s miles, months, and days in the van are a tangible presence in Spine Hits, an LP of whimsy, restlessness, and urgency that leaps nimbly from landscape to landscape with ease, irreverence, and a catch-em-before-they-ain’t changeling nature. Recorded under the big skies of the California high desert, the jams on Spine Hits are alternatingly precision whittled and moodily muscular.”

Support comes from Mustard Tiger, who describe themselves as “Toxic, Loud and Obnoxious” and a new band featuring ex members of Mothwasp and Stinky Wizzleteat.

They play the Hare & Hounds on Monday 10th September. Tickets are available via https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk

In advance of their very special Home Comfort Sound System tour, which comes to Birmingham’s Custard Factory Gallery on Wednesday 19th September, Matt Valentine and Erika Elder discuss their music and what we can can expect from this specially crafted tour, that will see them perform a unique audio visual set each night in response to their surroundings.

we’ve learned to be pretty ergonomic yet sonically expansive from all the touring stateside. since we last hit the UK terrain erika and i have expanded the repertoire considerably and go beyond what people might think is possible within our lil’ homestead, so be on the lookout for some new jams and some pretty major tonal surprises.

Read the full interview HERE

Tickets for the show, which swill also see a set from Health & Efficiency can be purchased from https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/

The Wire have published a glowing review of our show with The Alif Ensemble feat. Khyam Allami at Ikon Gallery. It was a wonderful show, and great to continue working with Khyam and his varying projects.

Our next gig is with Sleepy Sun, perfect hazy late summer vibes, with support from Mustard Tiger and a band rising from the ashes of Mothwasp (we’re waiting on the new name!). Tickets are available via https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/

Poster designed by Ben Javens