A reminder that the wonderful Bardo Pond will perform at Hare & Hounds this Wednesday. We really pleased to have them back in Birmingham after their beautiful show at Supersonic Festival last year. With only three UK dates on this current tour, tomorrow is a rare chance to see this amazing live band.

I heard someone comment recently that the limits of music have now been defined, bracketed by John Cage’s silence at one end and Merzbow’s maximum noise at the other, leaving only the option of filling the spaces in between. Bardo Pond demonstrate how much scope there is to innovate within that continuum. If rock music is to have any relevance in the new millennium, it is bands like Bardo Pond that will make it so. www.terrascope.co.uk

Support comes from Damrai Vent who will be crafting a live set of improvised sounds, creating ‘soundtracks to science fiction movies never made’.

Tickets are £10 in advance, more OTD. Get them now via https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/. Doors are 8pm.

As well as getting you hyped for Supersonic Festival with the heavy sounds of Kevin Martin (as King Midas Sound System, performing as The Bug in October) and JK Flesh, we’ve taken the opportunity to programme some exciting sounds from some of Birmingham’s own experimental sound artists.

Sarah M Farmer is a Birmingham based artist exploring various sound techniques and home made instrumentation. For this event she will be performing a new piece entitled ‘An Array of Events’. “In a bid to overcome the problem of being a lone performer with only the usual number of hands and limited instrumental skill” Sarah will perform orchestral pieces using a variety of DIY instruments.

Check out some of her other work:

The event takes place on Saturday 4th August at Eastside Projects from 7.30pm. Tickets are available via https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/

As well as getting you hyped for Supersonic Festival with the heavy sounds of Kevin Martin (as King Midas Sound System, performing as The Bug in October) and JK Flesh, we’ve taken the opportunity to programme some exciting sounds from some of Birmingham’s own experimental sound artists.

Lee Howard performs as Iron Fist of the Sun. Expect bitter cold contemporary power electronics with references to black metal and extreme noise – just don’t dare call it ‘Art Noise’!

The event takes place on Saturday 4th August at Eastside Projects from 7.30pm. Tickets are available via https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/

As well as getting you hyped for Supersonic Festival with the heavy sounds of Kevin Martin (as King Midas Sound System, performing as The Bug in October) and JK Flesh, we’ve taken the opportunity to programme some exciting sounds from some of Birmingham’s own experimental sound artists.

One of these will be percussionist Laurence Hunt. Best know for his work with Pram and Modified Toy Orchestra, Laurence will be performing a new solo project – here’s a glimpse and what you can expect.

The event takes place on Saturday 4th August at Eastside Projects from 7.30pm. Tickets are available via https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/

Thank you to all who came out to see the Alif Ensemble at Ikon Gallery last week – it was a really special event with some incredible musicianship. Thanks also to all the performers, the Ikon Gallery staff and Khyam Allami for putting it all together.

Pictures below by Katja Ogrin

Simon Fox opened the show with a beautiful acoustic set

We’ve got two great shows in store for you next week, of a slightly different nature. Space rockers Bardo Pond perform at the Hare & Hounds on Wednesday 1st August and we’ve got a Supersonic Taster at Eastside Projects on Saturday 4th August, featuring King Midas Sound System, JK Flesh and a host of experimental musicians. Tickets for both shows are available via https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk

We thoroughly recommend you spend your Thursday evening at Ikon Gallery tonight to witness The Alif Ensemble a new collective of superbly talented and inventive Arabic musicians. Support comes from acoustic guitarist Simon Fox. Doors are 8pm and you can still grab a ticket via https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/

Reviews from their debut performance at

Liverpool’s Arabic Arts Festival are coming in…

What quickly becomes apparent is that amongst these seven musicians – while they are clearly taking their lead from Allami – there is no real hierarchy, just a warmth and mutual appreciation of each other’s playing ability. Any concerns around the chances of Ghazaleh relaxing are quickly forgotten, as his earlier intensity is swapped for a rich vocal, allied with expert and driving buzuq-playing. Just like that he is a match for anyone on stage.

Indeed, this is a real feature of the whole set: seven musicians equal in quality and renown (at least to our untutored ears) working together for the simple enjoyment of it. Just when you are admiring the amazing drumming of the pony-tailed Ayman Mabrouk, the violin playing of Yaroub Smarait will kick in and briefly take centre-stage, keeping you on your toes and reminding you to look around, lest you miss out on something extraordinary. Read more via http://www.thedoublenegative.co.uk/2012/07/alif-ensemble-reviewed/

Our lovely volunteer film crew work hard at Supersonic each year to document the performances so you can relive your favourites or check out the people you missed. In advance of our show with Bardo Pond on Wednesday 1st August at Hare & Hounds, they’ve released some beautiful footage of the American space rockers in full flow at the festival last year.

Tickets for the show are available via https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/

We’ve just announced a gig with the inimitable Om. Starting off from the ashes of Sleep, they have moved on to explore psychedelic and world music whilst maintaining groove ridden doom riffs. They will perform at The Rainbow Warehouse on Tuesday 25th September.

Tickets are available via https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk/

Capsule invited Om to embark on their first UK tour in 2007 – here they are performing at Supersonic Festival that year

And here they are at Roadburn 2012