John Wall & Mark Durgan + Behaviour @ Café Kino, Fri 17 May
/ShieldShaped/ returns to the Kino basement with a spectacular double punch of improv power and hive-mindedness.
Delighted to be hosting a rare live appearance from the John Wall/Mark Durgan duo, whose self-titled collaboration – released in 2012 on Entr'acte – earned them high acclaim from all corners of the experimental music press.
Delighted to be hosting a rare live appearance from the John Wall/Mark Durgan duo, whose self-titled collaboration – released in 2012 on Entr'acte – earned them high acclaim from all corners of the experimental music press.
On paper, Wall/Durgan might seem an unlikely pairing. Wall's series of self-released CDs – from 1995's Alterstill up to 2005's Cphon – marked him out as one of the most original and revered composers of the era. His micro-scalpelled assemblages of samples, and painstaking, pointillist editing displayed a complexity far exceeding that of most plunderphonic contemporaries. Needle-sharp and impeccably detailed.
Durgan, meanwhile, has been ploughing a different sort of furrow. Since 1986, both under his own name and as Putrefier, he has been refining a form of noise music that is entirely his own. Drawing on musique concrete, but realised on an industrialesque array of home-made and jerry-rigged devices, his sound is full-bodied, combustive and visceral. His releases have wormed out through a host of legendary subcultural labels: Broken Flag, RRRecords, Harbinger Sound, and – more recently – Gods of Tundra and Pan.
Durgan, meanwhile, has been ploughing a different sort of furrow. Since 1986, both under his own name and as Putrefier, he has been refining a form of noise music that is entirely his own. Drawing on musique concrete, but realised on an industrialesque array of home-made and jerry-rigged devices, his sound is full-bodied, combustive and visceral. His releases have wormed out through a host of legendary subcultural labels: Broken Flag, RRRecords, Harbinger Sound, and – more recently – Gods of Tundra and Pan.
Recent years have seen diversification from both artists: Wall collaborating with poet Alex Rodgers for an album; Durgan joining anti-music assaultists the New Blockaders, as well as appearing at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (as part of Maja Ratkje's Crepuscular Hour).
Two masters of their craft and two diverse voices, Wall and Durgan have found a remarkably fertile common ground. Tonight they dig it over with laptop and assorted electronics.
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Also on the bill we have Behaviour an 11-piece improv ensemble led by Andy Keep. Now in its eighth year, the annually rotating line-up is formed from 3rd year students on Bath Spa University's renowned CMT course. Working with a huge spread of self-designed sound sources – hacked hardware devices, instrumentalised found objects, software environments, circuit bending, homemade instruments, etc – the group perform interpretations of classic large ensemble improv works as well as original strategy-based compositions.
For this one-off performance, they are collaborating with sonic artist (and pioneer of the sonic marble run) Jon Pigott, who will be producing direct visuals triggered by the audio output of the ensemble.
Downstairs at Café Kino, Stokes Croft, Bristol.
Tickets just £5 (£3 students/conc.). Available in advance from the Here Shop/Bristol Ticket Shop.
Downstairs at Café Kino, Stokes Croft, Bristol.
Tickets just £5 (£3 students/conc.). Available in advance from the Here Shop/Bristol Ticket Shop.
