Photo by Rania Moslam
Messing as a German noun for a metal that is a component of drum cymbals. Messing is the cheapest metal alloy for cymbals. It is therefore easily deformed and bent. Messing as an English verb describing a chaotic handling. The internationally sought-after drummer concentrates on only one cymbal as a source of sound, plays around with it („messing“) and thereby discovers new possibilities of development in sound. According to Koenig, this reduction of means can be traced back to the loss of his rehearsal room and, in addition, an acute lack of space, which is also related to his constant commuting between New York and Vienna. The warehouse was converted into a quiet rehearsal room, where he explored his dexterity on the cymbal and its tonal characteristics by means of contact microphones and headphones and perfected his technique accordingly. And this reduction of means bore fruit. Koenig composes tracks with rhythmic patterns that are complex in phases but always driving, and their rawness and directness lend them a unique aesthetic, an immense punch and a special acousmatic charm. The pieces oscillate between abstract sound fields (Hot Springs) and catchier, groove-based pieces. Messing by Lukas Koenig is a bold announcement that rejects straight pop and instead shines through the urge for artistic freedom and the will for change. The metal always sounds through here, at times thrashes at us ungraciously, drives us on, resonates. In a club context, König undoubtedly cleans up the place just as well as in a seated listening ambience.
Elisa Kuehnl (* 1988 in Oberhausen) lives in Cologne and is a musician and sound artist. She questions and expands the usual rules of singing to explore spontaneous manifestations of pure sound and noise. It is precisely the oblique, garish moments that offer the most fascinating paths of her vocal excursions.
Elvin Brandhi is an improvising lyricist, producer and sound artist from Bridgend, Wales, who builds aberrant beats from field recordings, tape, vinyl, instrument and voice. Using sound and voice as an expansive language transgressing intrinsic systemics and inherited syntactical etiquettes, her live shows are unyielding bursts of erupting animation where her caustic stream of consciousness cavorts with restless, glitched out heaviness. Her creative momentum comprises a range of collaborations and an endless nomadism. Her first E.P ‘Shelf life’ was released on ‘C.A.N.V.A.S’ in 2018. She one half of father / daughter noise-improv berserkers Yeah You who released on Alter, Slip, Opal, Psychik Dancehall and Good Food. She also performs in collaborations such as the Avril Spleen project with Joseph Jadame (maltash), Bahk with Daniel Blumberg (MUTE), as well as contributions to Drew Mcdowall’s agalma, just to name a few.
https://hakunakulala.bandcamp.com/album/headroof
Luís Fernandes' artistic activity has been marked by a multiplicity of approaches and formats, divided into collective projects, occasional collaborations and individual work; by performances, composition and exhibition; and by the establishment of relationships with different disciplines. His career has been marked by encounters with a wide range of artists, including Hans-Joachim Roedelius/Qluster, Black Bombaim, Rhys Chatham, Pierce Warnecke, André Gonçalves, Lloyd Cole, Lisbon Metropolitan Orquestra, João Pedro Rodrigues / João Rui Guerra da Mata or Salomé Lamas.
In 2019 Fernandes added a new dimension to his individual activity, with the release of "Demora" (Room40) and "Seis Peças Sintetizadas" (Holuzam), albums that he signed, for the first time, in his own name. It is from this body of work that a new stage on his career is settled. His last record "A guide to getting lost" (Revolve), and the exploration of real-time electronics will be the starting point for a series of shows, in which Fernandes will weave particular compositions in the moment, walking a fine line between the possibility of error and the dazzle of discovery.
Photo by Nuno Martins
Photo by Leonardo Scotti
Born on the ancient island of Sicily and now based in Berlin, Nino Pedone is a sound designer, producer, DJ, and label founder who's best known for his work as Shapednoise. He sculpts perplexing, mangled electronic textures, fusing them with abrasive, expertly designed rhythms and crashing across genre boundaries, pulling inspiration from industrial music, hardcore continuum, experimental noise, hip-hop, and rap. Pedone's idiosyncratic technique has evolved across four vastly different releases: 2013's Opal Tapes-released 'Until Human Wakes Us,' 'Different Selves' released on Type in 2015, 2019's 'Aesthesis' on Scottish imprint Numbers, and 'Absurd Matter,' the inaugural release of his own multidisciplinary platform WEIGHT LOOMING. The latter is Pedone's most ambitious full-length to date, structuring his ear-bending sonic experimentation into unstable but familiar patterns and featuring guest spots from Armand Hammer, Brodinski, Dean Hurley, Moor Mother, and ZelooperZ.
Sisterbitch comes from the Stuttgart suburbs and has loved playing loud music systems since she was a child. What the neighbours wouldn't let her do, she found on the Wasen between Breakdance No 1 and Boxauto – the best sound systems in town. In addition to all the freestyle and commercial rap, she was also influenced by Bollywood and Car service station music as a daughter of a trucker. This transformed into a love of voluminous sound games between noise, instrumental grime, Miami bass and ambient. There are no limits to the Bpm.
Technoid fairground soul with a bit of delicatessen paranoia served on sound plates (wav + vinyl).
Photo by Rania Moslam
Photo by Nuno Martins
Photo by Leonardo Scotti