In September 2012 Touch will present a series of events at ISSUE Project Room, Anthology Film Archives and Experimental Intermedia in NYC, celebrating the publisher’s 30th anniversary. Since its first release in 1982, Touch has created sonic and visual productions that combine innovation with a level of care and attention that has made it the most enduring of any independent music company of its time. The label has presented a wide range of artists from New Order to Thomas Köner, and now has a strong focus on artists such as Fennesz, Chris Watson, Philip Jeck, Jana Winderen, Hildur Gudnadottir, Jacob Kirkegaard, Oren Ambarchi and Biosphere.
On Sunday Sep 16 2012 the so-called “Touch Ensemble” will perform at Phill Niblock‘s space Experimental intermedia in a concert conducted by one of Touch’s head honchos, Mike Harding. The Touch Ensemble for the evening will consist of JG Thirlwell, Philip Jeck, Ken Montgomery, Marcus Davidson, Lary 7, and Dave Knapik.
Category: News
Manorexia live in Nantes on the First of September!
Manorexia will play an exclusive one-off European concert at Les Rendezvous de l’ Erdre Festival in Nantes, France on September 1, 2012. This show will be unique in that it is the first show as a combination of the two Manorexia ensembles. Some of you may know that JG has a pool of musicians both in London and NYC that comprise Manorexia EU and Manorexia NY respectively. For this show, Peter Wise (percussion) of Manorexia NY will be joining UK-based members Angharad Davies (violin), Tim Parkinson (piano), Nozomi Cohen (viola), Rachel Steadman (violin) and Katy Cox (cello). This will also be the first Manorexia show on French soil.
JGT guests with Marc Almond at Antony's Meltdown
JG Thirlwell will be special guest in a one-off performance by Marc Almond with a 2012 incarnation of his former group the Mambas, when they perform the classic album Torment and Toreros in its entirety for the Meltdown Festival. This year’s festival is curated by Antony Hegarty of Antony and The Johnsons, who was heavily impacted by Almond’s record. JG wrote and played all the instruments on the song “A Million Manias” which appears on that album, and will perform it live with Marc. In addition JG plays on the track “Beat Out That Rhythm On A Drum”. Antony has said of Almond, ‘Marc laid out a trail of subcultural breadcrumbs and aesthetic tenets that, more than any other single influence, formed the artist that I would become. Ten years before I would hear Nina Simone make a similar affirmation, I read Marc saying that he didn’t care if he hit the notes, for it was only the feeling that mattered.’
The concert takes place on August 9, 2012 at the Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Center in London. Tickets are available here. Also appearing at this year’s Meltdown are Diamanda Galas, Elizabeth Fraser, William Basinski, Lou Reed, Matmos, Planningtorock, Selda, Joan As Police Woman, Marina Abramovic, Cyclobe and many more.
JG Artwork in Re:Surgo book, curated by Timeless
JG Thirlwell has contributed artwork to a new limited edition hand made art-zine publication. The book is the third in a series published by Re:Surgo, the Berlin based screen print atelier run by Anna Hellsgaard & Christian Gfeller, and was curated by Xavier Laradji, editor of Timeless zines & books. The other artists who contributed to the book are Chilean-born artist Gea, cult transgressor Trevor Brown, Philip Best (of Whitehouse) and Sarah Froelich. It is a beautiful sixteen page three color hand silkscreened book, printed on heavy stock in a numbered limited edition of 125 copies, and is available from the Timeless shop.
JG’s artwork for this project is in his signature red, white black and gray palette, this time using Korean typography as a major design element.
JGT DJ's at Maze Festival at Secret Project Robot
JG Thirlwell is schedule to make a rare DJ appearance on July 12 2012 at You Are Here Festival (aka The Maze!), which will be held at Secret Project Robot in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
The art duo Trouble will build a gigantic maze into the gallery and have booked a month of performances inside of it. The festival consists of 4 weeks of performance and time-based arts events in the life size maze installation.
The evening JG DJ’s will feature performances by Miho Hatori’s New Optimism, Z’s , Bachanalia, Anne Liv Young. Subsequent nights of the festival will feature performances by Mick Barr, Lucky Dragons, Das Racist DJ’s, Hunter Hunt Hendrix’ Kel Valhaal, Loud Objects, Jack Quartet, Amen Dunes, Noveller and many more. You can read about the project on the Vice Noisy website, and even contribute to a Kickstarter with which they hope to fund a maze in Berlin.
JGT in Kaliningrad, Russia for Sound Art festival
JG Thirlwell will be in Kaliningrad, Russia from May 24-26 2012 for the Sound Around Kaliningrad Festival, an International Festival of Experimental Music and Sound Art. JG will have a new six channel sound installation on display, entitled “Otitis Interna”. In addition he will do a performance and lecture.
Describing “Otitis Interna”, Thirlwell said : “When I was presented with the image of the room in Kaliningrad where my sound installation would be housed, I felt it evoked a sonic landscape of wood and organic matter, of work and anxiety, of memory and loss trapped in the grain and the walls. I sought to examine and paint these ideas with sound. I sourced and arranged a sonic palette into a six channel spatial environment/composition of musique concrete to convey these ideas into the space. Adding blacklight as the sole source of illumination in the room added a twist of disorientation which is meant to invoke an x-ray.”
Other participants in the Festival this year include Jacob Kirkegaard, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Jana Winderen, Kiwa, Greta Christensen & Camilla Sørensen a.k.a. Vinylterror and Horror,Mats Lindstrom, Robert Piotrowicz, Vladimir Tarasov, Maksims Shentelevs, Hanna Hartman, John Grzinich and Jelena Glazova, as well as Kalinigrad musicians Kratong, Danil Akimov, Nikodim, Sergey Sorokin, Kraynost, Not a mind, StirliTZ and more. The festival will take place in many sites around the city, including the Kaliningrad Zoo. There will be concerts, performances, installations, workshops, screenings, audio broadcasts, interventions in public spaces and an open record library.
Manorexia European Tour Dates Postponed
We regret to announce that due to severe mismanagement most of the Manorexia European tour has been postponed.
Manorexia will be playing the following dates
April 12 ATP presents Union Chapel, London
April 13 Roadburn Festival, Tilburg, Holland
April 14 Extrapool, Nijmegen, Holland
The ensemble will be Angharad Davies (violin), Tim Parkinson (piano), Dan Gresson (percussion), Jessica Cox (cello), Rachel Steadman (violin) and Nozomi Cohen (viola), with the composer, JG Thirlwell, on laptop
The other shows in the tour will be rescheduled for a later date. Sorry for any inconvenience and disappointment.
Nino Ferrer Revisited
Optical Sound, the label that brought you the Hydroze Plus 10″, has released an album of interpretations of the seminal late singer Nino Ferrer on April 2, 2012. Entitled Objets Noirs et Choses Carrees : Nino Ferrer revisited, the album feature JG Thirlwell’s rendition of Ferrer’s classic La Rua Madureira. Other artists covering Ferrer on the album include Norscq, Étienne Charry, The Garçon, Bernard Szajner, Complot, Klimperei, Molypop, Les Hautsdeplerfond, Les Denise Glaser, La Kuizine, David Fenech, Cocoon, Toupidak Limonade, Non Finito Orchestra. Palo Alto featuring Laurent Pernice and Lefdup, Lefdup and Lefdup featuring Arthur Ferrari and Charlie Cole.
Nino Ferrer was a popular French singer who began his career in the mid 1960’s. He committed suicide in 1998.
JGT meets Zola Jesus at the Guggenheim
JG Thirlwell is working with Zola Jesus on a performance of her works at the Guggenheim Museum on May 10, 2012. The performance by Zola Jesus will feature string quartet and electronics as a departure from her regular instrumentation, and JG Thirlwell has composed the string arrangements for the concert and will act as musical director. The string players will be the Mivos Quartet, with Manorexia alumni Elena Moon Park guest substituting for Mivos’ Olivia DePrato. The performance will be part of Divine Ricochet, a Guggenheim Music Series.
Manorexia London show announced
JG Thirlwell’s Manorexia will play a rare London show on April 12 2012 at Union Chapel. The show is being presented by All Tomorrow’s Parties in conjunction with the First Contact agency. The ensemble will include previous Manorexia UK stalwarts Angharad Davies, Tim Parkinson and Dan Gresson, along with former alumni Jessica Cox and Rachel Steadman. The instrumentation of the ensemble is two violins, viola, cello, piano, concert percussion and laptop. Tickets are on sale now via Gigantic, See Tickets and HMV. More European Manorexia dates will be announced soon. The latest Manorexia album is the acclaimed Dinoflagellate Blooms, which is available in stereo and 5.1 surround sound .