Electronic Music 411 - Drowned in a Dull Roar manchester 12 may -

hey hey chaps, only a couple of weeks away now and the tension is unbearable (mainly cos i dont know how im paying for it yet!) and my hair is getting extreemly thin. If any of you are making the dash to manchester for futuresonic, come by for a beer, a brew, some cake and aural bliss with myself and manlike bsr.
''I dont care how you get here
Just get here......
if you caaaaaaaaaaaan''

Drowned in a Dull Roar, May 12 2pm-8pm Victoria baths, Hathersage Road, Victoria Park. Free for wristband holders (though donations encouraged)

A multimedia exploration of space, sound, movement and vision at Victoria Baths, a disused public bath-house 5 minutes walk from the main festival activities . In the character of this years festival it features the convergence of exploraratory musics, unconventional dance, mind bending moving image and the greatest performer of all; the rich acoustic of the Baths themselves. It is a celebration of new ways of listening , from concentration on the incidental sounds of everyday life to the ecstatic drones of one of the founding fathers of the noise underground in the UK, to the DIY operatives who are currently setting the world on fire with their own psychedelic take on transcendental noise. All of this housed within one of the most famous buildings in Manchester, winner of the BBC’s Restoration programme. . It will be an opportunity for visitors to the festival to set themselves free of the computer sequencer and sterile, male dominated environments grids which all but dominate modern electronic music and experience cutting edge sound and performance in an inviting, unpretentious surrounding. Victoria Baths will also be housing seminars and performances by Soundnetwork and will provide a focus for some of the more avante garde activities of the weekend, and also expose people who are attending a primarily a dance music event to some of the most exciting practitioners the UK has working in sound. There will also be an area set aside for talks and for local experimental musicians and record labels to set up stalls and give them an opportunity to sell their product Featuring;

Colin Potter has been one of the key figures in the world of underground music since the late 1970s. He founded one of the earliest cassette labels in the UK (ICR), releasing work by artists such as himself, ,Andrew Chalk, Darren Tate, and collaborated with Ora, Monos, Current 93, the Hafler Trio and is along with Stephen Stapleton the legendary Nurse with Wound. Colin’s role in this seminal group is vital, the one who technically brings the unhinged ideas of Stapleton to fruition. And very occasionally makes one of his legendary live performances. This will be one of them.
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Birds of Delay is the duo of Steven Warwick and Luke Younger who have blossomed into one of the best offerings from the UK noise scene, with a prolific outpouring of material, through a never ending list of labels, including Chocolate Monk and Wolf Eyes own American Tapes imprint. While their sound is underpinned by some almighty drones, the pair bring out an ever-changing array of instruments and electronic trickery to create some of the most intrciately rendered 'noise' around. They have been described as ‘heady, lethargic and downright menacing. One thing that stands out here is the sense of control Birds Of Delay have over awesome mass of sound that under the hands of others working with the same means - even a lot their more established contemporaries - can often get murky, but they retain focus throughout.’
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Canvas Dance are a new and exciting contemporary dance company based within the Yorkshire region. They work to shift boundaries to create thick/hazy/lurid atmospheres onstage. Unique characters combine to form complex yet effortless choreography. Their current projects include a hypnotic dance for camera piece based on the Greek myth of Sisyphus and will be embarking on a regional tour. They are currently working with Straight on a live performance piece ‘Intimate Drowning’ a mix of dance, projections and sound which will be premiered at the event and was in fact the catalyst for the event itself
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Lee Patterson is an explorer of the microscopic world of sound that exists 'as a kind of exotic substratum to the everyday world'. As he says himself ‘ the more I investigate, the more the world opens up in front of my ears’. He uses the everyday in such an alien yet intimate fashion that one cannot help but be spellbound. Following on from a triumphant 2006 travelling the world, involving performances at the Instal festival and his collaborations with the high priest of thinking on avant garde sound David Toop, he promises to do something very special for us

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Johnathan Fisher (aka BSR) was until recently the boss of Manchester netlabel and promotion outfit Hippocamp now with an unbelievable 170 releases under its belt. He recently handed over control of the label to concentrate on his own work and decamped to the country creating wondrous guitar based soundscapes reminiscent of Fennesz or Eno.

Ray Lee
SIREN “a choir of rotating sirens, their individually strident voices congealing into a thick mutating chord that transfixed listeners in its sticky flux.” David Toop, The Wire
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There will also be performances from Manchester based artists
Straight, (www.myspace.com/stephenmclaughlin)
Disco Operating System,
(www.lotta-continua.co.uk),
Sparkles (www.myspace.com/sparklebox)
Noise Club (www.myspace.com/noiseclub1)
and live visuals from video artist Mafro throughout the day, as well as talks and installations provided by Soundnetwork

In partnership with soundnetwork who will be occupying the baths on friday and sunday
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