ALEKSANDER KOLKOWSKI

sound sculpture / avant jazz / musique concrete / performative art / sound installation / modern composition / abstractism / electroacoustic / avant-garde / sound art / experimental / concrete turntablism / noise / contemporary art / drone music

Aleksander Kolkowski (born 1959 in London) is a British musician and composer whos work combines instruments and machines from the pioneering era of sound recording and reproduction (Stroh violins, wind-up Gramophones, shellac discs and wax-cylinder Phonographs) to make live mechanical-acoustic music. He lives and works in London , England . Kolkowski studied music at the University of London , Goldsmiths College , violin with Clarence Myerscough at the Royal Academy of Music. Taught by John Tilbury, Hugh Davies and in 1982 participated in seminars and performances directed by John Cage.In 2002 he founded Recording Angels, a series that examines our relationships to recorded sound using antiquated home-recording devices such as Phonographs and acetate record cutters in performances and installations.

ANTOINE CHESSEX
Alias: DARK MATTER

avant jazz / musique concrete / modern composition / abstractism / ambient music / minimalism / electroacoustic / avant-garde / sound art / experimental / noise / harsh / drone music

Antoine Chessex is a composer and sound artist born in 1980 in Vevey, Switzerland, with a background as a saxophone player and performer. His sonic researches include compositions for ensembles, solo works, transdisciplinary collaborations and sound installations . Chessex´s works are based on the exploration of the physicality of sounds and spaces and deal with acoustic as much as electronic and electroacoustic mediums. His solo works feature dense layers of sustained pitches reacting with the architecture of the space or massive clouds of amplified sax resulting in intense live actions in total immersion in the sound. He presents his works worldwide and appears at numerous international festivals and venues in the U.S.A, Russia, Japan, China and all around Europe. Recent compositional works include "DUST" for 3 violins and electronics (commissioned by Pro Helvetia), "Resonant Water" a site specific piece for acoustic ensemble, "Metakatharsis" commissioned by the Phoenix Ensemble in Basel (2011) and "CHUTE" commissioned by the Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin (2011) as well as numerous electronic music pieces.

BURIAL HEX

psychedelic / modern composition / ambient music / electroacoustic / avant-garde / experimental / noise / dark ambient / abstract expressionism / harsh

Clay Ruby.

CHRISTINA KUBISCH

sound sculpture / musique concrete / sound installation / modern composition / abstractism / ambient music / acousmatic art / minimalism / avant-garde / electroacoustic / field recordings / sound art / experimental / noise / contemporary art / site specific / conceptual art / drone music

Christina Kubisch belongs to the first generation of sound artists. Trained as a composer, she has artistically developed such techniques as magnetic induction to realize her installations. Since 1986 she has added light as an artistic element to her work with sound. Her work displays an artistic development which is often described as the "synthesis of arts" - the discovery of acoustic space and the dimension of time in the visual arts on the one hand, and a redefinition of relationships between material and form on the other. Christina Kubisch was born in Bremen. She studied music, painting and electronics. Performances and concerts until 1980, subsequently sound installations, sound sculptures and work with ultraviolet light. Numerous grants and awards, such as Award of the German Industrial Association (BDI), composition grant of the city of Berlin, Carl Djerassi Honorary Fellowship, IASPIS Stockholm. Since 1974 solo exhibitions in Europe, USA, Australia, Japan and South America. Participation in international festivals and group exhibitions such as : Pro Musica Nova, Bremen 1976 /1980, Für Augen und Ohren, Berlin 1980, Biennale of Venice, 1980 / 1982, Gaudeamus Music Festival 1984, documenta 8, Kassel 1987, Ars Electronica, Linz 1987, Steirischer Herbst, Graz 1987, Biennale of Sydney 1990, Donaueschinger Musiktage, 1993 /1997, Prison Sentences, Philadelphia 1995, Sonambiente, Berlin 1996, in medias res, Istanbul 1997, festival d'art sonor, Barcelona 1999, Sonic Boom, London 2000, Visual Sound, Pittsburgh 2001, Singuhr-Hörgalerie, berlin 2002. Christina Kubisch is a professor of sculpture and audio/visual arts at the Academy of Fine Arts, Saarbrücken, since 1994 and a member of the Akademie der Künste Berlin since 1987.She lives in Berlin. Christina Kubisch belongs to the first generation of sound artists. Trained as a composer, she has artistically developed such techniques as the magnetic induction to realize her sound installations. Since 1986 the artist has added light as an artistic element to her work with sound. Christina Kubisch's work displays an artistic development which is often described as the "synthesis of arts" - the discovery of acoustic space and the dimension of time in the visual arts on the one hand, and a new relationship between material and form in music on the other.

CLAUDIO PARODI

avant jazz / modern composition / abstractism / minimalism / avant-garde / sound art

Claudio Parodi has a classical training as a pianist. Since more then ten years he plays also self-built or self-modified electronics, and more recently some non-western reeds. Many collaborations with many musicians, dancers, poets, actors, painters and video-makers.

DARK MATTER
Alias: KASPER T. TOEPLITZ / ANTOINE CHESSEX

avant jazz / psychedelic / modern composition / electroacoustic / sound art / experimental / drone music

DARK MATTER are Kasper T. Toeplitz bass, computer, tam; and Antoine Chessex sax, electronics.

FRANCISCO LOPEZ

musique concrete / sound installation / psychedelic / modern composition / abstractism / ambient music / acousmatic art / minimalism / avant-garde / electroacoustic / field recordings / sound art / experimental / contemporary art / nonmusic / conceptual art / drone music

Francisco López is internationally recognized as one of the major figures of the sound art and experimental music scene. Over the past 30 years he has developed an astonishing sonic universe, absolutely personal and iconoclastic, based on a profound listening of the world. Destroying boundaries between industrial sounds and wilderness sound environments, shifting with passion from the limits of perception to the most dreadful abyss of sonic power, proposing a blind, profound and transcendental listening, freed from the imperatives of knowledge and open to sensory and spiritual expansion. Over the last twenty years Francisco López has been developing a powerful and consistent world of minimal electroacoustic soundscapes, 'trying to reach an ideal of absolute concrète music'. To date, his catalog comprises more than 140 sound works, which have been released by one hundred record labels from Spain, France, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Austria, UK, Norway, Greece, Russia, Canada, USA, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Japan, China, Australia. He has toured extensively throughout Western and Eastern Europe, North, Central and South America, Japan and Australia doing acousmatic performances, and he has received commissions from a number of reknown institutions and organizations, such as the Dutch and Spanish National Radios, the Goethe Institut, V2 Organization (Rotterdam), Yale University Theater (New Haven), the Ralph Lemon Company (New York), the Zeitkratzer Ensemble (Berlin), Creative Time (New York), Quartier Ephemere (Montreal) and Sound Traffic Control (San Francisco).

KASPER T. TOEPLITZ
Alias: DARK MATTER

avant jazz / musique concrete / modern composition / abstractism / ambient music / acousmatic art / minimalism / electroacoustic / avant-garde / sound art / experimental / conceptual art / drone music

Composer, electric bass player and musician who has developed his work in the no man's land between "academic" composition (orchestra, ensembles, opera) and electronic "new music" or "noise music". Has won several prizes and distinctions ; 1st prize for orchestral composition at the Besançon Festival, 1st prize at the "Opéra autrement / centre Acanthes" competition, Villa Médicis Hors les Murs (New York), grant Leonardo da Vinci (San Francisco) , Villa Kujoyama (Kyoto), DAAD (Berlin). Got numerous commissions from the French Governement, the radio and from electronic studios such as Ircam, GRM , GMEM, CRFMW, EMS.. Works with experimental or unclassifiable musicians such as Zbigniew Karkowski, Tetsuo Furudate, Dror Feiler, Art Zoyd, Eliane Radigue, Phill Niblock, Ulrich Krieger, Stevie Wishart, Z'ev, others…….. Some of his long-term groups or projects are LE DEPEUPLEUR (with Zbigniew Karkowski), KERNEL (a trio of computer players), Basstaarang (with Philippe Foch playing taarang), Ephémérides (bass & image by Strom Varx) Has definitively integrated the computer into the very heart of his work, as a tool of thought and composition, and as a live instrument, hybridising more traditional instruments if necessary, or working on the sheer electronic noise.

MASSIMILIANO VIEL
Alias: SIMM-EL

musique concrete / sound installation / modern composition / abstractism / ambient music / acousmatic art / minimalism / electroacoustic / avant-garde / sound art / experimental / noise / constructivism / drone music

Massimiliano Viel attended studies in electronic music, orchestra conducting ethnomusicology and composition in Milano, Parigi, Salzburg, Odense with professor such as A. Corghi, M. Stroppa, K. Huber, B. Ferneyhough, K. Stockhausen, F.Donatoni and T.Murail. In 1989 he abandoned the performing activity with piano to pursue new sounds and performing techniques with the electronic keyboard.

As a keyboard player he collaborated with ensembles such as the Caput Ensemble 
from Rejkiavik, the Quartetto Arditti from London, MusikFrabrik from Düsseldorf and orchestras such as the Teatro alla Scala Orchestra from Milano, the WDR orchestra
from Cologne and the Orchestra of Paris, 
with whom he performed in all the most important theatres in Europe. In 1997 he performed K.Stockhausen’s "Klavierstuck XV" in Mercure Theatre of Montreal, Canada as a canadian premiere. He collaborated as interpreter and assistant with composers such as K. Stockhausen, L. Berio, L. Francesconi, A. Ingolffson, F. Romitelli and F. Guerrero.

At the same time he developed an aesthetic and technical research in musical composition, realising scores for acoustic and electronic instruments, from solo to full orchestra, performed in Europe, USA, Australia, Mexico, Indonesia and Egypt.
 As a result of his long time interest in the relationship between music and other expressive means, he realised a large number of performances in close contact with theatre, video and dance. In 2001 he started a collaboration with Otolab, one of the most worldwide known italian audiovisual team, with whom he created projects performed in the most important international festivals. I

n 2002 he founded Sincronie, an association devoted to explore the interactions between the western written music tradition and the manifold issues of contemporary culture. Sincronie produces events, an acoustic/electronic ensemble and research/didactic activities. As a natural and complementary activity to composition and production he never ceased to conduct a continuous practise of theoretical research and didactics. He holds the chair of “Composition for music didactics” at the "C.Monteverdi” Conservatory in Bolzano. He is PhD candidate at the Planetary Collegium M-Node, University of Plymouth, UK

MATARRATAS
Alias: JULIAN BONEQUI / JULIAN PERCY

doom / avant jazz / psychedelic / modern composition / abstractism / ambient music / electroacoustic / avant-garde / experimental / noise / harsh / drone music

MATARRATAS are: Julian Percy and Julian Bonequi

MERZBOW

avant jazz / musique concrete / psychedelic / modern composition / abstractism / ambient music / electroacoustic / avant-garde / sound art / noise / contemporary art / harsh / conceptual art / industrial music / drone music

Merzbow is the main recording name of the Japanese noise musician Masami Akita

NICHOLAS ISHERWOOD

spoken word / musique concrete / performative art / sound installation / modern composition / minimalism / electroacoustic / sound art / experimental / contemporary art

Nicholas Isherwood’s music has been influenced by the great composers he has had the privilege to work with as a singer. His music has been performed at venues such as the Gewandthaus in Leipzig, the Goethe Institut in Paris, the CNRS, Yehudi Menuhin’s Flâneries Musicales in Reims, the Perpignan Festival, the SMIO in Orléans, the Théatre Dunois, Dôme IMAX and Bibliothèque Historique  in Paris, Freiburg, the MDR in Halle, the SWR, Vanderbilt University, the University of Oregon, Kaoshung, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Togamura, Japan. He has received commissions from the DRAC du centre, Art Zoyd and the CNAT in Reims. Isherwood’s music has been performed by VOXNOVA, Stefano Cardi, Michel Amoric, Magnus Andersson, Isabel Soccoja, Christophe De Villeneuve and the soloists of the MDR children’s choir. His music has been broadcast by France Musique, the MDR and the SWR. He is a member of the SACD. 

Nicholas Isherwood is one of the leading singers of early music and contemporary music in the world today. He has worked with Joel Cohen, William Christie, Peter Eötvös, Paul McCreesh, Nicholas McGegan, Kent Nagano, Zubin Mehta and Gennadi Rozhdestvensky as well as composers Sylvano Bussotti, Elliott Carter, George Crumb, Hans Werner Henze, Mauricio Kagel, György Kurtág, Olivier Messiaen, Giacinto Scelsi, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis in prestigious venues around the world (La Scala, Covent Garden, the Théatre des Champs Elysées, Salzburg Festival, Concertgebouw, Berlin Staatsoper, Vienna Konzerthaus, Tanglewood). Directors he has worked with include Yuri Lyubimov, Tadashi Suzuki, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Sylvano Bussotti, Dmitri Bertmann, Michael Hampe, Pierre Audi and La Fura dels Baus.  Operatic roles include "Antinoo" in Monteverdi’s Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria with Boston Baroque, “Plutone” in Monteverdi’s Il Ballo delle Ingrate at the Angers Opera, "Claudio" in Händel’s Agrippina with Nicholas McGegan, "Satiro" in Rossi’s Orfeo and “Pan” in Marais’ Alcione with Les Arts Florissants, "Joas" in Porpora's Il Gedeone with Martin Haselböck, "Frère Léon" in Saint François d’Assise in the last composer supervised production, "Der Tod" in productions of Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis with the Bach Akademie in Stuttgart, the Konzerthaus in Berlin and 2e2m, “Roméo” in Dusapin’s Roméo et Juliette at the Avignon Festival, Montpelier Opera and on tour, “Lear” in Hosokawa’s Vision of Lear for the Munich Biennale, the title role in Mefano's Micromégas , "Bartolo" in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and the title role in The Mikado at the Eugene Opera,  “Truffaldino” in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Long Beach Opera, “Giovanni Falcone” in Nicola Sani’s Il Tempo Sospeso di Volo at the Teatro Cavallerizza in Regio Emilia, the "Hotel Manager" in Adès Powder her Face in Lugo and at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, "Astrodamors" in Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre with Zoltan Pesko and La Fura dels Baus and "Il Testimone" in Bussotti's Tieste, the title role in Luca Lombardi's Il Re Nudo, all at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome, “General Howard” in Zender’s Chief Joseph, the 7 Attempted Escapes from Silence and Kagel’s Der Tribun, all at the Staatsoper in Berlin, several roles in Zender’s Don Quixote at the Komische Oper Berlin and "Lucifer" in the world premieres of Stockhausen’s Montag, Dienstag, and Freitag aus Licht at La Scala and the Leipzig Opera and in Donnerstag aus Licht at Covent Garden. He has improvised with Steve Lacy, Joëlle Léandre, Sainkho Namtchilak and David Moss,recorded over 50 cd’s and appeared in three films.

PHILIPPE PETIT

avant jazz / musique concrete / modern composition / abstractism / minimalism / electroacoustic / avant-garde / experimental / concrete turntablism / industrial music / drone music

PHILIPPE PETIT is interested in soundtracks; even if he creates original music he'd rather be introduced as a "musical travel agent" than a composer. PETIT uses a computer to build up electronic layers, process acoustic and field recordings. To second the machine he likes to move various glasses, or percussive objects, and take advantage of vinyl material to fondle released sounds. A journalist for various magazines and radio as well as a musical activist, PETIT has celebrated his 25th year of sharing his musical passions as the man behind the cult labels Pandemonium Rdz. and BiP_HOp. PETIT has assembled what people call a dream-team of collaborators, working with: Lydia Lunch, Foetus, Kumo, Scott McCloud (Girls Against Boys), Cosey Fanni Tutti, My Brightest Diamond, Sybarite, Pantaleimon, Graham Lewis (Wire), Barry Adamson, Scanner, Mira Calix, Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Guapo, Leafcutter John, Simon Fisher Turner, Justin Broadrick and many more... Aside his solo works, PETIT is active in Strings Of Consciousness, does a duo with Lydia Lunch, and his collab with James Johnston (Gallon Drunk/Bad Seeds/Faust)

RADICAL MATTERS EDITIONS LABEL
Alias: SG

doom / sound sculpture / photography / video art / visual art / avant jazz / spoken word / musique concrete / performative art / sound installation / modern composition / psychophonia / electronic voice phenomena (evp) / transcommunication / esoteric / black metal / ambient music / acousmatic art / minimalism / avant-garde / electroacoustic / sound art / experimental / anti records / concrete turntablism / noise / dark ambient / contemporary art / nonmusic / constructivism / abstract expressionism / conceptual art / drone music

SETH CLUETT

avant jazz / musique concrete / sound installation / modern composition / esoteric / abstractism / acousmatic art / electroacoustic / avant-garde / field recordings / sound art / noise / contemporary art / glitch

American artist, performer and composer born in 1976 in Troy, New York, USA.

SIMM-EL
Alias: MASSIMILIANO VIEL

sound installation / modern composition / abstractism / ambient music / minimalism / electroacoustic / avant-garde / sound art / experimental / noise / constructivism

Massimiliano Viel (also as OTO LAB) attended courses and master- classes in piano studies, conducting, electronic music, ethnomusicology and composition in Milan, Paris, Salzburg and Odense with professors such as A. Corghi, M. Stroppa, K. Huber, B. Ferneyhough, K. Stockhausen, F. Donatoni e T. Murail. SIMM-EL is a project devoted to the exploration of electromagnetic soundscapes.

TELE.S.THERION
Alias: SG / K11 | PIETRO RIPARBELLI / ASTRAL LUEUR / WILDNESS PERVERSION | MORTUARY DRAPE

doom / avant jazz / musique concrete / sound installation / modern composition / psychophonia / esoteric / black metal / abstract symbolism / suprematism / acousmatic art / minimalism / electroacoustic / avant-garde / sound art / experimental / contemporary art / nonmusic / abstract expressionism / site specific / ritual dark ambient / conceptual art / drone music

Teleth . Sigelion. Therion | Acousmatic Black Metal | A r s A k o u s m a t i k o i : + SG : Phono-medianic record sessions of electric bass guitar prepared with metal coils, amplified in enviromental feedback system using 13 speakers and microphones, during electroacoustic metaphonic field recording session, Ars Echemythia. Hermetic sigil lyrics. + K11 : Instrumental transcommunication actions with short-wave radio receivers, exploring high-range distortions dimensions. Engeneering. Medianic chants, channelling, Ars Echemythia. In large ensemble with: + Lunurumh [Astral Lueur]: Medianic chants, channelling, Ars Echemythia. + Wildness Perversion [Mortuary Drape]: Medianic chants, channelling, Ars Echemythia.

ULTRA SPIESSER
Alias: JULIAN BONEQUI / JULIAN PERCY / ANTON MAIOF

doom / avant jazz / modern composition / abstractism / ambient music / minimalism / electroacoustic / avant-garde / experimental / noise / abstract surrealism / drone music

ULTRA SPIEßER (ULTRA SPIESSER) are: Julian Percy, Anton Maiof, Julian Bonequi “NK a well known place for avant-garde and experimental music in Berlin was the location where Julian Percy aka Ratbag(electric guitar treatment), Anton Maiof (voice, wii & max/MSP) and Julian Bonequi (manipulated drums & voice) came together in November 2010 to play Ultra Speicer, a stunning performance which promises a deep and intense sonic trip. Leading off with hypnotic drumming, distorted guitar lines embedded in ambient sounds the album moves to ecstatic drumming combined with female and male vocals, accompanied by well placed sound collages which achieve to carry off the listener to another state of consciousness.” Julian Bonequi (December 27, 1974 ) is a Mexican artist working mostly with Noise and Improvisation since 1995. His musical research focuses on emotional instability, semantic landscapes and cathartic explosions and even alienated as an act of concentration. Curator of Audition Records, Dissemination of Musicalibre & drums on F.O.C.O. Orchestra (2006-2011)… has performed under the conduction of William Parker, Keith Tippett, Eddie Prévost, Michael Fischer, London Improvisers Orchestra, Berlin Improvisers Orchestra w/ Tristan Honsinger, Ute Wasserman, Alison Blunt, Wolfgang Georgsdorf… w/Mat Pogo, Klaus Kürvers, Hans Tammen & Ursel Schlicht, Thomas Bjelkeborn, Olaf Rupp, Olivier di Placido, Dave Tucker ( Machinations of Joy ), Germán Bringas, Zeger Vandenbussche, Clayton Thomas… Some other projects : Animales Varios (w/Klaus Kürvers), Ultraspießer (w/Ratbag), Tabla y Cuchillo (w/Ricardo Tejero), The Blind Date (w/Julio Clavijo), Sangre Azteca, Comechingones, The Third Mind (Barcelona), Pandillismo (México) … In Istanbul has performed with Volkan Terzioğlu (Islak Köpek)… and recorded with Umut Çağlar ( re:konstruKt ), Korhan Futacı & Barlas Tan Özemek. At the end of 90′s he played as invited musician with Decibel ( 1999 ), Culto Sin Nombre (2003) … Basically psicodelic bands, chamber music , rock in oposition and other folkloric fusions in Mexico City… Julian currently is working with drums and voice as soloist in a mixture of extreme improvisation and instant composition. In 2012, Julian will start collaborating with Salon Bruit. Julian Percy wurde 1978 in Melbourne Australien, geboren. Für die Erstellung seiner Klänge bedient er sich verschiedener Materialien, wie z.B im urbanen Raum gefundene Objekte, selbst gebauten Instrumenten , individuell preparierte Guitarren, klassischen analogen Effekten , Sampler . Seine Projekte sind RATBAG, LAST DOMINION LOST , MATARRATAS , ULTRA SPEICER , HELAAS , SKULP , NK. RATBAG on ZHARK INTERNATIONAL

XABIER ERKIZIA

musique concrete / sound installation / modern composition / abstractism / minimalism / electroacoustic / avant-garde / field recordings / sound art / experimental / noise / nonmusic / drone music

Sound artist and curator