On Saturday 19 March Viral Radio celebrates its 4 year anniversary at Amsterdam’s legendary underground music venue OT301. On the line up a special selection of first time performers Om Unit and Illum Sphere, who will make their debut in the Netherlands, and all time favourite artists Raphael Vanoli (Knalpot), Datcho (Viral Radio), Cinnaman (Viral Radio) and Non-fiction’s Juha.
In the 4 years since Viral Radio began, it has grown into one of the Netherlands’ most recognized vehicles for innovative electronic music. It has presented a generation of experimental bass and rhythm music at festivals as North Sea Jazz, Exit Festival and Appelsap, and it has connected musicians and audiences of different generations at renowned institutions as Bimhuis, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ and the TrouwAmsterdam.
This event starts at 9 pm with champagne, cake, and a world premiere: a solo performance of electroacoustic improviser Raphael Vanoli of Knalpot. Tickets are 5 euros before 10, and 7.50 afterwards. Join us on Facebook and Last.fm, but more importantly, at OT301 on 19 March. We look forward to celebrating with you.
After the recent success of the sold out Viral Radio Festival 2010, Bimhuis and Viral Radio present Hyperrhythm, a programme with more innovative electronic music. The first edition of Hyperrhythm took place at this year’s North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam. Then, Dimlite, Dorian Concept, Hudson Mohawke and Mike Slott played impeccable sets.
This Thursday, Oval (Thrilljockey, Berlin), Phonophani (Rune Grammofon, Tromsø) and Mike Slott (LuckyMe, New York) will play new work. Markus ‘Oval’ Popp is one of the main artists of the glitch movement, in which technical hitches and glitches are used as musical building blocks. Sound artist Espen Sommer Eide makes his solo debut in the Netherlands as Phonophani. Previously he has performed with Alog and he has collaborated with Biosphere and Pierre Bastien. Read an interview with him by Juha. Mike Slott made his debut at the Bimhuis alongside Dimlite and Take during Beat Dimensions at the Amsterdam Dance Event in 2008. He is the musical sibling of Hudson Mohawke, Rustie and American Men. Non-fiction’s Juha will set the perimeters with rhythmic abstractions.
The programme starts at 9 pm sharp, and tickets are still available at the door. We look forward to seeing you here tonight.
Another update from Juha, having just recovered from the flu. Michiel has been ill too – way to go Non-fictionites. These past days have been all about the North Sea Jazz Festival, and a little bit of balcony gardening.
Already after the first time I give up writing a weekly update. I admit, I’m not disciplined enough. I will now rename it “randomly timed update of current affairs.” See, much better.
What happened this time? Apart from discovering that it is possible to garden on a balcony on the 4th floor, and by doing so becoming a Foursquare mayor of my local garden supply store, I have spent most of my time on finishing my proposal for this year’s North Sea Jazz Festival. Although I have a background mostly in beat driven electronic music, playing jungle, dubstep and other asymmetric electronic music as DJ at festivals and club nights, in the years of working for Kadir Selçuk and Huub van Riel in Lantaren/Venster and the Bimhuis since 2005, I have developed an interest in electroacoustic improvised music. Early concerts I did were with Jacob Kirkegaard, Christian Fennesz, Philip Jeck and BJ Nilsen, who are all part of the unsurpassed London music label Touch. Later on I collaborated with Yuri Boselie on inviting abstract beat producers like Flying Lotus and Hudson Mohawke to the Bimhuis on the Beat Dimensions nights. And in between I worked with Alog, Stephen O’Malley and Icarus.
These experiences have led to the invitation by the North Sea Jazz Festival, to programme two stages: one with beat-driven music (Yukon), and one with electroacoustic improvisation (Volga). It’s a great honour to bring my favourite musicians to my old hometown, and I find it incredibly encouraging that such a big and respected festival is open to new developments, and reserves an important part of its line up to these cutting-edge musics. We are in the midst of booking the musicians, and hopefully within a few weeks we can present an allstar line up of stellar artists. The Yukon stage on Friday 9 July will present a new generation of beat makers, the Volga on Sunday 11 July multiple generations of electronically aided improvisors.
As for the garden, it looks stunning. I just hope the grass and bamboo will survive the heavy winds. At least there’s a Moomin looking after them.
It has been quite a while since we took the time to write a post about the projects we are working on. This is the start of a new rhythm on the site, inspired by the incredible people of Berg in London, who consequently update their loyal followers about their whereabouts. Not sure if we have loyal followers, but at least we have a lof of things happening, and I am enjoying a cup of tea, so why not give it a try. Here we go.
We had quite a crazy weekend to start with. Michiel hosted the Future Of Classical Music marathon in The Hague on Friday and Saturday. Here he invited numerous interesting musicians, journalists and artistic directors, to discuss the future of their profession; premiered our first documentary, on Rem Koolhaas, Casa da Musica and the relationship between architecture and music; and interviewed Ellen van Loon, partner of Rem Koolhaas at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture.
My weekend was’t a quiet one either. First, on Friday, the Glasgow edition of Viral Radio. Some of my favourite musicians came to Amsterdam for this musical city exhibition. In the ever-changing world of electronic music, cities have always had strong identities. From the Vienna school of Schönberg, Webern and Berg, to the Detroit movement of Underground Resistance, Carl Craig and Derric May. The idea to organise events around cities was inspired by our hero Willem Sandberg, who created exhibitions at the Stedelijk in this way. Simple and clear. Glasgow is one of those cities that is currently carving out its own space in sound, with such stellar talents as Hudson Mohawke,Rustie and American Men. For this evening, Warp-prodigy Rustie was joined by Irishman Mike Slott (he lived in Glasgow with the LuckyMe family and helped define this scene) and the now fairly but soon to be no longer unkown producer Loops Haunt. It was a lovely night full of scifi wooshes and brain-tingling bleeps, although one would wish more people could have enjoyed it – the competition with the 5 Days Off Festival proved to be too stiff for a sold out event.
On Saturday I teamed up with Michiel in The Hague for the second part of the marathon at the Haagse Muziek Driedaagse. I particularly enjoyed the contribution of our young friend Shane Burmania, who as a student of music programming, employee of the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ and kaleidoscopic music listener, aired a buoyancy and optimism about the next steps of the concert halls. His idea of Concert Night, where venues would collaborate with each other and programmes would change places, was welcomed by the director of the Dr. Anton Philipszaal Saskia Kriekhaus. Museumnacht director Radna Rumping added that the sector should try to open up its language and references more, if it wants to engage with a broader audience that might not be in the know of the linear history of classical music. I agree with her emphatically: we can introduce so many new listeners to the concert halls via smart and personal connections. The Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead) and London Sinfonietta collaboration is still a great example of this approach (it got me hooked on Ligeti for one), and the underlying principle of a social network as Last FM another. (Thanks Florian for helping out with the festival!)
After the Hague, I rushed to Zwolle for another Viral Radio event with Rustie, Loops Haunt and my musical partner Yuri. I really love playing outside of Amsterdam. Don’t get me wrong, Amsterdam is lovely. But the thing about doing these kind of shows outside of the Randstad is the contagious energy of an audience that hears a certain music for the first time. This has happened in Nijmegen with Nosaj Thing and the Gaslamp Killer, with just Yuri and myself in Eindhoven, and now again with this group of musicians in Zwolle. A great night, organised by a sweet group of people connected to the Fakkelbrigade scene.
My tea has gone now, but I still have to tell you about North Sea Jazz, The Great Dictators, Leve de Leegstand, Museum Manager 2011, and some thoughts on e-culture, social networking, ecosystems and value chains of arts, urbanode, Visible Cities, and our new t-shirts. This new rhythm is getting out of control, sorry about that. If you managed to read to here you are in need of some rest, and a stiff gin and tonic. So I will continue when you are either rested, or drunk.
