SOUNDkitchen are pleased to announce our first tasting menu of the new year. This special event will launch Birmingham’s first Network Music Festival and to whet your appetite for the hi-tech musical mastery in store we are presenting some of Birmingham’s best home grown electronic acts. The NETWORK MUSIC FESTIVAL PRE-FESTIVAL PARTY co-curated by SOUNDkitchen takes place on Thursday 26th January, 8pm at The Edge, Digbeth.

And the Network Music Festival will take place in Birmingham (UK) 27th-29th of January 2012. A weekend of hi-tech musical performances and workshops that presents new musical forms and ideas where networking is central to the aesthetics, creation or performance practice of the work. In association with BEAST.

BiLE will be performing XYZ by Shelly Knotts and premiere the first ever written LaptOpera by Charles Céleste Hutchins Saturday 28 at 6pm.

© Antonio Roberts

Here is a video by Antonio Roberts of the gig:
Voici la vidéo par Antonio Roberts du concert:

We will be playing at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in the Round Room Gallery Saturday the 10th of September at 15.30. BiLE will be performing my recently re-titled electroacoustic cello sonata ‘Back to Front’ and Stucknote by Scot Gresham-Lancaster of our favourite laptop band: The Hub. As usual, there’ll be visuals from Antonio Roberts.
Hope to see you in a week!

BILE a été sélectionné pour jouer au célèbre festival de Birmingham : Artsfest. 
Nous allons jouer au Musée de Birmingham & Art Gallery dans le cycle de chambre Galerie Samedi 10 Septembre à 15h30. BILE interprétera ma récemment ré-intitulée ‘Back to Front’ sonate électroacoustique pour violoncelle ainsi Stucknote par Scot Gresham-Lancaster de notre bande préférée: The Hub. Comme d’habitude, il y aura des visuels d’Antonio Roberts. A la semaine prochaine!

‘Back to Front’  an electroacoustic cello sonata (with BiLE, visuals A. Roberts).

Entre Terre et Ciel (with Annie Mahtani, visuals A. Roberts).

We spent three days trekking and field recording around the area which we explored on three different levels: the bottom of the Vallée d’Aure at 800m, the valley of Arsoué and Azet at 1200m and the mountain path of Azet at 1580m. The sonic environments on these three levels were dramatically different from very populated towns to deserted open spaces.

We spent the majority of our time on the deserted valley of Arsoué where we collected a wealth of sound material from the natural environment. The valley changed day to day, one moment shrouded in clouds and mist and the next blue skies and strong burning sun which meant aural changes as well as visual.

We also encountered the Tour de France in Guchen and Bastille day festivities in the local town Saint-Lary-Soulan.

After our recording sessions we retired to our temporary studios where we worked on the material in preparation for it’s first presentation at SOUNDkitchen’s SONICpicnic.

To whet your appetites here are some photos and sounds from the trip but be sure to join us on the evening of 29th July for the full performance!

Entre le 12 et 19 Juillet nous avons été résident à Azet, un petit village au milieu des Pyrénées, où nous avons commencé la première étape d’un projet de collaboration.

Nous avons effectué trois jours de randonné et d’enregistrement sur le terrain autour de cette zone que nous avons exploré sur trois niveaux différents: le fond de la Vallée d’Aure à 800m, la vallée d’Arsoué et Azet à 1200m et le col d’Azet situé à plus de 1580m.

Les environnements sonores sur ces trois niveaux sont radicalement différents, on y trouve des villes très peuplées et des espaces ouverts désertiques. Nous avons passé la majorité de notre temps dans la vallée inhabitée d’Arsoué où nous avons recueilli une foule de documents sonores provenant de l’environnement naturel. La vallée change au jour le jour : un moment enveloppée de nuages ​​et de brume puis un ciel bleu et un soleil brûlant signifiant des changements sonores ainsi que visuels radicaux.

Nous avons également rencontré le Tour de France à Guchen ainsi que les festivités du 14 Juillet dans la ville locale de Saint-Lary-Soulan.

Après nos sessions d’enregistrement nous nous sommes retirés dans nos studios temporaires, où nous avons travaillé sur le matériel en préparation pour la première présentation de notre travail au SONICpicnic de SOUNDkitchen (Birmingham, UK).

Assurez-vous de nous rejoindre dans la soirée du 29 Juillet pour l’exécution finale de cette première partie!

Some of my piece will be played through out the day:

• De Part Et D’Autre – my tape piece will be played in the immersive listening room all day.
• Entre Terre et Ciel – a sonic impression of the Vallée d’Aure, a new collaboration with Annie Mahtani on the main stage in the Evening.
• Back to Front (EA Cello Sonata) – that I will perform with BiLE on their own stage in the evening.
• STONEsoup - a collective film to which I contributed with 12 other artists will be screened during lunch time.

Back to Front (Electroacoustic Cello Sonata) by BiLE

http://bilensemble.wordpress.com/

http://soundkitchenuk.org/

This is the first world festival of laptop orchestras and laptop ensembles. Laboratorioarazzi of the Giorgio Cini Foundation‘s “Istituto per la musica”, in collaboration with the Conservatory of Music “B. Marcello” and the “Ca’ Foscari” University (Venice, Italy) organizes two days of concerts, round tables, demos and posters about laptop orchestras and ensembles and interactivity between musicians and portable technologies taking place the 11th and 12th of July.

We will be playing 2 pieces written by members of BiLE : XYZ by Shelly Knotts and Partially Percusive by Charles Celeste Hutchins.

So if you happen to be in Venice, come along. Otherwise, we’ll be updating the blog when we get back!

Here are the programme notes:

XYZ (or ‘Sonic Arm Wrestle’) is a structured improvisation using motion capture devices such as iPhone, Wiimote and Xbox Kinect. Each player can fight to take control of another players sound.

In Partially Percusive, players sample the sounds of striking metallic objects and then manipulate the sounds in software. Players are instructed to listen for whether other players are playing sounds that are percussive vs sustained, pointillistic vs flowing, sparse vs dense, or loud vs soft and situate their own sounds accordingly. Players can sample a new sound after a pause and can pause for as long as they’d like, when they feel they should.

You can hear a recording here.

Tickets £4 advance, £6 on the door – available from theticketsellers.co.uk

PLEQ

Pleq is the solo project of Bartosz Dziadosz,an experimental musician who combines elements of drone, down tempo, glitch and modern classical. He creates his work by fusing together independently synthesized sounds, often incorporates violin, the unexpectedly melancholic sound of a piano, sometimes female vocals.

JAMES KELLY

Leicester based turntabilist and composer will be remixing some of his new album, Transformation of the Mind.

MARK HARRIS

Artist and musician Mark Harris will perform a solo improvised set using generative systems and gradually evolving sound material.

For more info, visit soundkitchenuk.org