Expeditions

Anthony Child, Sarah Davachi, Ali Wade, Richard Smith

Bleep43 invites you to take a seat with four of our favourite artists for an evening of entrancing audio visual performances at the centre of one of the world’s leading surround sound systems – the University of Birmingham’s BEAST.

For this event the University’s Elgar Concert Hall will turn into a fully immersive arena for two unique collaborations that take full advantage of BEAST’s mesmerising 82 channel capability.

The first collaboration features Anthony Child and Ali Wade. Known to many as Surgeon, Child needs little introduction as one of the most revered and adventurous electronic musicians to emerge from UK techno. A long-time resident in and around Birmingham, Child first encountered BEAST in its mid-nineties incarnation and remains fascinated with the possibilities of multi-channel sound. Appearing alongside him is his long-time associate Ali Wade, a gifted creator of psychedelic imagery who is uniquely placed to visually complement Child’s disorientating soundscapes.

The second is between Sarah Davachi and Richard Smith. Sarah Davachi’s beautifully structured compositions have earned her a reputation as one of the foremost explorers of sonic texture of her generation. With her ‘All My Circles Run’ LP featuring in numerous best of 2017 lists, we’re very pleased to welcome back Sarah after her UK debut for Bleep43 in 2016. Richard Smith’s background as one of the leading authorities worldwide on Buchla and EMS systems has led him to work on some of the earliest video synthesizers in existence. For this performance he will provide visual accompaniment using material prepared on the EMS Spectre, an extremely rare unit dating from 1974.

This event is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. www.artscouncil.org.uk

Ideas of democracy and equality regularly feature in discussion of electroacoustic music. As an artform, electroacoustic music is rooted in the modernist idea that no sound lies outside the realm of music, hence, we might say, ‘all sounds are created equal’. Additionally, it is often claimed that the development of electroacoustic music is partly dependent upon the democratisation of technology, as large, expensive mainframe computers only accessible to academic researchers have gradually given way to home computers, laptops and smartphones—thus giving rise to a ‘music from the bedroom studios’. Whether seeking sonic inspiration in the roar of political crowds, or by creating works that deliberately blur the boundaries and hierarchies between composers, performers and listeners, electroacoustic composers and sound artists have frequently sought inspiration in principles of democracy and equality.