Unsound Adelaide – Tim Hecker / Actress / Hype Williams / Demdike Stare / Daniel Lopatin (OPN)

Probably the best lineup we’ve seen for a festival in a while, and it’s happening in Adelaide next month, with Unsound Festival bringing the Krakow originated string of events to Australia for the first time. Taking over a portion of the Adelaide Festival from March 14th to 16th, Unsound are giving us performances from OPN, Tim Hecker, Actress, Hype Williams, Robin Fox, Demdike Stare and Pole to name a few of our favorites. Every singles act booked is someone we’d pay to see on their own; this is a properly stunning event.

The headline show takes place at Adelaide Town Hall, with Ben Frost and Daníel Bjarnaso performing their specially commissioned piece for the 50th anniversary of Solaris. Members of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra make up the strings, electronics and percussion, working alongside film manipulation from Brian Eno and Nick Robertson. It’s an incredible project, the composition of which was unveiled in 2012 in time for Airwves. Going by reviews and some sneaky footage, it’s something to experience, and you can read a bit more about the musical composition here: http://www.residentadvisor.net/feature.aspx?1720

Moving venues for the rest of the week sees Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never) joining forces for a live show that will no doubt be an evolved echo of their Instrumental Tourist LP that we played earlier in the year. This super group of sorts are their own unique sounding forces individually, and surprisingly the collaborative works became a totally distinctive beast, bringing something totally new to the table. Live, we’ve no idea what to expect, except that it’s going to be deeply epic and hopefully and enhancement of each one’s individual live characteristics. Robin Fox (who recently collaborated equally succesfully with Oren Ambarchi), Blackest Ever Black’s Raime and Trinity are in support, hard to believe it’s only $30AUD.

If you can’t tell from the above, then it’s worth knowing that Tim Hecker is king. He may space out the solo albums but the impact goes on. Originally this Friday night was set to be headlined by The Caretaker, with V/vm and Emeralds also part of the festival lineup throughout. However, with James Kirby unable to make the trip out there’s no denying that a solo Hecker show is a worthy replacement. Ravedeath 1972 on Kranky was a phenomenal LP that ended up in the most hardened techno heads lists at the end of the year, alongside the chin-stroke massive and the intended home-listening audience. Actress is always worth-seeing on his own, and here he is on a bill that’s the live equivalent of an electronic wet dream, rounded off that’s rounded off by Hype Williams.

The final night boasts the most acts and is highlighted by Demdike Stare and Pole. We’ve only ever seen the former with poor sound, an incredibly disappointing experience that by all accounts wasn’t reflective of their live capabilities, and the fact that they’ll be performing a specially commissioned piece for Unsound titled Concealed, is something to look forward to. Pole is set to destroy it too, with Lustmord and Ben Frost closing things off with them.

Full lineup and details below via the festival, head here for more info and tickets: http://www.adelaidefestival.com.au/2013/music/unsound_adelaide

Unsound Adelaide

Australian Premiere / Exclusive to Adelaide
Having a DJ save your life is so 1982. How about a DJ who scares you half to death, melts your mind with stunning combinations of sound and visuals and pushes electronic music to its limits? Over three separate nights at Queen’s Theatre and one visually spectacular event at Adelaide Town Hall, Unsound Adelaide is set to put the bass wobble in your chest. From Krakow, Poland to New York and now Adelaide, the hugely successful Unsound Festival showcases new electronic music and visuals from international artists melding ambient to modern club, post-classical and experimental sounds.

Solaris
Fri 15 Mar 7.30pm
Adelaide Town Hall
Ben Frost and Daniel Bjarnason with film manipulations by Brian Eno and Nick Robertson
Exclusive to Adelaide

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Krakow writer Stanislaw Lem’s novel Solaris, Ben Frost and Daníel Bjarnason were commissioned by Unsound to write this work for strings, percussion, prepared piano, guitars and electronics – a narrative of sound that is an exploration of an interior cosmos. The performance features members of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and film manipulations by Brian Eno and Nick Robertson, drawing on moments from the Tarkovsky film adaptation, to create a visual parallel to the music composition process.

Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never), Robin Fox, Raime and Trinity (Biosphere, Lustmord, MFO)
Thu 14 Mar 7.30pm – midnight
Queen’s Theatre

Unsound Adelaide kicks off with aurally warm sets by ambient electro-artists Tim Hecker & Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never), an indescribable sound and laser spectacle from Robin Fox, shadowy minimalist techno from Raime and a sound and visual work based on nuclear weapons research in the American desert from Unsound-commissioned artists Trinity (Biosphere and Lustmord with visuals from MFO). Drone, ambient electronic, mad musical experiments and hypnotic visuals from a group of artists from across the globe? Mind. Blown.

Tim Hecker, Actress and Hype Williams
Fri 15 Mar 9pm – midnight
Queen’s Theatre

Make your ears and the thing in between them happy with three acclaimed electronic acts playing minimal, glitch and ambient gone weird, wild and wonderful. Tim Hecker explores the intersection of noise, dissonance and melody, fostering an approach to songcraft which is both physical and emotive. London based producer Actress pushes dance music to its most experimental limits and exploratory art duo Hype Williams combine performance art with bass mutations.

Lustmord, Demdike Stare, Pole and Ben Frost
Sat 16 Mar 7.30pm – midnight
Queen’s Theatre

Low frequencies, dark ambient, post punk, black metal and noise; field recordings from caves, crypts and slaughterhouses; and an occult project fusing elements from cult soundtracks and fractured dub – things get dark and spooky on Unsound Adelaide’s last night of stunningly experimental electronic music. Hold tight as legendary sound artist Lustmord, occult project Demdike Stare with Unsound-commissioned work Concealed, featuring Zephyr Quartet, influential German glitch and dub-inspired deep electronic artist Pole and acclaimed musical surgeon Ben Frost take to the stage.