Wednesday 8 July, 7.30pm, Ikon Eastside, 183 Fazeley Street, Birmingham, B5 5SE
Francisco López wIth Helena Gough, Bobby Bird, NIcholas Bullen, Mark Harris, Cormac Faulkner, Martin Clarke, Annie Mahtani.
Birmingham Sound Matter is a series of new compositions performed by local musicians, led by Francisco López (born 1964, Madrid). A major figure in the underground experimental music scene, López sees the world as a vast generator of ‘sound matter’. He records noise in the natural or urban environment, from the Amazon jungle to post industrial landscapes, looping, layering and distorting found sounds to create intense aural experiences. In February López led workshops with his collaborators who subsequently made location recordings around Birmingham. These fragments of the city’s noise, indoors and outdoors, in public and private spaces, demonstrate the constant flow of sound that is essential to the identity of the metropolis. López has led similar projects in Montreal and Brussels.
Once the individual recordings were gathered, they were then uploaded to a shared space on the internet, to be used as material for all the project participants. The recordings underwent numerous transformations, being shared amongst the group for further development. From this extended collection of sounds, each musician has composed a new work lasting ten minutes, to be performed live. Birmingham’s sonic landscape is filtered through seven distinct personalities, each offering their own take on the sounds of the city.
Tickets £6, to book visit www.modulate.org.uk. Advance booking is recommended.
A limited edition CD of Birmingham Sound Matter, released on Audiobulb Records, is available on the night or online from 8 July, priced £10.
Birmingham Sound Matter is organised in collaboration with Modulate.