Friday 16 September 2016, 8pm

John Bender + The Modern Institute

No Longer Available

Excited to host a last-minute show for revered, underground Cincinnatii musician, John Bender, following the recent re-issue of his LP, I Don't Remember Now / I Don't Want To Talk About It, on Superior Viaduct.

“I Don't Remember Now / I Don't Want To Talk About It, Bender's first album from 1980, is the holy grail of minimal lo-fi electronics. Layers of fractured melodies, distorted synthesizers, hollowed-out rhythms and claustrophobic vocals unfold over the 40 minutes of this lost masterpiece.” – Superior Viaduct

John Bender

“Pioneering minimal synth musician born in 1950 in Nurnberg, Germany. He is the son of a violinist and US Army Lutheran chaplain. Because of this, Bender moved around a lot as a child, living briefly in Nurnberg, Boston, California, Japan, Fort Knox, and New York City before settling in Cincinnati. He played drums in a group called Barbi And Cen with his neighbor Jack Gorski. After Jack moved to Glasgow, Bender bought a keyboard and started working on solo recordings. He mentions Velvet Underground, Can, Tony William, Drumbo, Samuel Beckett, Alfred Jarry, Pere Ubu, Soft Machine, and Robert Ashley as influences. 

John Bender's music was self-published via cassettes and through the Record Sluts label. After 1985 he disappeared from the music world.” – Discogs

The Modern Institute

Mutant undulations from the deep belly of the Glasgow underground, brought to life spontaneously by flickering synths, rolling drums and stream-of-consicous vocals. Their first tape 'Another Exhibition' is out now on new Glasgow label Domestic Exile, with forthcoming releases on Night School and Diagonal.