Monday 24 April 2023, 8pm
“There is a restlessness at work throughout, a constant suspicion that all hell could break out at any time, but Wiese plays with this sense of anticipation, building entangled musical structures that push and pull at themselves, creating an internal tension that breathes a vivid energy into the work.” – Richard Pinnell, The WIRE
Pleased to welcome back John Wiese, one of the most consistently compelling composers/improvisers of the US noise scene, performing solo and in a first-time duo set alongside Steve Beresford!
Wiese’s prolific output ranges from long-running projects Sissy Spacek and LHD to collaborations with C Spencer Yeh, Lasse Marhaug, Pain Jerk, Kevin Drumm, Wolf Eyes, Yellow Swans and Evan Parker.
Wiese’s solo work - developed across albums such as Soft Punk (Troubleman Unlimited), Zombie (Presto!?), Circle Snare (No Fun/PPM), and Seven of Wands (PAN)- is detailed, organic, and insistent, delicately balanced between “compositional clarity and tonal abrasion” (Joe Davenport, Tiny Mix Tapes).
http://www.john-wiese.com
https://johnwiese.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/johnwiese
has been a central figure in the British and international spontaneous music scenes for over fifty years, freely improvising on piano, objects, electronics and other things with people like Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Han Bennink and John Zorn. Long-standing groups have included Alterations (with David Toop, Terry Day and Peter Cusack), The Melody Four (with Lol Coxhill and Tony Coe, both RIP) and London Improvisers Orchestra.
He has written songs, composed for large and small ensembles, and scored short films, feature films, TV shows and commercials. He was part of the editorial teams of ‘Musics’ and ‘Collusion’ magazines, writes about music in various contexts, and was a senior lecturer in music at the University of Westminster.
Steve has worked with Christian Marclay on various Marclay mixed media pieces. He has also worked with The Slits, Najma Akhtar, Stewart Lee, Ivor Cutler, Prince Far-I, Alan Hacker, Tania Chen, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Faradena Afifi, Blanca Regina, Ray Davies, Mandhira De Saram, The Flying Lizards, Zeena Parkins, The Portsmouth Sinfonia, Ilan Volkov, Rachel Musson, Vic Reeves, Lore Lixenberg, Valentina Magaletti and many others.
Beresford has an extensive discography - around 500 releases - as performer, arranger, free-improviser, composer, conductor and producer. He was awarded a Paul Hamlyn award for composers in 2012.
In 2021, Bloomsbury published a book by Andy Hamilton: ‘Pianos, Toys, Music and Noise: Conversations with Steve Beresford’.
In 2022, Siglio published the book ‘Call and Response’, which partnered photographs by Christian Marclay with notated improvisations by Beresford.
Tears | Ov are Lori E Allen, Deborah Wale and Lottie Poulet. They create expressive soundscapes using electro-acoustic methods and sample-based works, blending loops, field recordings, and live improvisations to explore themes of loss, transformation and love. Together and in other collaborative practices they have performed at Tate South Tanks, Iklectik, Whitechapel and Chisenhale Galleries.
