Sunday 6 August 2023, 2pm
Launch of Yumi Hara's 2nd solo album CD entitled 'Groove Study', consisting of her compositions exploring various aspects of rhythms while going back and forth between tonality and atonality including Raggae in 7/8, early music inspired song in 13/8, drum'n'bass played by pianos and Ekranoplan themed church organ epic as well as avan-rock treated Schoenberg's unfinished piano fragment. She will perform a selection of tracks from the CD with recording members Chris Cutler and Toshiaki Sudoh (from Japan) plus Pierre Chevalier (from Belgium) and Chlöe Herington.
Supported by School of Arts and Cutural Industries, University of East London
The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation
Performers:
- Yumi Hara / piano, harp, voice (Half the Sky, Lindsay Cooper Songbook, The Artaud Beats, you me & us, Frank Chickens, etc)
- Chris Cutler / drums (Henry Cow, HIMMEL, The Hyperion Ensemble etc)
- Pierre Chevalier / keyboards (Present, faUSt, Aranis, Univers Zero etc)
- Toshiaki Sudoh / bass, drums (Melt-Manana, Machine & the Synagetic Nuts, Eiko Ishibashi, Jim O'Rourke etc)
- Chlöe Herington / bassoon, electronics (Knifeworld, Chrome Hoof, VÄLVĒ)
- Tim Hodgkinson / clarinet, alto sax, lap steel guitar (Henry Cow, Konk Pack, The Hyperion Ensemble, etc)
- DJ Marina Organ (The Other Rock Show/Resonance FM)
THE WATTS (Yumi Hara, Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson) were formed to perform at the 25th anniversary event of Sakedelic Space Shuyukan in Oumi Hachiman, one of the most important venues for this kind of music in Japan, in 2017; after that they toured in Japan many times, played in the UK and France, and released the CD ‘Decoherence’. THE WATTS make stuff up as they go along but it seems to have undeniable form. There are songs; of a sort - and there are a lot of unidentifiable sounds, extended techniques, pedal work, preparations…. But still the result seems determinedly organic, contra-virtual and human (with frailties). Toshiaki Sudoh guests regularly when THE WATTS play in Tokyo and nearby cities, but this is his first appearance with THE WATTS outside Japan. THE WATTS with Toshiaki Sudoh's unreleased track will be included as part of ReR Italia 40th Anniversary compilation album due to be out in autumn 2023.
Yumi Hara’s compositions have been performed by contemporary classical ensembles such as PianoCircus and the BBC Singers, but she has become increasingly well known as an improvisor and performer in the avant rock, Canterbury and RIO scene since releasing CD 'Dune' with Hugh Hopper in 2008. She has formed bands and projects such as The Artaud Beats (with Geoff Leigh, Chris Cutler, John Greaves), you me & us (with Daevid Allen, Chris Cutler), Jump for Joy! (with Jean-Herve Peron, Zappi, Chris Cutler, Geoff Leigh, Geraldine Swayne), THE WATTS (with Tim Hodgkinson and Chris Cutler) and Half the Sky / Lindsay Cooper Songbook. She is senior lecturer in music at University of East London.
10 years in Henry Cow; founded or co-founded Art Bears, News from Babel, Cassiber, The (ec) Nudes, p53, The Bad Boys and The Science Group; permanent member of The Peter Blegvad Trio, Pere Ubu, The Wooden Birds, Brainville III, Himmel, The Watts The European Improvising Ensemble and Les Quatre Gutaristes; dalliance with The Residents, Gong, Faust; worked with dance, film, hoerspiel, theatre, symphony orchestras and radio; toured the world with his extended electrified kit and in countless improvising contexts with the usual suspects; ran a year-long daily soundscape project for Resonance FM (2003/4); founded and runs the independent label ReR Megacorp; author of File Under Popular and Not as we Choose, various articles and papers; stint on faculty at the Museum School in Boston; lectures irregularly on music related topics and is currently producing a series of podcast talks for the Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona (Probes).
TOSHIAKI SUDOH is a Japanese musician, bassist, drummer and engineer. He began his career in the 90's as the original member of MELT-BANANA, and later became the drummer of MACHINE AND THE SYNERGETIC NUTS. He has also played bass in the works of Jim O'Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi, and others. He played at cafe OTO as a member of Eiko Ishibashi Band in 2016. He performs regulalry with Yumi Hara when she visits Japan, and he played bass and drums for CD 'Groove Study'.
PIERRE CHEVALIER is a keyboard player based in Brussels. He has been involved with avant-rock bands such as Univers Zero, Present, and Aranis, and currently plays with faUSt regularly. He played with Yumi Hara at Cafe OTO for her 2-day residency in 2021, and Yumi stood in for him for faUSt play FAUST IV tour in the same year.
Chlöe Herington is a Nottingham-born bassoonist, saxophonist, composer and sound maker, based in Wiltshire. Classically trained through an arts scholarship in Nottingham and then studying for a BMus (hons) at Goldsmiths College, University of London, she soon ventured out of the concert hall to seek new ways of creating music, suddenly finding herself in a very different kind of orchestra, Chrome Hoof, in 2000, with whom she stayed throughout their career. VÄLVĒ is the outlet for her compositional work using text and image as the starting point for scores. Regular other playing is currently bassoon, saxes and backing vocals with Knifeworld, processed sax in Hirvikolari and in Lindsay Cooper Songbook with Chris Cutler, Dagmar Krause, Tim Hodgkinson and Yumi Hara, performing the music of Lindsay Cooper (Henry Cow/News From Babel) as well as occasional live performances with Teeth of the Sea and Daniel O'Sullivan's live band. Chlöe has appeared on various recordings over the years by bands such as Guapo, Cathedral and Mothlite and has composed for and taken part in performance and sound artworks by Turner prize winner Tai Shani, Jonathan Baldock, Serena Korda/Daniel O’Sullivan and Circumstance.
With compositions featured at international festivals such as Tectonics, Huddersfield, Spectrum XXI, Nordlyd, and Ars Musica, and two sets of works for ensemble out on the Mode label, TIM HODGKINSON also has a powerful commitment to intense and highly energised performance practice. For over fifty years he has placed himself in a series of definitive projects, whether as cofounder of the seminal group Henry Cow, as saxophonist with influential avant-metal band God, or as bass clarinet soloist in the spectral compositions of Iancu Dumitrescu. His lap steel guitar playing remains completely uncategorisable, bringing subdued and not so subdued echoes of rock musics and other ethnicities.
http://www.timhodgkinson.co.uk/
