Saturday 25 January 2020, 8pm
Mecánica Popular is back 9 years after their LP “Neguentropia” and 4 years after Dead Cert reissued their first LP “”Que Sucede Con El Tiempo”
Mecánica Popular is an experimental and industrial band formed in the late 70s by Luis Delgado (Finis Africae, Ishinohana...) and Eugenio Muñoz (Randomize), who rapidly gained cult status between the genre fans. The band experienced a renovated international success after their record "Que Sucede Con El Tiempo" (1984) was repressed in 2015 in Andy Votel and Demdike Stare's Dead Cert imprint.
Arriving 9 years after “Neguentropia”, “Estridentismo” is the group’s fourth record and the product of new material that was developed over the last 3 years. “Estridentismo” is based on the avant-garde movement of the same name that was born in Mexico during the early 1920s (known as Stridentism in English). Each track uses this lens to explore a different thematic concept, from “Jouer Avec Schaeffer,” based on musical pioneer Pierre Schaefer, to “Mikado,” which draws inspiration from the sounds of Mikado steam locomotives.
Following the sound of their previous releases while also introducing elements that reflect their continued evolution, “Estridentismo” is a record that owes as much to the Industrial movement as it does to the work of early electronic pioneers. Mecánica’s inventive style, and their blending of older techniques like tape manipulation with newer digital technology, allows the record to incorporate Industrial and experimental aesthetics to create a sound that plays with categories and ultimately creates its own. The record has received praise from the press and artist alike, and it has been played by the likes of JASSS, Demdike Stare, Cera Khin and Ossia.
Having previously collaborated on the award-winning film A Creak In Time, 2019 saw the duo of sound artist Robin The Fog and film maker Steven McInerney working together musically for the first time, creating pulsing rhythmic tracks from the no-input kick, crunch and splutter of Howlround’s vintage tape machines, fusing them with the psychedelic surges of McInerney’s expansive modular synth. The results, debuted at a military complex in deepest Wiltshire as part of The Delaware Road Festival went down an absolute storm, like a million volt polychromatic Radiophonic Rave. Since then they have performed at London’s IKLECTIK for the Engine Room, but tonight the duo bring this performance along with visual accompaniment from the genius that is Hanzo to Cafe OTO.
Described as one of the highlights of The Delaware Road 2019 ”Howlround and Merkaba Macabre whose tape squalls plucked from the thin air and moulded into ghostly rhythms was witnessed by so many people they were queuing down the stairs to get an earful” Electronic Sound, Issue 57.
HOWLROUND is a quintet (four slightly battered machines machines, one slightly battered operator in the shape of sound artist Robin The Fog) that create recordings and performances entirely from manipulating natural acoustic sounds on vintage reel-to-reel tape machines, with all additional effects or artificial reverb strictly forbidden. In an age where one can create all manner of electronic music with the merest swipe of a mouse, Howlround prove not only how much fun is to be had in making things complicated again, but conversely just how little effort is sometimes needed to create a genuinely uncanny and beguiling soundworld. Sixth LP The Debatable Lands is out now on Touch. and was recorded and produced entirely on a Cumbrian dining table. http://www.howlround.co.uk/
MERKABA MACABRE is a multimedia project by Steven McInerney, an Australian born artist based in London. His practice ranges from audiovisual, musical performance and experimental film with the intention of opening a dialectic between the sacred and the profane. McInerney is an award winning filmmaker and has performed and exhibited internationally. He runs Psyché Tropes, a label dedicated to exploring the synaesthetic intersections between sound and its visual counterpart. ”..as if our primordial, survival-based emotions had been transferred into the external environment..’’ – The Wire Magazine http://merkaba-macabre.net/ https://www.psyche-tropes.com/
HANZO is a visual artist and designer based in London. Working across various disciplines, his focus is on realtime visuals. His experience in graphic design, coding and motion graphics makes it possible to explore the connection between visuals and sounds from diverse genres. Using sound reactive and motion sensitive approaches to create realtime design, results in slow build ups of mesmerising shapes and forms, to reveal ideas and make them accessible to the audience. A controlled chaos of organic nature. His work can be experienced during music and art events, AV performances, club nights and festivals in form of live performances, light installations and also motion graphics projects. https://www.facebook.com/h2olab
