Thursday 15 August 2019, 7.30pm
Cafe OTO and Extra Normal Records present a Contra Pop Festival primer ahead of its return to Ramsgate Beach on the 17th/18th of August, featuring the revelatory future-sound of Markus Popp's Oval and London-based Sino-Greek psychedelic drone combo, Elephant House.
Trailblazing glitch masterpieces (1990s), delicate, hyper-real, futuristic post-rock vignettes (after 2010) and now abstract club bangers with a delicious twist - Markus Popp aka Oval continues to be one of THE most prolific, influential creative forces in contemporary electronic music.
Every Oval album is a unique, shape-shifting celebration of innovation, skill and sensibility. In an age of shallow spectacle, Popp keeps going on his deep dives, always ready to reinvent and surprise - merging uncompromising high tech with compelling musicality. Popp is distinctly doing his thing, yet always enthusiastically dealing with the “here & now”. No one out there plays the computer quite like him.
'Elephant House are an intriguing duo consisting of Shenggy Shen on percussion and Christos Fanaras on keyboards. Droning, fizzing and bubbling analogue synths weave around propulsive drum patterns which build into an ecstatic tension.' - Record Collector
Elephant House is a London-based baroque 'n' roll duo, featuring Shenggy Shen on drums and Christos Fanaras on synths. Since their inception in 2013, they have been a vibrant part of the London underground music scene. They have released two LPs on Adaadat Records: Pony Ride (2017) and Chollima (2019).
Shenggy Shen is the former drummer with China's first all-female punk band Hang on the Box. She is also a former member of the avant-duo White with Zhang Shou Wang from Carsick Cars whose self-titled debut was produced by Blixa Bargeld. Her solo music has also been released on Noise Joy and Little Sound. Her most recent work, Parallel Weaving, is an "in distance" collaboration with Beijing-based artist Sheng Jie, created during the lockdown and released on WV Sorcerer Productions in 2022.
Christos Fanaras follows in the Greek lineage of ambient pioneers, like Vangelis and Iasos only with an emphasis on deep dark brooding soundscapes and space-age melancholia. He has released music on his own imprint Down Is Up sometimes under the moniker Jack Shirt. Alongside M.K. Hauser, Christos is one half of the project Masters both having previously played together in the band Agaskodo Teliverek.
