Suffering from shopping overload? Concerened about a world rife with global advertising, multi-national control, global warming, packaging and supermarket domination in a profit driven and dirty world? Help is at hand! Reverend Billy and his Gospel Choir of Life After Shopping are coming to Birmingham as part of his ‘UK Shopocalypse Tour’.
Reverend Billy, the infamous New York-based performance artist and activist who is banned from every Starbucks in the US, makes his only Midlands appearance. This event is presented as a collaboration between Ikon and Fierce! Festival’s year round programme.
You may have read about him in the Guardian and this will be your only chance to see him in the West Midlands.
Friday 29 May 5.30-6.30pm FREE
Outside Ikon, Brindley Place, Birmingham, B1 2HS, UK
FREE Film Screenings
What Would Jesus Buy?
Reverend Billy and The Church of Life After Shoping are the subject of Morgan Surlock’s film
What Would Jesus Buy? (duration 92mins).
Supersonic Festival . Birmingham
24TH – 26TH of July 2009
Capsule the brains behind Supersonic Festival are curators, promoters and fans of the finest music, revealing the otherwise indescribable connections between contemporary music and art, crafting extraordinary events for adventurous audiences. Now in it’s 7th year, the event will once again take place at the Custard Factory in the heart of Digbeth (Birmingham, UK) utilising a number of spaces for music, art, film and cake.
We are thrilled at what is shaping up to be our best line up yet, with unique performances from such influential artists as Italian legends, GOBLIN, their first show in the UK in 20 years, the reformation of the original line up of HEAD OF DAVID, who bring their driving bombast to proceedings for the first time in 23 years, the notorious Japanese band CORRUPTED who have yet to play on UK soil as well the reawakening of Greg Anderson & Stephen O’Malley of Sunn 0))) maiden voyage into darkeness: the cult black doom act THORR’S HAMMER, not to mention splatter rock band THE ACCUSED, unruly trio MONOTONIX, the expansive drone-noise of GROWING; Brighton’s prog adventure, DIAGONAL; the wild avant futuristic jazz of ZU; the stoned pysch of EARTHLESS, the Virginian sludge rock of PONTIAK, the industrial experiments of 65 DAYS OF STATIC, the immense duo that is FLOWER/CORSANO DUO, occult noise act SKULLFLOWER, also joining the line up is SCORN aka Mick Harris (king of the blast beat) and the new project combining Russell McEwan of Black Sun & the electronic-vocal attack of Lea Cummings (Kylie Minoise) in the form of ATOMIZED, added to this are the power violence duo IRON LUNG and one of the finest folk vocalists NANCY WALLACE will be featured in the line-up, once again highlighting the highly eclectic booking policy of the festival.
Tickets for Supersonic 2009 are on sale NOW via www.theticketsellers.co.uk
Available via Rough Trade East in London + Polar Bear & Swordfish in Birmingham + Plugd Records in Cork
CONFIRMED LINE UP:
Head Of David (first show in 23 years) / 65 Days of Static / The Accused / Arbouretum / Atomized/ Bobby Previte / Caribou / Corrupted / Chris Herbert / Diagonal / Earthless /Flower Corsano Duo / Goblin / Growing / Iron Lung / Jarboe / Khyam Allami / Kim Hiorthøy / Kylie Minoise / Master Musicians Of Bukkake/ Monotonix / Nancy Wallace / Pontiak / Pram / PRE / Remember Remember/ Rose Kemp/ Scorn / Skullflower/ Taint / Theo / Thorr‚s Hammer / Venetian Snares / Zu / ZzZ
“Of this welter of well organised, wisely curated festivals (ATP, Faster Than Sound, Sonar, Greenman) perhaps the best organised and most wisely curated was Supersonic. Plotted by Birmingham promoters Capsule, 2007’s Supersonic inhabited the nexus where metal, folk and noise met.”
Plan B Magazine
“Supersonic, in our opinion the best festival in the world right now”
Rock-A-Rolla Magazine
“AS British music festivals go, Birmingham’s annual Supersonic event is the best kind of mixed musical bag, a dizzying assortment of avant rock textures and Heavy Metal thunder on a bill which swings from the sublime to the ridiculous without once seeming ostentatiously eclectic.”
The Wire
21 Years of Mela – From Bhangra folk beats to Dancing Gods
This year the Nottingham Mela returns for a very special event in its 21st year since launch, with celebrations set to take place on Sunday 7th June 2009 at Old Market Square and Royal Centre in Nottingham where it all began.
Artists on the line up include:
Pixar’s Up has become the first animated movie ever to open the Cannes film festival – and critics have fallen over themselves to praise the 3D feature.
Directed by Peter Docter, Up tells the story of a grumpy old balloon salesman who attaches countless balloons to his house and floats off on an adventure. It’s a terrific family adventure: the 3D presentation gives it a real boost, but this film is airborne because of the traditional strengths: story, characterisation and inventive animation with the old-fashioned values of clarity and simplicity. The film uses new 3D technology to add an extra dimension to the cinematic experience. The quality of writing, its delicious sound design, and the emotional punch it packs all make this one of Pixar’s finest achievements to date.
Time magazine claimed Up was more than a match for last summer’s animated hit WALL-E.
Can’t wait till it comes out in the cinema.
Today has been a full on day but in the middle of it all got a call from someone thanking us for doing all the great work we’re doing. So often we’re working so hard to get things locked down that we miss the enjoyment of what we do so thanks for the reminder
I also wanted to say an extra special thanks to the RISING STYLES team and the MI21 team who are working so hard at the mo.
Yeah, you heard right. Another route to link with the UKs only dedicated annual Hip Hop festival, to stay in touch, to hear whats happening and to not miss out
This is AMAZING. Bet there are enough people out there wanting to beable to do the same.
This incredible surf footage captures big wave surfer Dylan Longbottom riding a monster 12ft barrel in the Caroline Islands.
Shot in ‘super slo-mo’ for BBC2 programme South Pacific, these are the first images of their kind ever recorded.
Expert surf photographer Bali Strickland admitted the swell looked dangerous and he was nervous when he dived in but added: “I shot it and wasn’t sure how good it was but I watched it back and I’ve still got shivers in my spine. It’s probably the best shot I’ve ever gotten, without a doubt.”
The spot draws surfers from all over the world and Longbottom had to use all his skills to get the footage without risking his safety.
South Pacific is set to be screened on BBC2 at 8.30pm this Sunday.
It was my first time visiting the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, now in its 14th year and it was……interesting. We went to see Arve Henrikson at the Town Hall in a room called The Pillar Room. They weren’t kidding about it being the Pillar Room – it was the most ridiculous room to have such an interesting artist perform in as you were constantly competing with the huge marble pillars all over the place so getting a position where you could view the full performance was near impossible.
With tickets priced they way they were i get really annoyed when you cant see the artist. Many people took to standing up for the entire performance just to get to see anything whilst others gave up and just simply sat with their eyes closed taking the sounds in.
All that moaning aside…back to the music. Now, its very different from listening to the cds at home or in the car to then hearing this craziness live. For me the shock factor came when Arve started singing into his trumpet and i thought, ‘hang on a minute, wheres this womans singing coming from’?! To then realising, it was him! Singing like a Bee Gee!!!! Seriously, the way Arve used the trumpet to create some amazing sounds was unbelievable. He was like a one man orchestra. He was supported by a electronic DJ type chap whos name i cant remember but was entertaining with his harsh headbanging knob twirling!!
The music reminded me of a combinationa of Twin Peaks / Massive Attack / Close Encounters – strange combo i know, but thats what was going through my mind.
The last track Arve performed was beautifully melodic and was by far the evening highlight. Shame the Arve wasnt given more time to do his thing because before you knew it, it was time to exit.
So quite simply – interesting gig, crap venue, go get the cd if you havent already.
Founded back in 1999. Film-maker Pritt Kalsi embarked on his project KING OF THE BEATS. For over 20 years he has been involved in Hip Hop Culture, looking for those breaks beats and samples.
In tradition of DJs Such as Jazzy Jay, Marley Marl, Premier and Pogo, Pritt founded what was to be the blueprint for this thing called beat battles. Before the 1999 film KING OF THE BEATS there were no beat battles.
His aim is too keep that vinyl culture alive. From the days when Djs would look for those breakbeats for a $1, turning them into some of the most classic records we all love to this day.
The challenge…..each artist has a budget of £20 to go find records. They have to find the drums, samples and music. They then have to return to their studio and build a beat. Doesn’t sound too complicated? You only have one day to complete the whole task.
Pioneers, legends, established and up and coming artists all share this platform. See how they take on the task, choice of records, how they work in the studio, learn some of their production techniques. Most importantly they all share one common bond, their love for good quality real Hip Hop music.
This is a platform for real artists.
For further information, King Of The Beats bookings and where you can see the next event, don’t hesitate to get in touch with KALA PHOOL.
