VU zine

VU-zine No. 2

SAGE FRANCIS BEN WATT IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE SUUNS IAN STEVENSON KIASMOS TONY ALLEN WOOZY

DELS

PETALS HAVE FALLEN ★ ★ ★ ★ – The Times “Album of the Month, 4/5" – Mojo “9/10” – Clash Magazine ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – Metro ★ ★ ★ ★ – Timeout London “Back, ten times stronger” – The Fader

Contents & Credits 2

Ian Stevenson In Four Shots 4 Sage Francis Staying Sharp at 40 6 Ibibio Sound Machine Birth of Ibibio 8 VULX Tracking the Portuguese tongue 10 Ben Watt Everything but the second album 12 VU Live A few photos from our world 14 Di Mainstone Human Harp Playing suspension bridges 16 Woozy Walls The greek graff scene vs Shoreditch 18 Kiasmos Colliding classical with electro 20 Suuns Interview and Interference 22 Tony Allen Moving on with Afrobeat 24 VU Listings Who’s coming to play

THE NEW ALBUM OUT NOW (LP/CD/DL) With production by Kwes., Bonobo, Blue May & Micachu Guest appearances by Rosie Lowe, Kerry Leatham & Tirzah

26 Kate Tempest After the media storm settles

Editor: Dan Davies Design & Cover illustration: Kieren Gallear Contributors: Ava Szajna-Hopgood, Woozy, Leo Almeida, Juliet Spare Photographers: Abi Dainton, Zoe Klinck, Ross Brewer, Carla Cuomo, Rich Hendry, Pablo Rivera, Jaroslav Moravec, Jessica Arneback, Marcus Peel, Daddy’s Got Sweets, Djim The VU Massive: Auro Foxcroft, Josh Greene, Dermot Hurley, Jorge Nieto, Kath Khan, Jack Foxcroft, Ty Vigrass, Lewis Howell, Radek Kieczka, Dominique Activille, Declan Cosgrove, Ania Buesdorff, Mariana Duarte Silva, Jowan Sebastian, Biba (cover star), Glenn Max, Laura Killeen, Alda Petersone, Adam Peters, Theo Dominian, Gregory Timbers, Keelan Warr, Joey Jenkins, Jozef Garcala, Amelie Snyers Promoters: Bird on the Wire, C2C, One Inch Badge, Erased Tapes, Serious, Black Atlantic, The Hydra, Fuse, All Tomorrow’s Parties, Rinse FM, NTS, Earnest Endeavours, Soundcrash, SJM, Mixmag, Mixcloud, Comono No, DHP, Metropolis, Bugged Out, Two for the Road, Eat Your Own Ears, Communion, Magic and Medicine, City of London Sinfonia, Black Butter Records, Resident Advisor, Rockfeedback, TrouwAmsterdam, Erased Tapes, Bird On The Wire, KiliLive, Magic and Medicine, Parallel Lines, Group, Secret Sundaze Press Support: Shaun Bronstein, Will Lawrence, Fanny at Kartel Kreative, Kate Warren, James Heather

villageunderground.co.uk vulisboa.com vuevents.co.uk vuzine.villageunderground.co.uk

2

IAN STEVENSON

In Four Shots

‘Timothy is a pervert’ (above): People say my art is childish or naive but I like to look for a double meaning. Look at Timothy all innocent without the writing. Then you look at him with the sign, he’s suddenly quite sinister. Look at him, trying to appeal to kids. Pervert.

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED’ (above): This is from an exhibition called Satisfaction Guaranteed about subverting words you see all the time by putting them in a different context. There’s one I want to do which says “Buy Now, Pay Later”. To me that seems really dark.

‘HAPPY HOUSE: now open’ (below) This is something I’ve been doing quite a lot lately. I like to go out with just two colours (keep it cheap) and paint things. I kept going past this place on the bus and kept thinking it looked like a face. So I walked back and painted a simple line and there it is. A face.

‘Revolution is now’ (below): I wanted to be involved with Russell Brand - he seemed like a good guy, his morals are in the right place. And when I read the book he did seem to be promoting change.

Humour always gets in there, even though I try to be serious, I can’t. ianstevenson.co.uk

4

SAGE FRANCIS Staying Sharp at 40

SF: Haven’t you heard? I’m a wet, wet boy in a dry, dry state. No, I don’t think I’m particularly slick. But as far as email interviews go, I feel like this would be any writer’s preference. This is how we communicate best. When I’m pushed into giving answers on the spot I feel forced to fake my way through an explanation or answer. This is the kind of shit some people get off on. It’s not for me.

DD: The new album, Copper Gone, remains pretty passionate – why are you still raging?

SF: I still care about the operations of this world and creating inspirational works. It still excites me to get in front of a crowd of people and have the ability to entertain them. Despite all my rage, I’m still just a fat guy named Sage.

DD: Do you think that your work is worth

SF: Apparently, yes. But not really. My work is art. It’s what the art represents that is

So it breaks down like this...

Ahead of his London show at VU we were offered an interview with Sage but by the time the clearance was given he was up late and trying to get some sleep before on his European tour. He offered to do the interview so Dan Davies sent through questions which we hoped he might not have been asked before or that might provoke answers that he hasn’t answered in his music. Good to his word, the answers were returned.

DD: I know you have had trouble with sleep in the past. Is it still bad and do you have a way of making this easier on a world tour?

SF: I can’t remember the last time I had a predictable sleeping pattern, but touring kind of forces the schedule. We’ll see how it works out with the international touring. So far, so not good!

DD: I liked what you said about e-mail interviews, that they’re only dry when you’re dealing with a dry person – what keeps you slick?

DD: You’ve mentioned different selves that you represent in rhyme – who are we speaking to now and what does he think of your other selves? Will you ever be done with hip-hop?

SF: You are speaking to the puppeteer of my other selves. He will never be done with hip-hop. It’s too ingrained in his DNA. However, some of the puppets he presides over are done with hip-hop forever. He, the puppeteer, is happy about that.

DD: Will hip-hop ever be done with you?

SF: Hip-hop probably wanted nothing to do

deal with me.

DD: I liked your press conference video, how often do these lame questions get asked from you?

SF: The press conference video was incredibly cathartic to create. I got to express a lot of things artists say behind the scenes on a regular basis, but you can’t just come right out and say it without looking like an unappreciative asshole. I’m glad we those questions that typically get asked are ridiculous in nature.

DD: Is thoughtlessness the most annoying character trait?

SF: I believe that inconsideration is the most annoying character trait. I suppose it’s more about carelessness than it is about thoughtlessness.

DD: Hollywood stars have an incredible capacity to trot out the same information have you ever been able to master this ‘art’?

SF: I mean no disrespect with this answer as you have been a particularly interesting interviewer, but a lot of interviewers trot out the same kind of questions about an artist and their work. The burden is then put onto the interviewee to make it seem fresh for whoever reads the interview. I don’t know if I’ve mastered this art but I probably do it better than most. The honest

Sage Francis landed at Village Underground on 21st October, for the full version of this interview please head to http://bit.ly/VZSage.

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IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE

trouble maker and she didn’t like the idea of us watching half naked girls gallivanting about the stage. It wasn’t until I got much older that I actually started listening to his

Making human music

music and appreciated what he was talking about. Even though he was quite political, there was a lot of truth in his music. He was saying a lot of things that made sense. You can Afrobeat though. You can hear Talking Heads

The Cracked Backed Tortoise

“The studio was obviously the birthing of the project and taking it on the road is like

It was in the studio, recording with her friends

bringing it forth to the audience,” says Eno “So

Max Grunard, Leon Brichard and Benji Bouton

you’ve conceived it, then you’re breathing life

that Eno Williams started telling the tale of

into it by performing on stage.”

Western electronic music with African music.”

the Cracked Backed Tortoise. Although Eno

World of music and dance

was born in London, this ancient African story was told to her when she was growing up in

gig below. She talks quickly, bursting with

Nigeria. Different versions of this myth exists in other parts of Africa and even amongst some native American tribes. The Ibibio version is a bawdy retelling that involves a

the way her project has been received.

WOMAD festival and I was surprised how varied her dedicated audience was. Playing

Not an obvious child

the red tent it was a world away from the leafy arboretum. I wonder what she thinks about

cunning tortoise who receives a beating after he cheats a king out of all of his money.

“It’s was great to have a receptive audience

being considered ‘world music’.

because everyone in the band loves the music The South Eastern Nigerian language is

and is passionate about it too. The music is

“I would say it’s like human music… I’ve been

naturally lyrical and as Eno unravelled the

about celebrating and bringing to life – the

really taken by the way the audience takes

tale, she slipped into her mother tongue and

Afro music and fusion of electronic sound

to the music. Sometimes I teach them a few

sang parts to add extra comedy emphasis.

all mixed together. It was a case of creating

lines and they sing along. It just goes to show

Her friends who are from different countries

something new and unique. That’s what you

how universal music is as long as the spiritual

and couldn’t understand the phrases, but

see in the live show.”

content is good and people can vibe with it,

through Eno. In a twinkle of an eye Ibibio

Eno has been in the studio all day and is still

Sound Machine was born.

impeccably dressed, climbing up VU’s narrow

over the top, of course not go crazy but give it

spiral staircase to the tube carriages in a pair

a bit of a visual oomph if I may say so.”

people just want to celebrate…and dance.”

Bringing up baby

of stunning stilettos. Her black and white

Ibibio Sound Machine quickly grew in size,

VUzine. On stage her clothing and physical

Beyond Fela

taking extra brass and percussion from Tony would be too easy to compare her to Fela Kuti.

Hayden, Scott Baylis and Anselmo Netto. It was also able to run before it walked thanks

“I’ve seen lots of shows, musicals and concerts

to the wisdom and wicked guitar licks of

and one thing that always takes me back is the

“Both my parents loved Fela when we were

legendary Highlife guitarist Alfred Bannerman.

visual,” says Eno “What you see apart from just

growing up but we as children weren’t

But it was through touring that ISM really

the music. There’s so much more to putting on

allowed to listen to him. My mum in particular

found its feet.

a show. I thought it would be nice to go a little

thought he was quite controversial and a

Ibibio Sound Machine play Village Underground on 27th November. Tickets are £13.50.

For our video interview and full article visit: http://bit.ly/VZibibio

8

Pass Me The Lusophone Taking poetic license with Portguese speaking hip-hop

up by the spread of my native language across

from a shared language was a link that brought us

the globe and I believed that the world needed to

together across continents. We had fun pointing

hear the message.

out how the language had been translated with different accents and differing dialects changing

In 2006, I started a TV show which featured

the meaning when spoken, even if they look the

live music performances by other lusophonic

same written down.

acts. Vinicius Terra wrote “Programa Na Rua”, the music for the opening credits of the show.

Together we planned some interviews with Terra

walked with us in Chelas, on the streets where

as the interviewer. Musical link-ups were made using his own tracks accompanied by other

hard. Then, we met José Mariño, an important

talented lusophones on the rap scene.

journalist who promoted Lisbon rap in its mother tongue. Other names like General D, Dama

I quit my job as an AV director this year to pursue

Bete, Eva Rap Diva, Dealema, BPM, DJ Alfaiate,

this project full time. Strapped for cash we had

Mundo Segundo, Maze, and Expião shaped the

to think about how we could further spread

documentary in a way I never imagined. I threw

the word with a tiny budget. My plans to live

my script away and started to live the spoken

in Canada and study 3D Visual Effects quickly

history. Now I talk to them not as a director, but

morphed into three airplane tickets to Lisboa.

as a friend and listener.

When we landed in Portugal my documentary “Versos que Atravessam” came out of the

Off the back of this documentary we’ve formed

shadows and into the light. and Portugal Mixed). This October we travelled We suddenly received the help from creative

through Portugal playing in cities across the

people on the ground. When Daniel Medeiros,

country. Today, we’re beginning to think that the

Art Director and rap fan said to me “I’m in”, we

handful of dates that BPM performed weren’t

became more powerful than ever. Raphael Peres

enough. We’ve discovered a new underground

came to the crew as First Assistant, and Frederick

history, we’ve found a global community of Portuguese rappers and now we have a bigger

camera in his hand luggage and photographer

Only a few months after Village Underground

the spotlight whilst a DJ laid down beats. Not the

Lisbon opened its gates, it has already attracted

most game changing set up, admittedly but there

a range of national and international creative

“cenarium” to research.

numbers on his smartphone.

The link between Brazil and Portugal is only one Even though we were penniless we shared a

line in the Portuguese and rap diaspora. Next

businesses. Like its London sister, this has made

was more than just a guy with a microphone.

passion to do the best job possible on a project

we’re going to look for connections in Africa and

the venue an inspiring place to work and play.

He was potentially a man who could front a

we loved, which was priceless.

Asia. But for now, we’re heading back to Brazil with a lot of unpublished material from Portugal’s

movement. In the next decade we become real

hip-hop scene with a history to tell. A history that

Underground’s cultural fertility is Sensemedia

to represent his rap. But this story is bigger than

and Gustavo from Village Underground. They

begins with two friends talking of a bigger dream,

which needed a Lisbon base to put together a

the two of us.

loved the idea of a lusophony documentary

that is now a reality.

documentary on the burgeoning Portuguese

and when we needed a location to shoot our

speaking (“Lusophone”) hip-hop scene pioneered

We came up with the idea of communicating the

interviews and performances, it was natural to

by Brazillian rap ambassador Vinicius Terra.

lusophone rap over a beer - but this was an idea

shoot it at VU Lisboa. It became the spiritual

Director Leo Almeida explains how his mutual

that came from the classroom. Vinicius Terra’s

home of the project. This was our spot.

This synchronicity of life provided us with the best

a movement.

how urban environment was shaping the speech

contacts in town. And for one crazy insatiable

and verse of rappers in Brazil. I was fascinated

month, Daniel’s artistic vision led us further into

I met Vinicius Terra at Madureira, a Brazilian

and I believed it wasn’t just happening in Brazil

some very cool places and unique situations.

neighbourhood, in 2004. He was a lone MC on

but in every urbanized Portuguese speaking

Portugal fed off the Brazilian’s hip-hop artists’

stage, rolling out smart Portuguese rap behind

happiness - and the idiosyncrasies and in-jokes

“Porquê sempre e adiante do princípio é o verbo”.

For more information about co-working in Lisbon please visit vulisboa.com

10

BEN WATT 30 Year Revolution

In what way does the new album echo where you were at the beginning 30 years ago?

vintage Solina all over the album. Often it is

The interface of folk and Brazilian and rock still fascinates me. I grew up discovering artists like Joao Gilberto, John Martyn, Nick Drake, Neil Young and they still leave a big imprint on me now. My dad (a big band arranger and jazz composer) was always playing jazz in the house. I also listened to mid 70s Eno stuff like Before and After Science and Another Green World, I loved the ambient textures, the buzzing polysynths. We used that as background texture on Hendra.

Solo albums can be singular pursuits but this album has some great contributions.

How important to you is collaboration with good musicians?

As you’ve completed your 20 year musical orbit around electronic music what is your relationship with it now?

In 1983 Ben Watt released his debut album North Marine Drive on indie label Cherry Red. Then he met Tracey Thorn and they formed folk-infused venture Everything But The Girl. In the early nineties the band collaborated with Massive Attack and 1996’s Walking Wounded melded with future-facing collaborators Howie B and Spring Heel Jack. This diversion won Watt a nomination for producer of the year at Q Awards and started a loop into dance music. Thirty years later he’s seemingly got round to recording his second solo album.

diverted for 30 years?

The album had been in the back of my mind on and off for years. I had an emerging career aged nineteen back in the early eighties where I had recorded with folk mavericks like Kevin Coyne and Robert Wyatt in spite of my relative youth. Then I met Tracey and took a fork in the road. I thought it would be for three months.

It took 20 years. But someday I knew I would return to a solo record of some sort. In the end I wrote it out of a kind of compulsion because of certain triggers in my life, and I just tried relaxed, with good stories to tell.

buzzing around the edges.

I turn to people when I need them. I knew I was writing in a very loose impressionistic – and at times melancholy – way on the record, and yet the lyrics were quite heavy, so I decided I needed a counterpoint in the music, a darker voice, some grit. So I turned to Bernard Butler. He brings the edge, the distortion, the foil.

The plateau of creativity you’ve said you

I was completely absorbed by it for a long time. But somehow I hit a plateau a couple of years ago. Things seemed to be either running out of control with EDM, or returning to where I was at the beginning of my DJing with people asking me to play all my early Lazy Dog deep house records again, and it felt like a turning point. I hit the pause button, and realised what I really wanted to do was write again – words, songs. Another beginning perhaps, perhaps even an older one, but it felt like a fresh one.

day or moment when you felt you had to return to writing and performing live?

For Hendra did you work from your home studio or did songs come to you when you were elsewhere with a guitar?

Always. Everything you ever do is done to make up for perceived mistakes in the past.

I wrote everything for that record on one guitar or at the piano. I did basic old school demos. Tried to make sure they worked as

Is there any electronic residue left behind?

Yes, me and Ewan (Pearson) spent a long time on the background electronic textures on the record. The opening of the album actually starts with a heavy ARP chord, but we also used found sounds, old polysynths,

It creeps up on you. The late nights, the travelling, the disappointing DJ gigs – you start to resent them, rather than brush them aside. In the end I felt my own self-expression change.

business?

If you could live any year of the last 31 again, which one would it be?

None. The next one is always the best.

The Ben Watt Trio perform at Village Underground on 10th November.

For the full interview please visit: http://bit.ly/VZbenwatt

Ben Klock, New Year Rock Festival, Imaginarium, R-Robot, Blondie

Ben Frost, Secret Cinema, Blood Orange, Snakehips, Crowd for Zoé

Credits: Daddy’s Got Sweets, Zoe Klinck,, Dan Davies, Marcus Peel, Rich Hendry

Carla Cuomo, TMS, Abi Dainton, Ross Brewer, Pablo Rivera

14

DI MAINSTONE Bowing The Bridges

When I lived in New York I found myself

intervention outdoors, and in unexpected

visiting the Brooklyn Bridge on a daily basis

places. It made me think that I can’t wait

and I was inspired by all the different sounds

to take the new version of this contraption

I could hear - the sounds of footsteps on

outside. To test it on a bridge or attach it

the walkway, chatter as people walked by,

to the nearest tower block, and see what unexpected things happen.

down below. I wondered if there was a way to create an instrument that would allow all of these sounds to be harvested, captured, and remixed. I then wondered if all of these journey sounds were travelling through the cables of the bridge, and if there was a way to create an instrument that would actually bow the bridge and release all of these sounds.

Living in New York I felt like a very small person in a very big place. Creating the Human Harp seems like quite a big symbol of my visit there. A small person like me managing to strum or pluck the Brooklyn Bridge, seemed quite magical. I’m fascinated by that - the string connecting from the human body to something that’s giant and almost overpowering. Yet, somehow you’re controlling it and you’re making music out of

we were right at the beginning of our journey,

it.

and all that we really solved was the answer of how to make a piece of retractable string

My project at the Roundhouse in August

make music, but we hadn’t really worked

has massively accelerated my research and

out how to unearth the sound of the cables

development. It’s enabled ten of us to be

yet. What we’ve managed to do this year is

together, in the space, and talk and solve

do a lot of experiments with that and I hope

problems that if we weren’t together and

that with the performance at Clifton. We’ll be

able to play as a group, could take months

truly playing the bridge like a harp, and we’ll

Staring up from the street below at Village

Mary University of London, and has spent the

ordinarily. On top of that, it’s allowing

be unleashing those hidden sounds that are

Underground’s tube trains, it often looks

last few years working with scientists and

members of the public to swing by, pass

running through the cable, pitching them up

as if the carriages hover in the Shoreditch

musicians to create new musical instruments

through, and test and give us feedback, and

to audible levels and releasing them to the

skyline, forming a small collective in the EC2

that use body movement to trigger sound.

for us to observe them in a non-contrived way.

people of Bristol and all those who visit on

troposphere. For a handful of artists, this is a

After a month spent at the Roundhouse

If we were to do it ourselves we know how the

that day.

slice of the city to own, because it’s a rare day

developing her Human Harp, we wanted to

device works, so to see someone cold test it is

when London doesn’t feel overpowering.

hear from the movician about the aspects

very useful.

of city life that have inspired her to create Capturing a part of the city, bringing it to heel

her body-centric sonic sculptures, and how

Seeing the Human Harp set up in a theatrical

and training it, is precisely what appeals to

this will inform her upcoming work at Clifton

space was wonderful, and something we’ll

Di Mainstone. Based at Village Underground,

Suspension Bridge in March 2015 for its 150th

always remember but it also made me

Di is also an artist in residence at Queen

anniversary.

realise that this instrument is built for sound

For the full scrolling story including an incredible video please visit: http://bit.ly/VZharp

WOOZY

16

Makari na litourgousan oi krtakoi organismoi

Before the mural, I’ve already spent many

kai na ginotan kati xoris na iparxei mesa I miza kai I kataxrisi xrimaton.

perfectly. Similar to Picasso’s desire to work on a big white canvas, what counts to me is the

The Greek Graff Scene vs Shoreditch

When I began to paint in the 90s, things were

size of the wall. You get a greater interaction

entirely different. Living in Athens at the time

with the audience and a greater freedom to

was like living in the 70s in New York. Some

be creative, small art works generally limit me.

of us were lucky and we had international contacts and commuted to places like France and learned how this street art culture worked abroad. We returned to Greece with new knowledge about fresh talent and new ideas.

I wanted to do something for the country that I loved.

Because I was young, all my energy was spent organising this new wave of artistic expression in Greece. Carpe Diem developed as a platform of communication between European magazines and the network of cultural industry contacts. I became the “go

It was really hard to learn and to organise orthodox society that didn’t want things to change. They saw us as aliens! The years passed and I fell more in love with street art and that’s when I started making the magazine with the support of some friends.

I love futurist landscapes, mythology, geometry, and politics. My direction and

changeable British weather, determined inspire new creativity. I believe that there is a

seriously, and not see those artists as young

perspective give an open space to one kind

greater need for society to express itself.

children who are just doing it for a reaction.

of freedom. This is what I want to believe

So I started an NGO that spun off the big

and this is what I try to leave behind: a loud feeling.

off the Holywell Lane wall by the

In the big capitalist economies like New York

event ‘Chromopolis’, as part of the culture

“Power of Girl”. But the ever resilient Woozy

or London where everything works with

Olympiad for the 2004 Olympic games. I

(real name Vaggelis Hoursoglou) stayed

immense civilized order, people try to make

invited my friends Os Gemeos and other big

in Shoreditch and left his mark on other walls

things look pretty and beautiful. This situation

names to help with the promo and since then,

before heading home. We’ve given him

has its negatives and positives; I’m not saying

I believe Greek culture started becoming more

more space to speak out.

the art is sterile or boring, but as an artist there isn’t anything to kick against. It’s not by chance

The chaotic order in Greece is productive

the big event Documenta will be taking place

exists a fresh appetite and willingness without

and tiring, if you aren’t used to swimming in

in Athens for 2015. Meaningful art comes from

sponsors, events, or other hype clouding the

the deep end, you might drown. In a country

a place of struggle and cannot simply arise

art. Creating work for the public keeps me

where there is crisis, the underground

from where places are stable and set.

Pictures by Marcus Peel For the full Woozy rant please visit: http://bit.ly/VZwoozy

18

KIASMOS At The Apex

those trips we found this common interest for

who are in similar places as you and having

electronic music which, at least, I hadn’t really

similar ideas - just talking to them. Me and

explored before. We were just both interested

Nils [Frahm] became best friends eventually -

and wanted to start experimenting.”

and every time we see each other we inspire each other so much and we get so many more

Filled with energy of a new musical

ideas we wouldn’t have without each other –

relationship, early material focused on a

so this is a label with very useful friendships.”

shared love for minimal techno, but when it came to putting the debut album together, their music became more considered. On the phone from the Faroe Islands Janus considers the current body of work. “I didn’t know it was going to be this ambient, but I guess that was nice, it’s kind of new for me – I’ve always made dance music but in a way we’re meeting in the middle.”

Also on the conference call, Ólafur agrees: “This is more clubby than I usually do but more ambient than Janus usually does.”

The concept of meeting in the middle is at the core of what Kiasmos achieves. Named after a mis-spelling of Chiasmus, a literary technique whereby two clauses are related to each other by reversing them in order to make a larger idea (“Ask not what your country can do for

When an island such as Iceland is shaped so plate is techno musician and vocalist Janus

you, ask what you can do for your country”),

Taking a project out of the secure environment

Kiasmos revels in the uncertainty of turning

of a studio and trying to replicate it for a

something on its head and taking it out of its

live show brings another dimension to the

comfort zone.

performance. Ólafur explains that they

easy for stereotypes to take hold, especially

Rasmussen, one quarter of Icelandic band

when there isn’t a huge amount of people

Bloodgroup who are specialists in catchy

The overall sound Ólafur and Janus produce

and ensconce the audience in what Kiasmos

to defy them. But despite the country’s

dance music earning them early comparisons

is one enriched with both experience and

achieves: “A live show should be a moment

impeccable cultural heritage, there’s a new

to The Knife. With a new date announced on

uncertainty and the very idea of playing

that you experience, and it only happens

wave of artists not content on relying on the

29th November for Superstition, we spoke to

outside familiar territory. But instead of

there, and it doesn’t happen again in the same

drawing inspiration from the environment

way. And what we want to do with the live

eponymous album, made after setting aside

around them, it was the band’s work with

show is reinforce that- to help people get lost

2014 for collaboration in Reykjavík.

Erased Tapes that continued to encourage

in that moment. And forget about everything

experimentation: “It’s offered me this

else.”

their nation’s musical output.

Cue Kiasmos, two musicians seemingly

decided to stick to the vibe of the album,

standing on different tectonic plates. On

“We met through music,” Ólafur says, “I was

opportunity to grow as an artist”, says

one side is Ólafur Arnalds – a BAFTA-winning

working as a sound technician back in the day,

Ólafur of the London-based label. “It invites

multi-instrumentalist, composer and

and Janus’s band, Bloodgroup, was playing

collaboration - and it doesn’t have to be a

producer, whose work comprises post-

at a venue I worked at, and I ended up going

serious musical collaboration, but just talking

classical strings and piano nudged gently

on tour with them as their live engineer. On

about ideas. You know, having these friends

Kiasmos will headline a special Superstition show in collaboration with Last.fm and Erased Tapes on 29th November 2014. For this full interview, please visit http://bit.ly/VZkiasmos

20

SUUNS “Feels like a crazy slap in the face.”

D: Last time you played here was two years

that had its challenges as well - a lot of songs

ago and you were on our smaller stage setup

were not tested live, so we were just sort of

underneath the arches. This year you’ll be in

working on them in the studio and we had no

the main space, a move which you must see

idea if they would really do well live before

happening a lot for the second album run of

we started recording them. I hope it’s not a

tours and gigging. Do you think playing to

case where each record will be the magnetic

larger audiences affects the atmosphere on

opposite of the previous ones - but I don’t

stage?

think so.

J: Yes I do remember that gig - and I think in general we are just a different band, so I think it will be a different show than it was almost two years ago.

D: Is there a danger as you become more popular that you lose that intimacy and response from a small audience? Do you think there’s a risk that something gets lost when you scale up?

D: You’ve named your album after the Images Du Futur exhibitions in Montreal, and you’ve reason to claim it’s not as intimate - which is

all lived there for at least ten years - do you

totally understandable - but I guess naturally

think the album in a way celebrates that

it would happen if you were playing a bigger

legacy of Montreal?

especially good to musicians. It’s cheap to live you feel you’ve learnt from that and how did it

here, everything is very close and compact - I

affect your approach to Images Du Futur?

Let’s set the scene: It’s four in the afternoon in London, eleven in the morning in Montreal. Dan is sat in a recycled Jubilee line tube train on top of Village Underground in Shoreditch, amid the sounds of computer keys and answering

every other member of our band. Everything

grinds by as car horns congregate, children

we do is in some way an homage to this place

goad for attention and the phone buttons are accidentally pressed, the signal drops,

we were completely independent, and we - this band would not have started. It means

echoes and distorts. These bursts disrupt the conversation like Suuns music: the drone

The downside to that was we didn’t have

we’ve been able to put a lot of work into the

and hum of technology and modern living

much money or that much time to do it. We

band because we don’t need to put a lot of

with surprising sounds taking them in new

had been playing those songs for the better

work into surviving. It frees us up to be really

part of two years, and we kind of rushed in,

devoted to do what we want to do, which is

played most of them live and then did a few

priceless, really.

3,243 miles away, Joe Yarmush, guitarist, bassist and founding member of Suuns,

overdubs.

from Montreal’s Breakglass Studios, where their second album, Images Du Futur, came into being.

Throughout the interview, life is condensed

across the Atlantic and returned to Shoreditch

Images was really songs that were written

in September with a new album for a new

in a short period of time in early 2012, and

stage - an eigen pun that serves to highlight

sound and cohesion-wise, the songs are a lot

just how much has evolved for a band

better, in the respect that it sounds more like

previously named after nothing.

an album that came from a certain period. But

For the full Suuns interview and interfering audio please go here: http://bit.ly/VZsuuns

22

TONY ALLEN The Afrobeat Goes On

Erykah Badu, Fatoumata Diawara and many

them because they don’t have the correct

others as part of Africa Express.

papers. It’s like playing the Lottery. I’m

His approach to collaboration has always been

every time.”

open and accepting and this remains the same

“I’m not like Fela who writes compositions with music direct,” says Allen “I’m composing with my drumset. I’m not going to assume that I can write for instruments that I never played with before. After the drums are there like the bass, guitars horns and keyboards.”

Allen is keen to encourage the best from

settled in Paris in the early 1980s.

musicians that he works with on his own Nefretiti, Kuku and Damon Albarn all setting the tone for the music. Allen talks about the song he created with his The Good, The Bad and The Queen collaborator.

“I would never dictate anything to him, because when I’ve invited Damon, I want Damon, you know? As long as he doesn’t

settled in Paris in the early 1980s.

dictate to me what he wants when he’s invited

Tony Allen started making music with

It comes as no surprise that his new solo

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti in the late 1960s and

album Film of Life isn’t a perfectly preserved

me. I know he will give me back something.

“I think Paris is happening for music. I also

I don’t need to tell him what to do. It’s like

chose France because here I can walk, legally.

telepathy he can read me and I read him too.”

I want to be able to walk freely across the world. In England I was stuck, they wouldn’t

retrospective but a future-gazing album of

Certain tracks on the album also have a

new material. It has the similar hypnotising

political message to his African brothers and

polyrhythms but doesn’t sound stuck in an era

sisters, no more so than Boat Journey, which

or musical style.

warns against the dangers of migration.

This doesn’t mean that his work is without

“The song is about leaving your country

continues to break the form rather than get

teeth, his laconic vocal delivery often conveys

because you have a bad situation but you can

stuck in a loop.

a strong message. The opening track Moving

often face persecution elsewhere. Like me, I

Nevertheless, Village Underground has

On lays down the musical manifesto of what

left Nigeria to come to Europe to change my

tempted him across the Channel in November.

at one point he calls “Afrobeat Espresso”

situation because it was crazy back there. But

This is the perfect chance to catch a man who

and at another point he calls “Afrobeat

I never lost my life. Even if the boat doesn’t

refuses to stand still.

Express”. This is perhaps a reference to the

capsize, they can face detention and if they’re

supercharged Rocket Juice & The Moon

lucky and they enter the country they don’t

continued to be the rhythm powerhouse of Afrika 70 during the self proclaimed “Black

“The approach is Afrobeat” says Allen, “it can applied to my whole life. It’s the ups and keep moving on.”

And if I did make music there there’s always back every time to catch you if you were

as Art Blakey with African Highlife to create the backbone for Afrobeat. But Afrobeat

give you the right papers. For me it meant

collaboration with Damon Albarn, Flea,

performing.”

Tony Allen comes to town on 20th November.

Please head to http://bit.ly/VZallen

Jungle by Night, Crowd for Zoé, Sohn, Trouw Takeover, Stuart Lee

Kwabs, Crowd for Claude Von Stroke, Slow Club, Years and Years, Discreet

Credits: Abi Dainton, Zoe Klinck,, Dan Davies, Marcus Peel, Daddy’s Got Sweets

Abi Dainton, Ross Brewer, Marcus Peel

Coming Up

Coming Up

2014 / 2015

2014 / 2015

6.11.14 Roni Size Reprazent - Sold out!

28.11.14 Trouw: Makam, Sandrien, Patrice Baumel And Job Jobse

10.11.14 Ben Watt Trio feat. Bernard Butler & Martin Ditcham & Special Guests

29.11.14 Erased Tapes x Superstition: Kiasmos

11.11.14 Kate Tempest + Rag ‘n’ Bone Man - Sold out!

6.12.14 White Mink

13.11.14 The Growlers + Pins

7.12.14 Los Campesinos - Sold out!

14.11.14 Wildbirds & Peacedrums + Blood Sport 14.11.14 Gaiser + Ambivalent 15.11.14 Mixmag Live Presents Marc Kinchen 17.11.14 The Bad Plus + Support 18.11.14 Bob Mould - Sold out!

20.11.14 Tony Allen + Aziz Sahmaoui & The University Of Gnawa 22.11.14 Life and Death x Superstition: Tale of Us, Mind Against, DJ Tennis 24.11.14 Melanie De Biasio

27.11.14 Ibibio Sound Machine + Afrikan Boy & Afri-Kokoa Djs

13.12.14 Running Wild: Stephan Bodzin, Marc Romboy, Aidan Doherty, James Sison B2b Edward Antonio, Jorge Martins 31.12.14 Krankbrother: New Year’s Eve With Mr. G, Gerd And Ivan Smagghe 29.01.15 Julian Cope 24.02.15 Baxter Dury + Special Guests 2.03.15 Benjamin Booker 4.03.15 Yelle 10.03.15 Rhodes 11.03.15 Vaults 9.04.15 Polar Bear

KATE TEMPEST Flushed with success on a mission that is ongoing, obsessed.

Words by Dan Davies

You can curse and call it typical You can welcome the inevitable But we missed the boat Our ship had sailed When Tempest stormed the critical.

It’s been ten years in port But far from docked, she’s more than caught Attention She’s held court, spoke forth Waving, drowning, craving, storming, sailing.

As long as they’ve listened, they’ve heard her As long as they came, she’d be there Jumping genre fences at festivals Being drunk on rhyme and rum, in bars and cafes Ranting late night in kebab takeaways The beat, her heart, her own, inaudible, invisible.

Go back, way back, before that Kate Tempest spat before she spoke Drummed out her words In school cloakrooms The rhythm of being in the womb Hip hop, the wet nurse Cries full of hunger and meaning Giving voice to the wounded, alone, stranded, abandoned.

Writing plays for tomorrow and today Softening the life of the hard living Giving Whether whittling words or treading boards Stirring souls, portraying passion, long rounds of applause

Village Underground London, EC2A

Thursday 29.01.15

into awards.

So let the broadsheets bang on about background and beginning Before being shredded and forgotten.

Let Jon Humphries get back round to pillaring politicians Rather than hastily constructing pedestals of jauntiness (and Jim Naughtiness) Let the bookies stop taking bets on fake measures of success.

Because after the fawning journos, the fakers, potshots After the Gogglebox gogglers and the blank switch off.

Leave the musicians and the makers, Leave those who hear more with repeated listens Standing in the wings being lifted up with words Or pushing to the front Pinned against the band, The following, the follower, The fanzine and the fans.

villageunderground.co.uk

vuzine.villageunderground.co.uk