INTERVIEW
MUSIC
TUSK FRINGE CLAIRE DUPREE TALKS TO THE TOPH CREW ABOUT PLANS FOR THIS YEAR’S TUSK FRINGE FESTIVAL Long (long!) after the pubs have shut, when the world outside is dark and still, there’s something rumbling in the deepest recesses of the internet; groups of musicians, artists and noisemakers are gathering, intent on showing off their strange colours and weird sounds to an audience of nightowls and seekers of underground, off-kilter culture. As we reported last month, the increasingly ground-breaking experimental festival TUSK kicks off a two-week exploration of sounds from late September. Its stranger sibling, TUSK Fringe, will also emerge across two weekends (Saturday 3rd-Sunday 4th and Saturday 10th-Sunday 11th October), bringing an even more diverse line-up of weird and wonderful sounds and discussions after the main festival has ended. Curated once again by The Old Police House, the Fringe is the place to come when you just can’t get that sexually frank gabba and electronic scree itch scratched anywhere else. TOPH’s activities are
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masterminded by experimental turntablist Mariam Rezaei, performer and composer Adam Denton (aka SW1N-HUNTER) and Mark Wardlaw (Kenosist) – who, rather aptly, collectively speak to me about their plans for this year’s virtual fringe festival. “The main TUSK festival is of course a wonderful thing, but by its nature it requires a certain degree of predictability. TUSK Fringe is the chaotic underbelly, with set-times kept loose and documentation often scarce. We provide a bridge between the edifying official culture and the dark recesses of the underground.” One of the undoubted highlights of TUSK Fringe is in the unpredictable nature of the performances you’re likely to see. But when musicians rely on improvisation and volatility as their calling cards, the relative one-way street of virtual viewing can be a challenge. “With an online format there's always less room for the unexpected, although we still try of course.” They reassure. “Initially the challenge was to capture the TUSK Fringe vibe in digital form,
