Skaņu Mežs 2018, taking place in Riga, Latvia on October 12 and 13, has announce three more acts – industrial music duo NAKED, electronic music composer Caterina Barbieri and Latvian experimental metal band TESA. All three acts are 2018 artists of the Skaņu Mežs co-founded SHAPE platform for innovative music and audiovisual art, supported by the „Creative Europe” programme of the European Union. Tickets can be purchased here: www.ticketservice.lv
NAKED are Agnes Gryczkowska and Alexander Johnston, a London-based duo engaging with noise, industrial, experimental and extreme forms of electronic music. Their new EP— „Total Power Exchange” — released on Halcyon Veil, uses the sounds of sex, vomit and noise to create a heavy, spine-crushing noise hybrid with Salò-birthed vocals. Taking its title from a masochistic practice, „Total Power Exchange” refers to a sexual relationship or activity in which there is the submissive and the master – the control filters down to all aspects of the submissive’s life and existence – which can also be taken as metaphor for socio-political control.
NAKED’s live performance is an integral part of their practice – it penetrates, caresses and obliterates all senses. Raw, primordial and uncontrolled, yet ephemeral and highly emotional, their live presence is characterised by the extremity of vocal and sonic deliveries, Agnes’ confrontational destruction of the boundaries between performer and audience, lighting capable of inducing altered states of consciousness, olfactory interventions, and raw power electronics.
https://n-a-k-e-d.bandcamp.com/track/unleash-me
Caterina Barbieri is a Berlin-based Italian composer who explores themes related to machine intelligence and object oriented perception in sound through a focus on minimalism.
Barbieri’s work explores the polyphonic and polyrhythmic potential of synthesisers to draw complex and severe geometries in time and space, aiming to reveal the integrative, cognitive feedback between humans and technology as well as the psycho-physical effects of repetition and pattern-based operations in music.
Barbieri holds a diploma in classical guitar and a bachelor’s degree in electro-acoustic music from the conservatory of Bologna, Italy, alongside a bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Humanities and Philosophy with a thesis in Ethnomusicology about Hindustani music and Minimalism.
Her 2017 album „Patterns of Consciousness”, released on Important Records, was named by The Wire magazine as one of the 50 best recordings of the year.
https://caterinabarbieri.bandcamp.com/track/gravity-that-binds
TESA is a three-piece band from Riga, Latvia, formed in the end of 2005, which tries not to classify their style of heavy music in any particular way and give the listener a free choice of interpretation by mixing different styles and sub-genres, creating something unique and passionate. Since 2005, the band has gained much attention with numerous tours and festival appearances. TESA released several albums on labels in Latvia, Russia, France and Germany over the last 10 years. Their releases demonstrate a passion for experimenting with genres and sound textures, mixing dark melodies with feathery soundscapes, ambiences, psychedelic loops, and even noise music, abstracting themselves from mainstream standards of heavy music. Their most recent full-lenght album „GHOST” was mastered by James Plotkin.
https://tesa.bandcamp.com/track/g
Stay tuned for further announcements of Skaņu Mežs 2018. Tickets to the festival can be purchased here: ticketservice.lv. Advance sales ticket for a single concert night costs 15 EUR. Meanwhile, the first 100 two-day passes are currently available for 20 EUR.
Skaņu Mežs festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture of Latvia, State Culture Capital Foundation, the Municipality of Riga, Trust for Mutual Understanding as well as iRobot, Valmiermuiža and Red Bull Music Academy. Skaņu Mežs is also a member of the SHAPE platform for innovative music and audiovisual art, supported by the „Creative Europe” program of the European Union, and I.C.A.S., an international network of festivals, devoted to adventurous sound.
For more info on SHAPE, visit www.shapeplatform.eu
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvCxcJfeiCQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W25FTlO42VY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxECAD3NwQE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyja37K5DW4
