This is a part of
BRDCST
The annual high mass for the musical adventurer
- FULL TIMETABLES HERE
The second day of BRDCST festival has a lot in store. Saturday 6 April will see the following artists appear on stage: Alabaster DePlume, The Necks, Amaro Freitas, One Leg One Eye, goat (JP), Attila Csihar with 'Void Ov Voices', Beans, H31R, Shovel Dance Collective, Youmna Saba, Cole Pulice, Freddie Murphy and Accidental Meetings (DJ).
16:45 - 17:30 @ AB Flex > AMARO FREITAS (BR)
Amaro Freitas developed from out of the slums of the Brazilian port city Recife into a pianist of international stature. He approaches the piano like a percussion instrument, thereby displaying an affinity for grandmaster Thelonious Monk. On his recent album Y’Y – according to Pitchfork, one of the 50 most anticipated albums of 2024 – he is also joined by Shabaka Hutchings, harpist Brandee Younger, and guitarist Jeff Parker. The Wire wrote: “In terms of both composition and improvisation, this is a totally gripping, vibrant and original synthesis of jazz and Brazilian music”.
17:30 - 18:00 @ Rijke Klarenkerk > FREDDIE MURPHY PRESENTS ‘THE NIGHT SHOWS NO DAWN’ (IT)
Freddie Murphy is the alter ego of Italian sound artist Federico Zanatta. Zanatta: “My sonic research has shifted from cathartic performances to express the Catholic sense of guilt to an intimate investigation on feelings of loss and acceptance connected with grief”. His set – with the Notre Dame aux Riches Clarens church as a dream setting – is called The Night Shows No Dawn and is a sonic exploration into the practice of funeral laments that express and channel grief.
17:50 - 18:50 @ AB Flex > THE NECKS (AU)
Strange: Australia’s The Necks have been around for more than 35 years and now ‘suddenly’ seem to be having their breakthrough. Their latest album Travel has been stringing up the superlatives. De Volkskrant gave five stars. The Wire wrote: “Stunning”. And all that on the frontier bordering between jazz, minimalism, improvisation, and classical. The Guardian once described them as “The Necks big thing” (sic), and also said this: “Plenty of left-field cult bands are described as ‘revolutionary’, ‘challenging’ and ‘genre-breaking’, but the music that this Australian piano-bass-drums trio make really is”. They barely rehearse and playing the same set twice is not done in their vocabulary.
18:30-19:30 @ AB Club > COLE PULICE (US)
Cole Pulice is an Oakland-based saxophonist/composer who combines their sax with a wind synth. Pitchfork describes them as an ambient jazz guru “who’s creating the experimental jazz tapes of your dreams”. Their latest 22-minute-long composition ‘If I Don’t See You in the Future…’ instantly became Best New Music on Pitchfork. They’ve already collaborated and toured with Bon Iver and Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
18:30 – 19:15 @ Rijke Klarenkerk > ADRIAAN DE ROOVER PRESENTS ‘OTHER ROOMS’ (BE)
Brussels-based Adriaan De Roover presents his latest work 'Other Rooms', which is published via Dauw (see: Midori Hirano, Lieven Martens,...). 'Other Rooms' was initially planned as a performance with electronica grandmaster Fennesz in the Église Notre-Dame de Laeken, but is now exchanging it for the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Ter Rijke Klarenkerk. Hopefully this won't spark a religious war.
19:20 - 20:10 @ AB Flex > ATTILA CSIHAR PRESENTS 'VOID OV VOICES' (HU)
The legendary Hungarian extreme metal vocalist Attila Csihar is best known for his work with the influential Norwegian black metal band Mayhem and drone ensemble SUNN O))). He is living proof that black metal can no longer be ignored in the avant-garde arts. Void Ov Voices – released on Stephen O’Malley’s label Ideologic Organ – is the result of Csihar’s fascination for old ruins that brought him to the Lebanese city Baalbek, where one of the world’s greatest monoliths is located. There he recorded his vocal acrobatics: something between “animalistic growling, singing and throat singing techniques”.
20:00 - 20:45 @ AB Club > ONE LEG ONE EYE (IE)
Lankum‘s superb False Lankum was just recently described by Mojo as “modern folk music’s own OK Computer”. So The Guardian, Uncut, as well as Loud & Quiet rightly torpedoed False Lankum to Album of the Year. It may well have been the most striking trend of the past year: folk is totally back. Doing so in an exciting capacity.
Lankum-frontman Ian Lynch takes the crown and now also manifests himself under the name One Leg One Eye. His stunning debut And Take the Black Worm With Me received five stars from The Guardian. CTM aptly wrote: “The weight of Irish history and myth, infused with the raw aesthetics of black metal and noise”
20:00 - 20:45 @ Rijke Klarenkerk > YOUMNA SABA (LB)
Lebanese, currently Paris-based, oud player and musicologist Youmna Saba has been exploring the interrelationship of the Arabic language and electronica for a while now. Her latest album Wishah, Arabic for veil, was notably released by English label Touch. (see too: Fennesz, Chris Watson, Jana Winderen, …). De Subjectivisten on her album: “Ontroerende, kippenvel opwekkende, diepgravende pracht. Een overrompelend meesterwerk”.
20:40 - 21:30 @ AB Flex > GOAT (JP)
goat – not to be confused with their Swedish or Greek name-mates – makes “minimal techno without the electronics, performed with jaw-dropping precision”, according to Japan Times. Hailing from Osaka (Japan), goat challenges the typical rock band with their unique, complicated approach to minimalism, whereby pure percussive sound receives priority over melodious content. Boomkat about their latest EP Joy In Fear: “Perhaps the tightest band in existence right now: the infinitely superior goat (jp) who take the micro-precision of computer music and play it on instruments. A huge recommendation if yr into anything from This Heat to Miles Davis, early Battles to Jon Hassell, Moin and Autechre. Nobody else is doing it like this”.
21:15 - 22:15 @ AB Club > H31R PRESENTS ‘HEADSPACE’ (US)
H31R (read: heir/air) is a female New York rap duo consisting of JWords and maassai. Their latest album HeadSpace was released via Big Dada/Ninja Tune and reflects their “mutual desire to bridge the gap between hip-hop and electronic music”. Boomkat: “H31R pick up where Antipop Consortium left off: spiking giddy, club-aware, sci-fi beats with introspective, tongue-twisting rhymes.” Pitchfork: “Two potent solo artists tap into and augment each other’s strengths, practicing a kind of understated alchemy that doesn’t sound quite like anyone else”. For fans of 700 Bliss and Cannibal Ox.
21:15 - 22:15 @ Rijke Klarenkerk > SHOVEL DANCE COLLECTIVE (UK)
An outright impressive collective of nine musicians whose common ground is their shared passion for folk music. Gonzo Circus: “Shovel bracht afgelopen jaar een van de eigenaardigste én spannendste folkplaten uit: collages waarin watergeluiden overvloeien in folk traditionals en terug. Een vrijzinnige blik op het thema ‘water’ in de Britse folk, vanuit een feministisch, queer en antikoloniaal perspectief.” Anyone who listens to The Water Is the Shovel of the Shore is instantly sold, and may even hear echoes of ANOHNI. Outright impressive last year at AB during a tribute to Harry Smith. Didn’t we just begin with those same words?
22:30 - 23:30 @ AB Flex > ALABASTER DEPLUME (UK)
Alabaster DePlume – the nom de plume of Angus Fairbairn – is experiencing an artistic heyday. His output in recent years has also been impressive. Be sure to check out his musical gems Gold and Come Fierce with Grace on the International Anthem label adored by BRDCST (see too: Jaimie Branch). His shows are musically compelling and verbally hilarious. Shabaka Hutchings: “One of my definite favourite saxophone players”. Gilles Peterson: “He absolutely blew my mind”. And for those still on the fence: “One of the most thrilling performances we’ve seen this year; a reminder of how vital and adventurous music can be”, according to The Guardian.
23:15 - 00:15 @ AB Club > BEANS (US)
Beans – who once described himself as “the Ornette Coleman of this rap shit” – is a founding member of the recently reunited Antipop Consortium, one of the most visionary hip-hop bands ever. His latest album Zwaard was surprisingly canned by Finnish glitch-master Vladislav Delay. In the year 2024, one thing is for sure: Beans’ flow remains inimitable and unique.
00:15 - 03:00 @ AB Club > ACCIDENTAL MEETINGS (DJ) (UK)
Originated in Brighton during the lockdown with cassette-only mix releases and then exploded like a bomb into a DJ collective, label (with a graphic in-house designer, as befits any good label), and organiser of much-enjoyed club nights. Check out their annual mixtapes AMF&FFO and enjoy Elijah Minnelli, wzrdyAV, or the equally illustrious dub/folk of Abu Ama. Kiosk Radio: “Accidental Meetings is pushing the boundaries of experimental, dub, jazz and techno”. BRDCST is a fan! Welcome to the dancefloor. Welcome to BRDCST BY NGHT.
Are you curious about the full line-up from April 5 to 7? You can find it here.
Festival pictures © Daria Miasoedova