[Fri 27th Jul 2012] Club Integral present "Strictly No Dancing" (SW9 0TP)

with:
Woven Entity
Jowe Head and the Demi Monde
Astrakan
Sound of the Sun Vs Val Persona
DJ Jules Webbcore
Rucksack Cinema

very long full blurb (open) very long full blurb (close)

JOWE HEAD AND THE DEMI-MONDE
Jowe Head is an artist and a musician from the Midlands of England, now living in east London. Moving from his home town of Solihull, he started his Fine Art training in Manchester in 1976. At the same time he was beginning his musical career with various school-friends, a project that came to be known as Swell Maps. This group emerged in the late 1970s, and are now seen as legendary pioneers of what is now referred to as the "Alternative rock" scene; they set up their own record label and mixed punk rock with experimental psychedelic sounds. Swell Maps released four singles and two albums in a brief but dramatic career that saw them topping the UK independent charts. When they broke up, Jowe joined Television Personalities who he met as label-mates at Rough Trade Records. Ten years with the TVPs saw Jowe touring with them around Europe regularly, and travelling to Japan and the USA. Jowe continues to make vital, challenging music and has recently played in New York and Germany. He is backed by a new band called The Demi-Monde for an ambitious new album called "Diabolical Liberties", scheduled to be released by Schnitzel Records in 2009. The sound is psychedelic, using electronic and acoustic instruments, with a european folk influence plus indian and moorish elements. The current set includes new original songs written by Jowe, plus tunes by Sun Ra, Joe Meek and the film-maker Ingmar Bergman. Contributing musicians include: guitarist Lee McFadden (Alternative TV and Angel Racing Food), singer Jane Ruby (Naked Ruby), woodwind player Kate Newell (Rude Mechanicals), singer and multi-instrumentalist Catherine Gerbrands, violinist Phil Martin (Bitter Springs, Subway Sect), drummers Trevor Davies, Jeffrey Bloom and Mick Frangou, vocalist Miss Roberts (Rude Mechanicals), singer Phillip Boa (The Voodoo Club), guitarist John Paul Holt (The Palookas), guitarist Heath Stanley (Olives Hairy Custard), trumpeter Emma Sullivan, violinist Sarah Anderson, bassoonist/saxist Chloe Herrington (all 3 from Chrome Hoof).

www.televisionpersonalities.co.uk/jowe.htm

Astrakan

Astrakan began life in 2004 as the Astrakan Collective, a flexibly-structured big band formed by Michael Garcia to play his own instrumental compositions that combined elements of free improvisation and structured ensemble material. The band dropped the ‘Collective’ from its name in 2006 when a more manageable five-piece line-up of Garcia (keys), Raymond Hardy (saxes), Jerry Wigens (guitar), Oli Mayne (bass) and Dave Fowler (drums) emerged. This line-up did its first gig at Club Integral in April 2008 and recorded the first CD, Astrakan, that summer. Oli Mayne left for Hungary in 2009 and Michael Garcia also left the band at the end of 2010. By this time Hardy, Wigens and Fowler were all contributing pieces to the band and on Michael’s departure they carried on, playing their own material. Celia Lu joined the band in Spring 2011 on keys and vocals. This line-up recorded the second CD, Comets and Monsters, in November 2011 with Jeff Spencer on bass and production. Trombonist Kasia Kuchnicka also played on two tracks and has since joined the band. The music has jazz and prog influences and some see the band as a continuation of a line of British bands such as Henry Cow and Soft Machine although, despite the inevitable comparisons, the band hope that listeners will approach their music with open minds and ears. Raymond Hardy is the only remaining original member from the Astrakan Collective and contributes subtly organic, rhythmic compositions. He is an experienced soloist and section player in a wide range of jazz and rock contexts. Celia Lu has a unique vocal style that incorporates improvised lines and lyrics often based on her day-to-day experiences. Her imagination and solid musical skills as keyboardist, vocalist and improviser are rapidly becoming defining features of the band. She has previously performed and recorded with the Walter Cardew Group. Jerry Wigens has worked in a number of contexts from free improvisation to pop and rock and composes in a broad range of contemporary styles. Previous bands include The Republic and Milk from Cheltenham. He is also active in running the band’s record label Jaguar Steps. Kasia Kuchnicka has been active on both the Polish and London jazz and improv scenes and has also been part of various salsa horn sections including Roberto Pla’s Latin Jazz Ensemble. The band’s most recent addition on bass guitar is Colin Somervell who is involved in several other projects including neo-rembetiko group Trio Tekke, prog outfit Pippo’s Progress and ameriacana folk/rockers Borough Lovers. He also runs a jazz night at The Gladstone in Borough. Dave Fowler is a versatile musician active on the London jazz and improvisation circuit. He also writes tunes ideally suited for group improvisation. He has played with leading lights such as Alan Wilkinson, George Khan, Jim Dvorak and the late Elton Dean.

Website: www.jaguarsteps.co.uk
Contact: astrakanband@gmail.com


WOVEN ENTITY
Woven Entity is a new percussion trio of Patrick Dawes, Lascelle Lascelles and Paul May. Combining spiritual percussion and electronics they'll be joined for this set by Chris Williams (Led Bib) and keyboard/synth whizz Ben Cowen of the band Snorkel.

SOUND OF THE SUN WITH VAL PERSONA
Sound of the Sun are an improvising rock band – Simon King: guitar and effects, Chris Cornetto: trumpet, synthesizers and toys, and Paul May: percussion.
The group have performed live with with Fred Frith, Geoff Leigh (Henry Cow), Lepke Bulchwalter (Milk from Cheltenham, Die Trip Computer Die), Atsuko Kamura (Polkadot Fire Brigade, Frank Chickens), Alan Wilkinson, Pat Thomas, Sun Zhuo and many others.

Valerie Pearson is a Sound and Music shortlisted composer who studied with Sir Harrison Birtwistle at King's College London, and later with Bill Brooks and Nicola Lefanu at the University of York. She composes instrumental works, some of which have received performances by important people at important places. As a violinist she has performed mainly contemporary classical ensemble repertoire as well as occasionally featuring with bands (State of Bengal, London, Sabreen, Palestine). She has once made an attempt to reflect on Valerie and Val relationships in the Contemporary Music Review's 'Impossible Music'.

On top of juggling her notes, and Val's sounds, Valerie is running Club Integral North in York.

DJ JULES WEBBCORE
Club Integral DJ Jules Webbcore has a long history in underground British music, going back to 1978 when he formed avant-garde pop group English Subtitles, who released two singles and an album on Small Wonders Records. In ’81 he formed seven piece punk jazz band Gorp who released an album and a short film, and in ’84 founded Fever Records, releasing records by My Bloody Valentine, Edward Barton and Gasrattle among others. He went on to form Kill Ugly Pop who made it onto the front cover of Sounds and featured high in the Independent Video Charts with a trashy video shot in the old Synagogue in Brixton. He subsequently became a member of Gasrattle, playing guitar and saxophone, at the same time as touring Europe with Kill Ugly Pop alongside Bongwater. He started Grimetime with his freind Shend (Cravats) and released two singles and an album on Kill City Records. He then joined trash rockabilly band Naked Ruby on guitar, who released an album Nothin’ But Dirty Lowdown Trash on Go Baby Go Records. Jules set up South London Slags at The Ritzy, Brixton, putting on film and live music, and has been a regular DJ for Kroon Kat Lounge, Go Baby and Nasty Grind playing obscure lounge, R’n'B, Soul, ska, garage punk and rock and roll. He is a resident Club Integral DJ alongside Chris Cornetto and Katrina Townend, where he plays a heady mix of avant-garde progressive rock, wild exotica, soundtracks, weird jazz and obscure library music.

RUCKSACK CINEMA
Rucksack Cinema a.k.a. Jaime Rory Lucy has been supplying delirious, innovative live video imagery for Club Integral and other events since 2007. His astonishing and almost preternatural ability to mix imagery with what is happening on stage as well as creating strange and wonderful atmospheres throughout a room have made him an intrinsic part of any Club Integral event. Jaime had a long history working in the music industry as a tour manager for many groups of notoriety throughout the eighties and nineties, before retiring from the road to become an East End flaneur art fag par excellence. He has worked in venues as various as Whitechapel Gallery, Hackney Empire and Cafe Oto with artists as diverse as Fred Frith, Spaceheads, Graham Massey and Eugene Chadbourne. He has made videos for many artists, most recently for Orchestre Murphy for their nomination in 2010 for the Arts Foundation Music Awards. In his spare time he has also been known to add his bass profundo to a punk choir active on the east London bohemian scene.