Counterflows Festival 2014

4–6 April 2014Glasgow

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4–6 April 2014Glasgow, various venueswww.counterflows.com

produced by AC Projects


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Alasdair Campbell

With the third Counterflows we hope to bring a new resonance to the idea that the music that happens over the weekend is vital, has an energy that can be enjoyed by just being amongst it as it filters from the artists and their endeavours to create that one-off experience.

There is much to enjoy: New commissions by Cara Tolmie, Luke Fowler, Mika Vainio and Lee Patterson. Ela Orleans creates something new from the flickering frames of Maja Borg and Ela’s songs that seep from her delicate heart. There will be lots of new projects but really it will all be new, well in the sense that all live music is new… that moment won’t happen again the same. We have gathered more artists together this year than we ever have, coming from all directions, battling those sonic demons that forever haunt the beauty of music. It is also great to be working with Cry Parrot again who continue to be an inspiration across the Scottish scene.

2014 sees Counterflows introduce the idea of a featured artist to the festival. This is not a new idea but we feel that there is a need to celebrate the work of some artists who have dedicated and committed their life’s work to the creative pursuit of an artistic goal that they may or may not have yet attained (is it ever attainable?). Our choice will of course be arbitrary and subjective but what else can it be, it is music after all.

“In music, when you do something new, something original, you’re an amateur. Your imitators - these are the professionals.” Morton Feldman


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A Note on Joe McPhee – Featured Artist: PO Music Revisted

Joe Mcphee is a musician whose work reaches out across the last four decades of music making and who brings an unquenchable desire to express this experience in every note that he creates. He is totally apt to be Counterflows’ first featured artist, as is stated in the insurmountable tome ‘The Penguin Guide To Jazz Recordings’ “McPhee is hard to pin down critically because he belongs to no identifiable generic niche”. Counterflows is equally about openness. I first encountered Joe’s music on his 1990 ‘Linear B’ album, part of his PO Music explorations. What struck me as exciting about Joe’s music was the breadth of influence expressed. The line-up alone was new and exciting to me. Here was a US musician steeped in the civil rights movement back home working with a collective of European free improv inventors. From his free funk explorations on recently re-released Nation Time to one of my most enduring memories of Joe live, in duet with Peter Brotzmann at one of the Tentet’s residency’s at Café Oto, Joe’s spirit beams out across the banality of sound that sometimes goes by the name music. Of course Joe is now performing in a myriad of contexts and is as prolific as ever with Decoy or in duet with Evan Parker or bursting the sonic valves with The Thing. It is great to see the re-releasing of some of his back catalogue. A particular favourite of mine is the CD of solo home recordings ‘Sound on Sound’. Joe will be performing each day at the festival in very different contexts.


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Joe McPhee Counterflows Interview by Stewart Smith

‘What time is it?’ yells Joe McPhee at the beginning of his classic 1970 recording ‘Nation Time’. This rousing freedom cry heralds a glorious set of fire music and simmering free-funk that has lost none of its ecstatic power over the years. Recently reissued as a boxset featuring the full sessions and live recordings, ‘Nation Time’ is a free-jazz classic. As McPhee’s friend and collaborator Mats Gustafsson says, it’s “a perfect introduction to crazy music, and it’s deep!” The depth and invention of McPhee’s music is suggested by the vast range of musicians he’s worked with, from jazz and improv titans Peter Brötzmann and Evan Parker, to avant-garde composer Pauline Oliveros and LA underground weirdos Smegma. Now 74, McPhee is as adventurous as ever, blowing his saxophone and pocket trumpet in his groups Trio X and Survival Unit, and playing with radical younger musicians like drummer Chris Corsano and Scandinavian jazz-punks The Thing. Given his energy and openness to new experiences, Joe McPhee is the perfect choice for Counterflows’ first featured artist.

I wanted to start by asking about your background and influences. Your family are from the Bahamas: did you grow up with Caribbean music? Yes, Caribbean music was a big influence growing up but my family exposed me to all kinds of music. My dad taught me to play trumpet. My mom played violin

and her sister played piano and organ. I learned about jazz with friends in the late ‘50s.

You attended the funeral of John Coltrane: this must have had a big impact on you?Mr. Coltrane’s music had a tremendous impact on me from the first time I heard him. Miles Davis was my great hero and when Kind Of Blue hit with Coltrane, I was in heaven. The next big revelation for me was ‘Chasin’ The Trane’ [seminal free jazz piece from Coltrane’s 1962 album Live At The Village Vanguard]. That blew the doors open. Of course hearing Albert Ayler’s and Ornette Coleman’s bands at the funeral were driving forces which helped lead me to where I am today.

You’re a great multi-instrumentalist, playing saxophone, pocket trumpet, valve trombone and electronics. What attracts you to these particular instruments?The trumpet was my first instrument which came from my dad as I mentioned. I was familiar with Don Cherry’s music through Ornette but when I saw him playing with Sonny Rollins at Birdland in 1963, I had to have a pocket trumpet. The trombone I play came from my friend Clifford Thornton, it was his instrument. The electronic experimentation and other “peculiar” little things are because I’m curious about possibility.

Could you explain your improvisation concept of PO Music?


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PO Music is in simplest terms about possibility. It is derived from Dr. Edward de Bono’s theory of lateral thinking which allows one to discover new ideas while in the process of exploring old ones. For example in my version of [Sonny Rollins’] ‘Oleo’ on hat Hut records, we use the tune as source material, it is out of the bebop tradition. I’m not a bebop player, that is another life. In our exploration, we travel a different road, go in a different direction but in the process make discoveries along the way.

To what extent do other artforms inform your music?I don’t paint but I’m interested in painting and I have great friends who are painters. It is yet again for me, about possibility, process, form and colours. Sculpture would fit in there as well. All of these disciplines deal with time and space in what might be a metaphor for life.

Nation Time has recently been reissued in an expanded edition. Perhaps you could tell us about the genesis of the album and how you feel about it now?Nation Time was recorded in concert in 1970 while I was teaching a course at Vassar College called Revolution in Sound. It was at the height of the American rights movement and was inspired by and a tribute to Amiri Baraka. Today I think of it more from a human rights perspective, encompassing more than race. This is an issue that I am constantly interested in revisiting. It is a work in progress which will never be finished.

You recently performed Nation Time with The

Thing in New York. What was it like revisiting the material?I love The Thing and it was an honour to have the opportunity to revisit Nation Time with them.

In the 1970s you developed strong links with the European scene, which continue to this day. Which relationships have been particularly important to your music?Every collaboration I’ve had is important to me. I don’t have a ranking system.

Do you think there’s a difference between the US and European scenes, or do you feel you have a common language as creative musicians?We’re all spinning around on the same planet. Should we ever have the chance to explore other worlds or dimensions, perhaps we might discover different scenes. Otherwise these kinds of narrow differences only divide. We have a common language.

You played in Glasgow in 2006 at the Subcurrents festival. Was it interesting to play alongside noise acts like Wolf Eyes? Yes, I was there with Chris Corsano and I very much enjoyed the experience. I had a chance to actually sit in with the band Smega, which was fantastic. I learned a lot listening to Wolf Eyes.

You’ve explored some beautiful, abstract territory with Chris Corsano. Do you have a concept or certain aims when you play together, or is it more spontaneous?Chris is very inspirational and a joy to perform with. We simply do what we do and listen rather than follow techniques. As Cecil Taylor titled on of his solo


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recordings, IT IS IN THE BREWING LUMINOUS.

I want to ask a few questions related to your Counterflows collaborators. You’ve worked with several of them before, but in different configurations. Are you looking forward to it?This is the easiest question. YES!

Firstly, Mats Gustafsson. You’ve played together many times. How did you first meet?I met Mats in Chicago at the formation of the Chicago Tentet in 1997. Immediately he invited me to join up with The Thing and it’s been ongoing since then.

I love the album of garage punk covers you did with The Thing and Cato Salsa Experience. Were you familiar with the material and did you approach it differently to jazz standards, say?I was not at all familiar with the material, I learned to fly like a bird falling out of a nest. But I had a long history of playing in a soul/rock/jazz band called Ira And The Soul Project from the late ‘60s to mid ‘70s. I personally don’t change my approach to the material.

You play with the great British rhythm section of Steve Noble and John Edwards, alongside Alexander Hawkins on Hammond organ, in Decoy. I love playing with Decoy. I’ve long been a fan of the Hammond B-3, we had one with The Soul Project, so it was like coming home for me. What a wonderful, powerful instrument. I’m a big fan of Jimmy Smith and Larry Young in particular and Alexander Hawkins is carving his own way out of that lineage.

There’s a further connection there, in that the cover art for the fantastic Decoy album, Spontaneous Combustion, was by Oliver Pitt, who plays with Glasgow-based mutant disco band Golden Teacher. I’m looking forward to seeing you play with them, but it might seem like an unusual combination to some. I will go where the wild goose goes!

Finally, do you have any messages for the Counterflows audience? “Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms ... and the autumn moon is bright.” By Maureen Gilmer, a horticulturist. This famous poem from the 1941 classic film The Wolfman speaks of plants that signal a time of magical transformation. Those unfortunates attacked by a werewolf change under the light of the full moon into the very beast that bit them.

Stewart Smith is a freelance music and arts writer for The List and The Quietus


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PARTY LIGHTS

We will make musicIn the forests

in the cool green light of eveningIn a ritual

Long forgotten on a Street called music row

Those of us who still rememberbefore sampling was the fashion

Know our musicComes from people

Not just from tape machinesWe know

Our songs are meant for singingDancing

Celebrating lifeAnd when the studios are silent

Vacant relics of the pastWE WILL STILL BE HERE

By Joe McPhee

BETWEEN

Music is a love beastA sky dragon

A snakeA humming bird

A crocodile

If you putYour ear closeYou can hearSomething

By Joe McPhee


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Ela OrleansAi AsoThe Space Lady

Fri 4 AprilGarnethill Multi-Cultural Centre 19:00 (Doors 18:45) £10

This year’s festival kicks off with an amaz-ing bill of brilliantly ethereal pop. Ai Aso’s 2007 release ‘Chamomile Pool’ is a mas-terpiece of gentle psychedelic pleasure and intensity. It is great to have her at Counterflows and in Scotland for the first time with her new material. Ela Orleans is one of the most exciting musicians and songwriters around at the moment and for Counterflows she has teamed up with the exquisite film maker Maja Borg to bring a small taste of the beginnings of their collaboration to the festival. The Space Lady’s story is a remarkable tale of commitment to doing your own thing. We are really pleased that her haunt-ing music has resurfaced and that she is again performing. And to have her open Counterflows is absolutely unmissable… also check out Sunday in Queens Park.

Programme

by Ela Orleans

Ai Aso

Space Lady


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Aki Onda & Akio Suzuki

Fri 4 AprilFleming House Car Park21:25 (Doors 21:00) £6

Across the road from Garnethill, this great space is a very special addition to Counterflows and is an ideal location to see these two masters of sound. Akio Suzuki is a legendary figure of the Japanese underground arts scene. His art explores the most intricate relationships between space, objects, listening and thought. His self-made instruments are finely crafted wells of beauty and bewilderment. Aki Onda is the younger generations’ explor-er in cassette sound and manipulation of performance. This performance will be a great chance to savour this music in an in-triguing space.

Akio Suzuki


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Luke Fowler Mika Vainio Lee Patterson

Fri 4 April CCA 5 Theatre22:40–23:30 (Doors 22:15) £6

This is a really exciting addition to Counterflows’ commissions. Luke, Mika and Lee have spent two days working together at CCA on this new piece es-pecially put together for Counterflows. After a conversation with Luke about people he would like to work with to explore his commitment to analogue synth sounds and also the relationship be-tween found sound and electrically gen-erated noise he, without hesitation, sug-gested Mika and Lee.

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Lee Patterson

Mika Vainio


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COUNTErFLOWS’ LAte NigHt experieNCe co-produced with Saramago Café Bar

Joe McPheeWhilstDJs General Ludd

Fri 4 April CCA: Saramago café 23:30–03:00 (Doors 23:00)FREE

Counterflows’ late night events are be-coming a bit notorious. Last year Ghana Soundz blasted their rare beats across Stereo’s bow. This year working together with Saramago Café Bar this one will go even further in pushing the barriers aside. With festival featured artist Joe McPhee opening the event with a short solo set, new blood Whilst taking us way beyond dance in their first Glasgow outing and Djs General Ludd easing us through the evening with music from the edge of dark-ness... ensuring if need be that Glasgow knows that Counterflows has started!

COUNTErFLOWS’ FILM SCrEENING

Tropicalia by Marcelo Machado

Sat 5 April CCA 4 Cinema 12.00–13.30 (Doors 11:45) £3

Counterflows’ film screenings explore the work of artists who cross boundaries and connect and engage culturally across communities using music as a force to de-velop new thinking and enhance society. This wonderful film may seem an odd choice but actually it reveals, through the evocation of an exhilarating period in Brazil’s cultural development, how artists can influence the political framework of the society they find themselves a part of. Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso were and are massive stars of Brazilian music but in 1968 were imprisoned for their views. With complete artistic integrity they grappled with pop music and dictatorship and what the responsible response of the artist can be.


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Counterflows’ residenCy

Peter DowlingRob Kennedy& Karena Nomi

recipe for feedback (not Krakatoa)

Mon 31 Mar–Sat 5 AprCCA Creative Lab

daily, we will re-construct the means to greatly amplify the smallest of sounds.

Part of Counterflows’ ambition is to cre-ate opportunities for artists from different disciplines to work together giving them space and time to explore their different methods of creation. Co-produced with Suzy Glass, the second Counterflows’ Residency brings together three Glasgow based artists for a week of investigation and creativity.

Check Counterflows’ website for updates and information on their progress.

Joe McPhee Interview by Brian Morton

Sat 5 AprilCCA 4 Cinema 14.00–15.00 (Doors 13:45) FREE

It is totally fitting that Joe McPhee is Counterflows’ first featured artist, not only is he a great artist, he also encom-passes the very ethos of Counterflows, exploring through his work a cultural openness to progression and development that allows for a great empathic humanity to shine through in all that he is involved with. In conversation with our very own polymath Brian Morton the talk will look at Joe’s early work and engagement with the civil rights movement, through his involvement with the European improv scene up to the present day with Joe’s work with Decoy, Brötzmann, Mats Gus-tafsson and The Thing.


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Cara Tolmie & Paul Abbott

Sat 5 April CCA 5 Theatre18:00 (Doors 17:45) £6

A departure note: Acting and the architect. Dark and warm storms stealing constructions from upwards whilst digging, unseen and then guts inverted: slippy/risks, limp/augmentation. Lengths of plastics, wood, alloys, a transducer, speakings… Setting ups and runnings. Strike and the getting outs. On hands and knees, raking around raw feels against taxoclumps, compounds, commodities. A blue draped puddle turns green in torid corners. They stand beside an artificial balancing of attentions err artificial distractions apparently from within and outside the building. Learning (for a friend): yes to saying.

A theatre! driven to tear space, from sounds, words, bodies, looks


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John Butcher & Mark Sanders: Tarab Cuts

Ghedalia Tazartes & Maya Dunietz

Will Guthrie & David Maranha

Sat 5 April CCA 5 Theatre 19:30–22.25 (Doors 19:15) £10

The CCA Saturday evening continues with three very different duos. Counter-flows explores the synergies and nuances of the music landscape of today that is being created by musicians across the world who are looking at new models of expression. These three performances en-capsulate and celebrate the diversity and similarities in today’s music.

Australian Guthrie and Portuguese Maranha are both now working in France. They bring a European sensibility to their music making. Guthrie’s complete musi-cality around the drum-kit is fearless and accompanied by Maranha’s physical musi-cal presence this should be a beautiful en-counter at Counterflows.

It is great to be working again with leg-endary musical autodidact Ghédalia Tazartès alongside Israeli pianist, com-poser and improviser Maya Dunietz, to collaborate on a new performance that includes two live voices, 12 tiny speakers and electronic soundtrack. If you missed AC Projects’ event with Ghedalia and his soundtrack to the wondrous film ‘Haxan’ in 2011 then now is your chance to catch him again. This performance will be mes-merising.

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John Butcher

Maya Dunietz


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“In Arab culture, the merger between music and emotional transformation is epitomized by the concept of tarab, which may not have an exact equivalent in West-ern languages”

John Butcher and Mark Sanders collabo-rate on an extended version of John’s Tarab Cuts project. John Butcher is one of the most prolific and versatile per-formers and creators in the scene today. His commitment to the development of the saxophone has genuinely extended the instruments voicings and range. This new project sees him exploring further the methods of improvisation in relation to ancient compositional and devotional qualities found in Sufi music and Tarab. Counterflows is excited to be working with Out Of The Machine who have now commissioned Butcher to expand the work into a full concert presentation.

Will Guthrie

David Maranah


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CrY pArrot’s LAte NigHt COUNTErFLOWS: exteNded pLAY

Heatsick - feat. special guest collaborators inc. Joe McPhee & Golden Teacher

Sat 5 April Glasgow School of Art Victoria Bar 22:30 £10

Berlin-based experimental dance act Heatsick brings his multi-hour, multi-discipline Extended Play... experience to Glasgow for the first time. For this spe-cial commission by Cry Parrot/Counter-flows he will be joined on stage at various points by a range of guest musicians, in-cluding Counterflow’s artist in residence Joe McPhee and Glasgow-based psyche-delic afro dance punks Golden Teacher, creating a one-off improvised perfor-mance for the dancefloor.

“Extended Play is a long form event en-compassing performance and installation simultaneously. Experiments with tem-perature settings, the olfactory and other sensual stimuli unlock alongside visual cues for the participant to interact and re-cognize in real time meditation as cyber-netic flow” - Steven Warwick (Heatsick)

Heatstick


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Glad Café Family Workshop with Sarah Kenchington

Sun 6 April Glad Cafe11:00 FREE

Counterflows’ Pimp my Kazoo Work-shop.This family workshop will be based on the voice. We will be exploring ways of making low tech voice enhancing devises from everyday materials. We will start with a simple homemade kazoo and end with the fanciest kazoo ever imagined. All sound makers welcome with no prefer-ence for tuneful voices.


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The Space Lady in Queen’s Park

Sun 6 April Queen’s Park Bandstand Arena13:30 FREE

Counterflows is taking The Space Lady out into the park for a very special perfor-mance of her electro space songs. Coun-terflows is excited to have The Space Lady back in the format she started perform-ing: outside busking for the people. See website for directions.


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Sonic Bothy

Sun 6 April CCA 4 Cinema 15:00FREE

Great to have Sonic Bothy at Counter-flows. AC Projects worked with them last at the amazing Otoasobi Project last Sep-tember where they were integral to the success of the event. Their commitment to new music and creativity is a lesson in integrity. They have created new work especially for this performance.

Sonic Bothy


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Joe McPhee Trio with Steve Noble & John Edwards

PO Music: Joe McPhee, John Edwards, Steve Noble, Mats Gustafsson & Peter Nicholson

Rodelius & Schneider

The Songs & Music of Emahoy Maryam Guebrou

Sun 6 April Glad Café 18:15 (Doors 18:00) £12

We bring the third series of Counterflows to a close with a barnstorm of a finish. Three very different performances that bring together the beauty, tension, exhila-ration and sheer energy of modern music. The evening begins with a journey into

the ecstatically beautiful music of Emahoy Maryam Gerbou performed by the bril-liant Maya Dunietz. Joachim Roedelius and Stefan Schneider follow with their sublime piano/electro-acoustic playful and deceptively complex duo. ‘Tiden’ their last release together was one of Counterflows’ 2013 favourites.

Emahoy Maryam Guebrou


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Mats Gustafsson

Rodelius & Schneider

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We bring the festival to a close fittingly with a celebration of our featured artist Joe McPhee. And we have brought to-gether a very special line-up to pay trib-ute to Joe’s immense contribution to the music. Joe is one of the masters, an in-comparable instrumentalist, composer and collaborator, he is also a teacher and mentor of great integrity. Rhythm section and much more, Steve Noble and John Edwards form the backbone of the line-up with Mats Gustaffson who is flying in specially from the Ukraine to be a part of the evening. This will be a night of sheer bliss!


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I forage beneath the weather-vane cupping drops of water as they gather dripping from leaves and other

growing things.

When outstretched it was a terrible length and could not perceivably be kept. It was supposed to be a handy size. Then again, a life could not be allowed to be laid out in its entirety and be

expected to be simply shoved in storage.

Birds squawked into the late evening. Hoarse sounds and slightly unnatural as if attempting to speak under the influence. They would not stop.

Until eventually a shot rang out.

The infernal knowledge of everything. Keeping still. Noticing the crimson rose bloom. A hand

tenderly touches another and parts.

What is wrong with her eyes? She drinks and drinks to stupefy her reeling mind. The merganser’s crest

excites in the breeze but she will not recognise the sign. Her courtship is based on forgiving. She

cannot forgive the rose its fallen petals.

The contents of the house are all that are left. Things hold on. Words fall gently into place but

they do not last and change their meaning. A meaning belonging to words is ridiculous. I fail to

understand what has gone from my life as I will not exist and to understand this is all that can be.

The siskins hang from the feeders, able acrobats. And rain falls. Rain that enriches the lush garden.

by Alasdair Campbell

In memory of my father, Donald Campbell


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Ai AsoTokyo’s Ai Aso (朝生愛, Aso Ai) is a Japa-nese psychedelic pop singer-songwriter whose work has a whisper-thin acid folk quality to it. Her solo work, infrequent collaborations with White Heaven mem-bers You Ishihara and Michio Kurihara and Boris bring a level of fragility and hypno-tism to the stage recalling lost memories, small flavours of COIL and serial playing on the verge of evaporation.

Maja BorgThe work of Maja Borg exists at the in-tersection of documentary, fiction and experimental film fusing the languages of these genres into a compelling, visually rich and politically astute body of work. Borg’s films are as likely to be seen in film festivals or television as they are in the visual arts context. The artist uniquely succeeds in defying genre expectations and her language seamlessly combines el-ements of animation, experimental cam-era and sound techniques with tools of documentary filmmaking.

John ButcherJohn Butcher is one of the most prolific and versatile performers and creators in the scene today. His commitment to the development of the saxophone has genu-inely extended the instruments voicings and range. This new project sees him ex-ploring further the methods of improvisa-tion in relation to ancient compositional and devotional qualities found in Sufi mu-sic and Tarab.

Maya DunietzMaya Dunietz, born in 1981, is a pianist, composer, singer, choir conductor and sound installation artist. Her work ranges between solo performances, composing for various ensembles around the world, writing for theatre, creating sound instal-lations, building electronic instruments and singing in various styles such as heavy metal, kleizmer and contemporary music. Maya founded the experimental vocal en-semble “Givol Choir” and she is a mem-ber of the Israeli theatrical rock and polka band “Habiluim”.

John EdwardsJohn Edwards has always been involved with a wide diversity of musical styles and situations. At home with composed and improvised music he is one of the busiest musicians on the scene. Involved in doz-ens of projects and groups, 2013 saw him performing at major festivals throughout Europe as well as in Brazil, Mexico, Tur-key, Canada and Russia. John Edwards is the everyman of music and in everything he does he brings a total commitment to creativity and beauty.

Luke FowlerLuke Fowler is an artist based in Glas-gow working at the threshold of film and sound. His films are informed by research into radical figures such as psychiatrist RD Laing, composer Cornelius Cardew and historian E.P. Thompson. Fowler collaborates with a wide range of musi-cians including Richard Youngs, Toshiya

Counterflows’ Artists


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Tsunoda, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Alasdair Roberts, David Toop, Sylvia Hallet, Stevie Jones and Cara Tolmie. Since 2010 he has been playing the Serge Analogue Modular Synthesiser which he combines with self-made instruments.

Golden TeacherGolden Teacher started life as a studio col-laboration between Glasgow’s noise punk trio, Ultimate Thrush and Glasgow’s all analogue house duo, Silk Cut. The results of their collaboration turned the ears of all who heard them, not least Twitch who after one listen asked if he could release the project on Optimo Music label. It’s a little hard to describe Golden Teacher’s sound (always a good thing in our book) but imagine Arthur Russell’s Dinosaur L jamming with Bobby O, K Alexi Shelby, Liaisions Dangereuses, Imagination, some voodoo drummers and Sly & Robbie. It is in our opinion one of the most original and wildest records to come out of any-where in 2012. We like to call it hypno-psych voodoo groove.

Will GuthrieWill Guthrie is an Australian drummer / percussionist living in France. He works in many different settings of music: live performance, improvisation and studio composition using various combinations of drums, percussion, objects, junk, am-plification and electronics. He studied jazz and improvised music(s) at the Vic-torian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia and alongside Ren Walters he started the weekly concert series ‘Impro-vised Tuesdays’, now known as the Make It Up Club and is Australia’s longest run-

ning performance space dedicated to ex-perimental and improvised musics.

Mats GustafssonBorn 1964 in Umeå, Northern Sweden, Mats Gustafsson is a saxplayer, impro-viser and composer. He is a well known solo artist and collaborator working on projects with Peter Brötzmann, Sonic Youth, Merzbow, Jim O´Rourke, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide, Yoshimi, Ken Van-dermark as well as working in groups – The Thing, Sonore, FIRE!, Gush, Boots Brown, Swedish Azz and Nash Kontroll.

Sarah KenchingtonSarah Kenchington builds her own re-markable mechanical instruments, includ-ing a pedal-powered hurdy-gurdy, a giant rotating kalimba and her own brass band, powered by tractor inner-tubes. She is in-deed an inventor of musical instruments. She performs regularly with her mar-vellous and bizarre creations around the UK. She is also a member of ‘The Book of Beasts’ alongside Shane Connolly, and Daniel Padden of ‘Volcano the Bear’ and ‘The One Ensemble’.

HeatsickHeatsick is the project of musician and visual artist Steven Warwick. Using a soli-tary Casio keyboard and a myriad of ef-fects, Warwick’s music is created in real time, based upon loops that are moulded, stretched and reduced to interlink, nest-ling and merging with one another in a similar way to his visual artwork, where objects and media combine and coalesce in an environment inviting the viewer’s participation.


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David MaranhaDavid Maranha was born in Figueira da Foz in 1969. His work encompasses sculpture, music and architecture. In 1986 he started to develop his work as a musician both as a solo artist and with several bands and has since released more than 30 albums. David formed “osso exótico” in 1989 with his brother André Maranha, António Forte and Bernardo Devlin and has performed and recorded regularly with the band both in Portugal and abroad.

Joe McPheeA rare musician who is equally comfort-able on brass and woodwind instruments. Benny Carter might be the only other musician that has sounded so at ease on both but Joe is a very different prospect indeed. For over 4 decades Joe has been pursuing a beauty in his music that bal-ances the fierce attack of European free improve with a lyrical poetry stemming from Coltrane’s Love Supreme and hint-ing at the dark roots of his country’s civil rights protests.

Peter NicholsonPeter is a cellist/improviser/composer/teacher who has recorded and toured extensively with various new music en-sembles, improvising groups, professional symphony orchestras and as a soloist. He is particularly interested in composing and devising collaboratively, exploring the lines between composition and im-provisation.

Steve NobleFrom drumming with the last incarnation

of wayward pop mavericks Rip, Rig and Panic, to head to heads on turntables with Otomo Yoshihide, Steve Noble brings a commitment to music making that brims over with inspiration. His musical journey from the early duos with Alex Maguire is an ongoing quest for musical purity.

Aki OndaAki Onda is an electronic musician, com-poser and visual artist. Aki was born in Japan and currently resides in New York. He is particularly known for his Cassette Memories project – works compiled from a “sound diary” of field-recordings col-lected by himself over a span of two dec-ades. Aki’s musical instrument of choice is the cassette Walkman.

Ela OrleansEla Orleans is a Polish born musician and artist currently based in Glasgow. As a solo artist she uses voice, guitar, key-boards, violin and drum machines to cre-ate cinematic songs that recall elements of psychedelic music, experimental pop and ambient music. Orleans began mak-ing solo music in 2000 whilst working at the Dramatyczny Theatre in Warsaw. In 2009 she was selected for the NYFA Mentoring Program for Immigrant Art-ists. Her music is both mesmerising and potent and surprisingly danceable when least expected.

Lee PattersonWorking with amplification as both a form of manipulation and a mode of en-quiry, Lee Patterson has devised a range of objects and processes that produce complex sound in simple ways. Through


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the manipulation and activation of these amplified objects, devices and processes, Patterson explores the sonic potential of his unique instrumentation. From ef-fervescent salts to amplified springs, dry rock chalk to burning nuts, he opens up and plays the usually inaudible, micro-scopic sounds emitted by otherwise mute devices and objects.

Hans-Joachim RoedeliusThe electronic pioneer Hans-Joachim Roedelius lives in Baden near Wien (Aus-tria) and is a legendary figure in popular music. He founded the seminal bands Cluster and Harmonia, which also includ-ed Dieter Moebius and Michael Rother. He produced the albums ‘Zuckerzeit’ (1974) and ‘Deluxe’ (1975), which are considered blueprints for today’s elec-tronica and were recently successfully reissued.

Mark SandersAlways searching for new sounds to use within the drumkit and playing in a va-riety of music settings, the past year has seen Mark working in composed and im-provised settings with The ICE Ensem-ble, Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Trevor Watts, Bill Orcutt, Rhodri Davies, John Wall, John Butcher and also as a so-loist.

Stefan SchneiderDusseldorf based Stefan Schneider’s mu-sic has a breadth of vision that creates a deep sense of space and an aching longing that is always hard to pin down. It comes as no surprise that he initially studied photography. Founding member of elec-

tronic trio “to rococo rot” and “Kreidler”, he is a contant searcher for new settings and collaborators the list is already ex-tensive. He is also involved in a series of fieldrecording projects in Kenya for Hon-est Jon Records and has delivered a series of seminars in the relationship between Sound and Image.

Sonic BothyGlasgow-based inclusive ensemble Sonic Bothy have an eclectic approach to col-laborative composition. With interests spanning free improvisation, aleatoricism, minimalism, early music and electro-acoustic composition, the ensemble seeks new territory in composing for a diverse line-up of instrumentalists that includes strings, harpsichord, synth, percussion, piano and voice.

Akio SuzukiA legendary sound artist Akio Suzuki has been performing, building instruments and presenting sound installations for 40 years. His music is simple and pure, exploring how natural atmospheres and sounds can be harnessed and then set free.

Ghedalia TazartesA French musician of Turkish parentage, Ghédalia Tazartès is an uncompromising artist who defies categorisation; switch-ing from musique concrète to – existing or invented – ethnic music, from poetry to noise, or from loops and collages to sad and extremely beautiful tunes in a second, but constantly is in flux and coherent. His public appearances remain exceptional events as he rarely performs in concerts or releases albums.


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Cara Tolmie & Paul AbbottPaul Abbott and Cara Tolmie have worked both together and independently in the past with moving image, drums, voice, electronics, words, movement and ob-jects. Recent activities include Antiknow at Flat Time House; Pley, Spike Island, Bris-tol and with Infection Transmission Event/Cloudy November in Assembly, Tate Britain; lll人 & Ne_Ko-max (with Seymour Wright and Daichi Yoshikawa) at Intersect, Cafe Oto and Sound Disobedience, Ljubljana; Otiumfold at Chisenhale Gallery, London; Black Exhventalia / anTrgor rEiz at Cafe Oto and Abject Bloc, London; Her Noise: Femi-nisms and the Sonic at Tate Modern, Lon-don and Nasjonal Museet, Oslo.

The Space LadyOften seen performing in 1980’s Boston, and then a decade later in San Francisco’s Castro community, where she would play and sing for hours on end for the gay scene, and got her apt moniker, The Space Lady’s winged helmet and setup of a Casio battery-powered keyboard, vocal mic, and echo & phaser controls. She be-came a small but striking phenomenon. ‘Greatest Hits’ is a fascinating document of her journey; the covers, originally re-corded in 1990 at a friend’s San Fran stu-dio, reflect both the longevity of her own time performing and a certain lineage of American radio and chart music itself.

Mika VainioMika Vainio, currently based in Berlin, was one half of the minimal electronic duo Pan Sonic from Finland, (the other half was Ilpo Väisänen). Before starting Pan Sonic in the beginning of the 90’s,

Mika Vainio played electronics and drums as part of the early Finnish industrial and noise scene in the 80’s. His solo works, under his own name and under aliases like Ø, are known for their analogue warmth and roughness.

WhilstFormed originally as a jam-based project in the ever-fertile analogue studio ‘Green Door’, Whilst jump seamlessly between free jazz, dub electronics, post-punk, North African and motorik stylings, un-derpinning their sound with a strong punk ethos. Their debut EP will be released on esteemed Glasgow label ‘Optimo Music’.


Cry Parrot“This will be the third time I have worked with the inspiring Counterflows team and I think it’s the strongest festival line-up yet. This year I have assisted the program-ming of DIY busking sensation The Space Lady, ridiculously exciting new jazz jam-mers Whilst, idiosyncratic songstress Ela Orleans and a new dance based commis-sion featuring Heatsick, Golden Teacher and Joe McPhee. The latter commission is possibly one of the wildest ideas I’ve ever had for a music event, but in keeping with the festival’s ethos it is an attempt to take risks, explore new avenues and have fun in the process. Adventurous underground music from Scotland and around the world has never felt so lively, so I think we should all be delighted there is a festival in Glasgow with such an open-minded, forward thinking approach to live music”. Fielding Hope

Suzy Glass:Suzy Glass is a producer. She works with artists and other producers to develop powerful, nourishing ideas. She is inter-ested in cross-artform processes. In 2011 she co-founded Trigger, co-directing the company until March 2013. In April 2013 Suzy left Trigger to explore new pro-ducing models and establish collabora-tive working methodologies that enable ambitious, meaningful work to emerge. Suzy is one of the co-producers of Sync, Scotland’s digital innovation programme. She also produces Public Art Scotland and works on the Digital R&D learning team. Suzy is currently working with a number of artists and organisations to develop exciting, large-scale, complex projects. These include Hanna Tuulikki’s Air falbh leis na h-eòin for Culture 2014 and Yann Seznec’s Currents, commissioned by Ed-inburgh Art Festival and part of the New Music Biennial.

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Some words from and about our collaborators


Counterflows is a festival about collaborating. It is impossible to pull something togeth-er like this, something that investigates and celebrates our cultural ambitions, without the support, commitment and a sort of never mentioned belief in the still potent power of musical discovery, from a whole host of great people. With this in mind I would like to thank all those that tread firmly on the path of discovery with me: Clare Hoare, Alison Murray, Gavin Robertson, Fielding Hope, Tim Matthew, Ian Smith, John McCann, Christine Jones, Ilan Volkov, Brian Irvine, Brian Carson, Jackie Wylie, Graham McKenzie, Keith Bruce, Stephen & Dep & Russell at Monorail (still the best record shop in the world), Mats Gustaffson, Suzy Glass, Nicola Meighan, Ham-ish Dunbar & John Chantler of Café Oto, The Lau Boys, Francis and Ainslie at the CCA & their team, Paul Smith at Saramago, Stewart Smith, Kate Molleson, Joe Smil-lie at The Glad Cafe Steve Noble, Beth Murray Robertson, Bill Wells, Sukaina Kubba, Marlies Pfeifer & Barbara & Konrad at Goethe Institut Glasgow.

TICKETS FULL FESTIVAL PASS £40 or Friday & Saturday Day Passes availablewww.counterflows.com/tickets or visit Monorail, Glad Cafe or CCA

VENUESCCA 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD. 0141 352 4900Garnethill Multi-cultural Centre 21 Rose Street, Garnethill, Glasgow, G3 6RE. 0141 332 9765Fleming House Underground Carpark 134 Renfrew Street, Glasgow G3 6STThe Vic Bar, The Art School 168 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, G3 6RQThe Glad Cafe 1006A Pollockshaws Road, Shawlands, Glasgow, G41 2HG. 0141 636 6119


© Counterflows 2014

Produced by AC Projects

Cover illustration by: Lucy Duncombe and Kenneth WilsonDesign by: christine-jones.comPrinted by: Barr Printers LtdPrinted on: CyclusOffset, 100% recycled

www.counterflows.com


Friday 4th April

GARNETHILL MULTI-CULTURAL CENTRE / £10

The Space Lady 7pm

Ela Orleans & Maja Borg 7.40pm

Ai Aso 8.30pm

FLEMING HOUSE/UNDERGROUND CARPARK / £6

Akio Suzuki & Aki Onda 9.25pm

CCA5 THEATRE / £6

Counterflows Commission - Luke Fowler/Mika Vainio/Lee Patterson 10.40pm

CCA / SARAMAGO CAFE BAR / FREE

Late Night Counterflows: Joe McPhee, Whilst & DJs General Ludd 11.30pm–3am

saturday 5th April

CCA CINEMA / £3

Counterflows Film Screening – Tropicalia by Marcelo Machado 12pm

Counterflows Featured Artist Talk – with Joe McPhee & Brian Morton / FREE 2pm

CCA CREATIVE LAB / FREE

Counterflows Residency Presentation – Peter Dowling & Rob Kennedy 3.30pm

CCA5 THEATRE / £6

Counterflows Commission – Cara Tolmie & Paul Abbott 6pm

CCA5 THEATRE / £10

Will Guthrie & David Maranha 7.30pm

Ghedalia Tazartes & Maya Dunietz 8.25pm

John Butcher & Mark Sanders – Tarab Cuts 9.30pm

GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART VICTORIA BAR / £10

Cry parrot’s Late Night Counterflows 11pm–3am

Extended Play

Heatsick with special guests Golden Teacher & Joe McPhee

sunday 6th April

THE GLAD CAFé SUNDAY / FREE

Counterflows’ Family Workshop with Sarah Kenchington 11am

The Space Lady in Queens Park 1.30pm

Sonic Bothy 3pm

GLAD CAFé EVENING / £12

The Songs & Music of Emahoy Maryam Guebrou

Talk & performance with Maya Dunietz 6.15pm

Roedelius & Schneider 7.30pm

Joe McPhee’s PO Music

Joe McPhee Trio with Steve Noble & John Edwards 9pm

Joe McPhee & Mats Gustafsson duo 10pm

Joe McPhee, Mats Gustafsson, John Edwards, Steve Noble & Peter Nicholson 10.15pm

FULL FESTIVAL PASS £40 or Friday & Saturday Day Passes availableFor TICKETS and more information: www.counterflows.com/tickets or visit Monorail, Glad Cafe or CCA


Counterflows Festival 2014

Entertainment & Humor

Transcript of Counterflows Festival 2014