The London/Berlin based Not Applicable Artists team is going to invade some of Berlin’s most notorious improv and experimental hotspots, in this series of events dealing with cinema, software quests and of course an abundance of adventurous, risky, razor-edged, cliff-hanging, live music.

Follow us during this nine day tour de force around town, which will finish with a big party at one of Berlin’s most historical underground landmarks, the Eschschloraque.

Thursday 2nd September
Isambard Khroustaliov / Maurizio Ravalico duo @ Sowieso

Friday 3rd September
Isambard Khroustaliov / Maurizio Ravalico duo @ Club der Polnischen Versager

Saturday 4th September 
Isambard Khroustaliov / Lothar Ohlmeier / Ollie Bown / Tom Arthurs @ NK

Sunday 5th September
Large scale improvising ensemble curated by Anna Kaluza, featuring Axiom by Isambard Khroustaliov @ Wendel

Monday 6th September
Not Applicable film night @ Lichtblick

Tuesday 7th September
The Not Applicable Artists @ Finnlandzentrum

Wednesday 8th September
The Not Applicable Artists @ Babette

Friday 10th September
Fiiuum Shaarrk @ Eschloraque

click on the dates above to see individual events or see details for the entire festival here:

Isambard Khroustaliov / Maurizio Ravalico duo @ Sowieso

Thursday 2nd September 2010 @ 20:30

Isambard Khroustaliov / Maurizio Ravalico duo 

Isambard Khroustaliov – computer
Maurizio Ravalico – percussion, found objects

Sowieso
Weiserstraße 24,
12049 Berlin-Neukölln

0049(0)1577 287 9965

€5.00

Isambard Khroustaliov / Maurizio Ravalico duo @ Club der Polnischer Versager

Friday 3rd September 2010 @ 21:00

Isambard Khroustaliov / Maurizio Ravalico duo 

Isambard Khroustaliov – computer
Maurizio Ravalico – percussion, found objects

Club der Polnischer Versager
Ackerstraße 168,
10115 Berlin

€5.00

Long Division @ NK

Saturday 4th September 2010 @ 21:00

Isambard Khroustaliov / Lothar Ohlmeier / Ollie Bown / Tom Arthurs

Long Division – a series of pieces for two performers and autonomous electronics

Tom Arthurs – trumpet
Lothar Ohlmeier – bass clarinet
Isambard Khroustaliov, Ollie Bown – software design and development

NK
Elsenstraße 52,
2.Hinterhaus Etage 2,
12059 Berlin-Neukölln

0049(0)176 2062 6386

€5.00

Large Improvising Ensemble @ Wendel

Sunday 5th September 2010 @ 22:00

An evening of large scale improvisation curated by Anna Kaluza featuring Axiom for improvising ensemble by Isambard Khroustaliov and several other directed and non-directed pieces by the ensemble.

Niko Meinnhold – accordion
Matthias Müller – trombone
Henrik Walsdorff – saxophone
Robert Würz – saxophone, flute
Anna Kaluza – saxophone
Ritsche Koch – trumpet
Noel Taylor – clarinet
Julian Bonequi – drums
Kay Lübke – drums
Kim Efert – guitar
Hannes Buder – guitar
Antonio Borghini – bass
Ulf Mengersen – bass
Simon Bauer – bass
Isambard Khroustaliov – live electronics, Axiom piece
Maurizio Ravalico – percussion

Wendel
Schlesische Straße 42,
10997 Berlin-Keuzberg

0049(0)30 6107 4029

voluntary contribution

Not Applicable Film Night @ Lichtblick

Monday 6th September 2010 @ 22:00

Not Applicable Film Night, curated by Britt Hatzius and Martin Hampton

Lichtblick
Kastanienallee 77,
Berlin-Prenzlauerberg

0049(0)30 4405 8179

€5.00

The Not Applicable Artists with Guests @ Finnlandzentrum

Tuesday 7th September 2010 @ 19:30

The Not Applicable Artists with guests:

Britt Hatzius – live projections
Isambard Khroustaliov – computer
Lothar Ohlmeier – bass clarinet, tenor sax
Martin Hampton – live projections
Maurizio Ravalico – percussion
Rudi Fischerlehner – drumkit
Tom Arthurs – trumpet
+
Stevko Busch – piano
Julie Sassoon – piano
Frank Paul Schubert – alto/soprano sax

Finnlandzentrum
Schleiermacherstraße 24a,
10961 Berlin-Kreuzberg

€5.00

The Not Applicable Artists with Guests @ Babette

Wednesday 8th September 2010 @ 20:00

The Not Applicable Artists with guests:

Britt Hatzius – live projections
Isambard Khroustaliov – computer
Lothar Ohlmeier – bass clarinet, tenor sax
Martin Hampton – live projections
Maurizio Ravalico – percussion
Rudi Fischerlehner – drumkit
Tom Arthurs – trumpet
+
Tobias Klein – bass clarinet, alto sax
Kai Wolff – computer
Roy Caroll – computer

Babette
Karl Marx Allee 36,
10178 Berlin

€5.00

Fiiuum Shaarrk @ Eschschloraque

Friday 10th September 2010 @ 23:00

Grand Finale with Fiiuum Shaarrk and special guest DJ Karsten Pflum

Isambard Khroustaliov – computer
Maurizio Ravalico – percussion
Rudi Fischerlehner – drumkit

Eschschloraque
Rosenthaler Straße 39,
10178 Berlin-Mitte

post@eschschloraque.de

€5.00

Isambard Khroustaliov, Lothar Ohlmeier, Ollie Bown and Tom Arthurs will be showing work at this years North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam on Sunday 11th July 2010 courtesy of Juha at Non-Fiction. I say ‘showing work’ because, although Lothar and Tom will actually be performing at the event, Ollie and I will not be there … instead, we will be sending software to perform with Lothar and Tom, the aim being to have it run autonomously without any human intervention during the performance.

As Ollie muses on his blog, it’s a somewhat strange scenario, but not altogether without precedent. In many ways, I like to think of it as a kind of ‘v.2.0′ re-reading of traditional music notation, where the score has moved off the the page and into the world of code, when you think of it like this, sending a bunch of embedded ideas and concepts for someone else to realise as a performance has evidently been going on for centuries.

However, what is nice, is that it feels like the world of non-determinist scores and strategies (as cooked up by 20th Century composers such as Cardew and Cage) are finally finding what feels like a new home of sorts in the form of computer music, where these type of abstract strategies and procedures are the norm rather than the exception.

Above, you can find a video of Ollie explaining a similar concert we were both involved in along with a crack team of computer programmers as part of the Live Algorithms for Music Network last summer. Below are the details of our forthcoming performance at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

Sunday 11th July 2010 @ 19:15

Isambard Khroustaliov, Lothar Ohlmeier, Ollie Bown and Tom Arthurs

New series of pieces entitled ‘Long Division’ for two performers and autonomous electronics.

musical assistant: Roy Carroll

North Sea Jazz Festival 2010,
Volga Hall,
Rotterdam.

Tickets

It was nice to go into Foyles here in London not so long ago and find a book I contributed a score to on display. I’ve still yet to receive a copy from the publisher myself, but it kept me enthralled for a good half an hour in the shop, I can really recommend it.

You can pick up a copy at Foyles or on Amazon and you can hear a realised version of the score published in the book, entitled ‘Aporia’ on ‘Ohka’.

Last January, Isambard Khroustaliov, Maurizio Ravalico and Rudi Fischerlehner hooked up to have a play at Miss Hecker, in Berlin. What came out of two days of rehearsals and the gig that followed pleased them so much that they decided to turn this musical occurrence into an ongoing project.

The FIIUM SHAARRK trio is now again in Berlin, and they are having a stupidly good time while recording their debut album, which will no doubt find its way to your discerning ears before the end of the year…

Pondering the UK election rhetoric …

You can read an interview (by Peter Hollo) about Icarus with Ollie Bown and Sam Britton in the latest issue of Cyclic Defrost, Australia’s quintessential (and only) electronic music magazine. The magazine itself is available to download for free here.

You can get a copy of the new Icarus live album: "All Is For The Best In The Best Of All Possible Worlds" here.

Martin Hampton will be screening a film from a project he’s been working on for the past few months about memory loss, called Gentle Oblivion. In his words:

“It’s a portrait of my half sister Jacqueline, who since being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s 6 years ago, has lived more or less alone in the mountains of Provence. The stigma attached to the term Alzheimer’s Disease invokes fear and panic. As life expectancy continues to rise at a rate of 5 hours a day it becomes ever more probable that we will experience dementia ourselves. But if we treat this gradual slide out of reason as a natural phase of life, perhaps as the symmetrical counterpoint to infancy, might we become less afraid to plan for, and more willing to adapt to, the life changes it demands?"

Gentle Oblivion – a film by Martin Hampton – duration 35mins

Friday April 9th and Saturday April 10th @ 9pm

Cinema Space,
Shunt Vaults,
20 Stainer Street
London SE1 9RL

020 7378 7776

Short edit of film ‘Strecken’ by Britt Hatzius featuring ‘Spin’ by Ollie Bown and Lothar Ohlmeier. Screening at Cafe Moskau, Berlin in July 2009.

The new Icarus live album: "All Is For The Best In The Best Of All Possible Worlds" is now available! You can get a copy here. Australian tour dates here.

An epic occurrence: Icarus are playing some shows in Australia and to celebrate, Martin Hampton has edited some of the superb film he made for the live set to a new track called "Uke ‘Em" which you can see above.

On March 25th, we’ll also be releasing a live album entitled "All Is For The Best In The Best Of All Possible Worlds", recorded during the Sylt Remixes shows last summer to co-incide with the tour. The album features almost entirely new material ("Uke ‘Em" is one of the tracks featured), worked up over the course of the tour and will be available as a limited edition numbered CD and mp3 download. Watch this space …

Icarus – Antipodean Tour 2010

March 25th: Canberra (The Street Theatre) with Shoeb Ahmad, Reuben Ingall and Luke Penders

March 26th: Sydney (Bon Marche Studio, UTS) with Jon Hunter, Shoeb Ahmad, Jordan Bryon

March 28th: Melbourne (The Toff in Town) with Infinite Decimals, Ross Bencina, Casey Rice (DJ set)

(And an extra Melbourne show on March 31st brought to you by Audio Actions).

Isambard Khroustaliov will be re-interpreting his soundtrack to Martin Hampton‘s epic film ‘Traum’ live, on Saturday 27th February as part of the Interface III event at the Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival in Plymouth.

The film, which depicts the demise of the landscape surrounding the Lea Valley shortly before its compulsory acquisition for the London Olympics, is a chilling portrait of how easily despondency and despair can set in when communities are faced with such large scale turmoil and uncertainly.

We’re currently putting the finishing touches to our next collective release; a recording from the Stoke Newington Airport concert back in May. It will be coming out in the new year as a free download, so look out for it … Also some more dates coming up in Berlin and the threat of a Not Applicable / Kammer Klang festival in 2010 … In the mean time, a big thanks to everyone out there for your support this year and all the best for 2010 ! (photo by Britt)

Some great photos of Kammer Klang 11 by Gareth Humphreys (and Joji Koyama). Thanks to Adem for letting us rehearse at his place, Lucy for spurring us all on so brilliantly and to everyone who came down and made it such a memorable occasion …

Icarus have a track on the Favourite Places 2 compilation, released by Audiobulb, you can read a review here and listen to it on their myspace.

On Saturday 24th October @ 7pm, Joe Kassman-Tod’s radio programme ‘Disorder at the Border’ on Resonance 104.4FM features a profile on Lucy Railton‘s Kammer Klang that includes performances of Xenakis and Finnissy and an unreleased piece by Isambard Khroustaliov. The piece was originally made as an accompaniment to Alice Scott’s silent film ‘Pink’; a grainy portrait of the surreal antics of flamingoes in the Camargue which was first shown at Kammer Klang #1 in 2008. You can also see new work by Isambard Khroustaliov featuring Lucy Railton and Maurizio Ravalico at Kammer Klang #11 on Tuesday 27th October, details here.

Resonance 104.4 FM – Disorder At The Border – Saturday 24th October @ 7pm

listen online

6.10 Arthurs.Høiby.Ritchie + Dave Kane’s Rabbit Project @ 7 Arts, Leeds
7.10 Arthurs.Høiby.Ritchie @ Broomhill Art Hotel, Devon. www.broomhillart.co.uk
10.10 Arthurs.Høiby.Ritchie @ The Forge, Basingstoke. www.anvilarts.org.uk (sorry, CANCELLED)
15.10 guest w. LPT3 @ Yolk Collective Festival, Nantes, France. www.yolkrecords.com
16.10 Arthurs.Høiby.Ritchie @ Yolk Collective Festival, Nantes, France. www.yolkrecords.com
17.10 Tom Arthurs / Richard Fairhurst, Postcards from Pushkin + Laubrock.Kurstin.Rochford @ F-IRE Festival, Pizza Express, Dean Street, London. www.pizzaexpresslive.co.uk
19.10 Arthurs.Høiby.Ritchie @ Wigmore Hall, London. Note 1pm start! www.wigmore-hall.org.uk
24.10 w. Yurodny @ Cork Jazz Festival, Ireland. www.corkjazzfestival.com
28.10 w. Steve Davis’ Toy Army @ Spiegeltent, Belfast Festival

all best! Tom

Leonie Purchas’ installation at the Foam Photographic Museum in Amsterdam features music by Isambard Khroustaliov / Lothar Ohlmeier, arranged for the exhibition by Martin Hampton. The installation runs from the 11th September 2009 – 25th October 2009. You can find out more about Leonie’s work here.

Many thanks to all who came down to the recent Not Applicable Artists / Farai Records show in Berlin and gave us such a warm welcome, no special announcement was made, but I think we all empathised with Kennedy’s words in the wake of the event.

The night featured new generative visual work by Britt Hatzius and Ollie Bown, duo, trio and ensemble improvisations by Rudi Fischerlehner, Maurizio Ravalico, Isambard Khroustaliov, Lothar Ohlmeier, Tom Arthurs and Ollie Bown and a live set by Icarus (Ollie Bown and Sam Britton) accompanied by a film by Martin Hampton. Finally, an enourmous thank you to Rudi for organising it all.

From Monday 10th August 2009, Channel 4 in the UK will start showing eight "3 Minute Wonders" Martin Hampton made with Yipp Films earlier in the year.

The films deal with the different experiences of people bringing up children while trying to hold down a serious corporate job, examining the new science of Human Resources Management (which corporations use to engender loyalty in their workforces) and tentatively asking how much the cradle-to-grave ethos of the corporation affects both their employees and their children.

Broadcast by Channel 4 on the following dates @ 7.55pm GMT (just after the 7pm News):

Monday 10th August: INDUCTION
Tuesday 11th August: DUTY
Wednesday 12th August: EXPERTISE
Thursday 13th August: DEVOTION
Monday 17th August: INCUBATION
Tuesday 18th August: COMMUTE
Wednesday 19th August: MATERNITY
Thursday 20th August: CRISIS

You can now stream them on demand through their own dedicated Vimeo Channel.

Full credits: Development James Greig, Ben Whitfield, Researcher Katie Gormley, Production Manager Tine Munk, Online Editor Michael Johnson, Original Music Isambard Khroustaliov, Sound Design/Dub Will Worsley, Executive Producer Patrick Collerton, Editor Daniel Haythorn, Filmed, Produced & Directed by Martin Hampton.

The Italian blog www.openimpro.com has recently published an article where Maurizio Ravalico disserts in length about the ethics of improvised music, and its political and atheistic implications. The interview is in Italian, and an English translation is not currently planned.

hello hello… a small word in your ear about some upcoming performances!

________________________________

::: June 24th ::: Remise Sommercamp @ Maria am Ostbahnhof, Berlin :::
w. Miles Perkin [contrabass] and Yorgos Dimitriadis [drums]
www.myspace.com/dieremise

________________________________

::: July 4th ::: Isle of Man Festival for Radio 3′s Jazz Line Up :::
w. Iain Ballamy [saxophones, electronics] and Thomas Strønen [percussion, electronics]
www.erinartscentre.com/agenda/jul01_04.html

::: July 9th ::: City of London Festival @ St Andrews Church, Holborn, London, 18h ::: PREMIERE of ‘Postcards from Pushkin’, a suite of music commissioned by the RPS/BBC celebrating the poetry of Aleksandr Pushkin composed by Tom for Tom and Richard Fairhurst [piano] Very much looking forward to this one… please note 6pm start! www.colf.org/event-details.cfm?e=768

::: July 24th, 1pm ::: Broadcast of ‘Postcards from Pushkin’ ::: on BBC Radio 3… Internet: www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/

________________________________

::: August 8th ::: Not Applicable Artists in Berlin @ Babette, 36 Karl-Marx Allee, Berlin ::: w. Lothar Ohlmeier [bass clarinet], Rudi Fischerlehner [drums], Isambard Khroustaliov and Ollie Bown [computers], Maurizio Ravalico [percussion], Britt Hatzius [visuals] www.not-applicable.org

::: August 19th ::: Album Launch of Fuzzy Logic Ensemble in Dublin ::: www.fuzzylogicensemble.com

::: August 31st ::: BBC Proms @ Cadogan Hall, 16:30h ::: PREMIERE of ‘And Distant Shore’… an RPS/BBC commission for Tom and Richard Fairhurst [piano] who will be joined by incredible classical trumpeter Giuliano Sommerhalder [also a BBC New Generation Artist] www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2009/whatson/3108.shtml#pcm18

Icarus (Ollie Bown and Sam Britton) have a new remix album and (sporadic) tour coming up in the summer – have a look at the Icarus site and in the events pages for details … There will also be a date in Berlin on August 8th featuring the full line up of Not Applicable artists; Isambard Khroustaliov, Lothar Ohlmeier, Maurizio Ravalico, Ollie Bown and Tom Arthurs, with Rudi Fischerlehner, and Andreas Willers … watch this space!

Thanks to all who came down to Appliances #10, props to maps for his eloquent words and here’s to all the poets still out there …

It is a pleasure (and also a formidable combination of organisation and good luck) for us to be able to invite both Dominic Lash and Anna Kaluza for Appliances #10 at Scooterworks on Thursday 14th May.

Over the last few years, double bassist Dominic Lash has distinguished himself as one of the most versatile and adept musicians to emerge from the improvised music scene. In between working on his own projects, he has performed and collaborated with Tony Conrad, Kieran Hebden, Steve Reid, Evan Parker and John Butcher amongst many others and is in possession of a list of gigs stretching way off into what seems like an inexorably unimaginable future.

It was our fortune to be introduced to saxophonist Anna Kaluza during our recent outing at the Stoke Newington Airport and great to have another opportunity to perform with her. Seeing what both of them conjure up down at Scooterworks will be quite an adventure … a night not to be missed.

Thursday 14th May @ 7:30pm (doors 6:30pm)

Dominic Lash – solo.

Maurizio Ravalico / Isambard Khroustaliov – new work for congas and electronically triggered percussion.

Anna Kaluza / Dominic Lash / Isambard Khroustaliov – improvised trio.

@

Scooterworks Cafe,
132 Lower Marsh,
London SE1 7AE.
£5 Entry includes a nibble.