London based record label Raw Tonk Records celebrates five years of existence with a series of events, including an all-day mini-festival at Hundred Years Gallery.
A number of artists from the label will be performing, pulled from the diverse fringes of improvised music and free jazz across the UK and Europe. Many of the artists performing will form unique collaborations especially for the festival.
The festival will consist of an afternoon concert and an evening concert, with tickets available for each concert or the whole day.
Afternoon: KTHXBYE / Ripsaw Catfish with Dee Byrne / Anton Mobin & Benedict Taylor
Evening: Dead Neanderthals / Dirk Serries & Tapiwa Svosve / Ma/ti/om / Colin Webster & Mark Holub
Dead Neanderthals
Spearheading the ‘new wave of Dutch heavy jazz’ movement, Dead Neanderthals defy all expectations and conventions. With an extensive back-catalogue that sits at the intersection of noise, free jazz, metal, and drone, their album ‘…And It Ended Badly’ was released by Raw Tonk in 2012.
KTHXBYE
KTHXBYE [Ok, thanks, bye] is a balls-out, high energy three piece band playing straight up free improvised music while still sounding fresh and inventive. Brage Tørmænen (drums) and Stian Larsen (guitar) coming out of the Norwegian improv scene joined forces with London based powerhouse saxophonist Colin Webster in 2014 and released their album ‘details’ in 2016.
Dirk Serries / Tapiwa Svosve
Known for his highly prolific career as an ambient, drone, and industrial composer, Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries has spent the last few years diving deep into the world of improvised music, releasing numerous collaborations and also his solo album ‘Etched Above The Bow Grip’.
Young Zurich based saxophonist Tapiwa Svosve combines the disciplines of free improvised and electroacoustic music. Tapiwa’s album ‘bracket bracket bracket’ was released in 2014, and this is his first collaboration with Dirk Serries.
Ma/Ti/Om
Ma/Ti/Om is a collaborative trio exploring the dynamic and rapport between woodwinds, bass and percussion through free improvisation. Originally derived from Tim Fairhall (double bass) and Tom Ward’s (woodwinds) long-standing duo project, they are now joined by distinctive Swedish percussionist Matilda Rolfsson. Matilda’s unique sound palette amplifies, disrupts and extends the musical possibilities of the established pairing. Their album ‘Ashes’ was released in 2016.
Ripsaw Catfish with Dee Byrne
Ripsaw Catfish is the collaborative duo of Cath Roberts (baritone saxophone) and Anton Hunter (guitar). Their music employs a collection of pre-composed elements which can then be drawn upon, or not, during the course of an improvisation. The Manchester and London-based musicians started meeting in 2013 and released their debut album ‘For The Benefit Of The Tape’ in 2014.
For this performance the duo are joined by London-based saxophonist Dee Byrne, who leads the groups Deemer and Entropi, and also performed on the Saxoctopus album in 2015.
Anton Mobin / Benedict Taylor / David Birchall
Anton Mobin performs on ‘Prepared Chamber’ – an instrument he has developed himself over the last seven years. In this time Mobin has worked intensively to develop his own technique and language on this instrument, which has led to him becoming a key figure on the Parisian experimental music scene.
Mobin has a long-running duo with the London-based violist Benedict Taylor, who has torn his instrument from its centuries old traditions to become one of the leading players in new and improvised music. The duo’s album ‘Stow | Phasing’ was released in 2014.
For this performance the duo are joined by shamanic Manchester-based guitarist David Birchall, one of the most engaging improvising musicians currently in the UK. David’s solo album ‘Soft Vowels’ was released in 2015.
Colin Webster / Mark Holub
Raw Tonk records was set up to release ‘The Claw’ in 2012 – debut album by saxophone and drums duo Colin Webster and Mark Holub – which effectively makes this duo the house-band of the label. Having collaborated for over a decade, the duo communicate and transfer ideas with such intensity, their live-sets move from meditation to all-out destruction.
Advance tickets available here
Raw Tonk on Bandcamp
