The Antarctic Biennale
CNN / VICE / MONOCLE 24: A pioneering expedition to the seventh continent sought to break down boundaries between art and science.
Elan Mehler Quartet – Scheme For Thought
Scheme For Thought was released on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings in September 2007, accompanied by a series of gigs around London by pianist Elan Mehler and his quartet. This group has completely abandoned standard notions of jazz: the absence of a drummer and repeated use of arco playing on the double bass give an almost...
Empirical
Empirical burst onto the international music scene at the 2007 North Sea Jazz Festival, beating four other bands to win the inaugural European Jazz Competition. Two days later, with perfect timing, their self-titled debut album hit the shops. British saxophonist Courtney Pine had been keeping a keen eye on the quintet’s progress and produced the...
London’s Funkiest Hour
The Sound StylisticsJazz Café, LondonThursday 30 August, 2007 After witnessing Australian deep funk outfit The Bamboos tear up a small Bristol wine bar some months ago, it was hard to imagine how any other band could ever match such a boisterous performance. However, the funk gods up above clearly had other ideas when they gifted...
Trio Innovation
Avishai CohenRonnie Scott’s, LondonFriday August 24, 2007 This was the first time I’d visited London’s legendary jazz venue since its recent swanky refurbishment; still dimly lit, but with a classier kind of ambience, Ronnie’s barely allows punters to appreciate the photos of great jazz musicians adorning every wall. One man well on the way to...
Bristol: What else is going on?
Frederick Bernas embarks on a voyage of discovery to investigate the less talked-about aspects of Bristol’s vibrant music scene. While most students will probably know the names of the three Bristol venues I visited during this musical adventure, how many can say they have a good awareness of what kind of shows are going on?...
Eduardo Niebla – St George’s, 25/11/06
St George’s Hall off Park Street, which boasts of being one of the finest acoustic venues in the country, was host to a creative exploration of musical possibilities from a trio comprising two guitars and an Indian tabla player. Eduardo Niebla, whose show title brings to mind a completely contrasting guitar legend – Hendrix –...
Tate Modern: Test Site
A series of shots from the ‘Test Site’ exhibition at Tate Modern.December 2006
Kiev: Mihailovsky Cathedral
Mihailovsky Cathedral – Kiev, UkraineSeptember 2006
Vilnius: One of Europe’s Forgotten Capitals
It was little past six in the morning as I struggled down the dark, deserted, seemingly desolate street. Every bone, muscle, ligament, cartilage, tendon, capillary, pore, skin cell, nucleus and microscopic bacteria particle was screaming against the weight of a massive backpack, filled to bursting point with essential travel items such as ipod and portable...
