hcmf//: Matmos + Jennifer Walshe / b-l duo

Photo © Matmos / by derVisagist.com

Matmos (US) with Jennifer Walshe present an 45 minute improvisation, with music by b-l duo: Bertram Wee (keyboards) and Lynette Yeo (keyboards) to open the concert.

San Francisco-formed, Baltimore-based experimental electronic duo Matmos (M C Schmidt and Drew Daniel are renowned for their enthralling performances generating melodic electronic sounds through musique concrete methods. The list of objects and sound sources sampled and manipulated by the group over the years is astounding; everything from the amplified nerve tissue of crayfish, plastic surgery and PVC riot shields to helium tanks, frozen streams thawing in the sun and of course their own washing machine has a place at a Matmos concert. Their prolific collaborative approach has resulted in works with Björk, the Kronos Quartet, Terry Riley, Marshall Allen and many more besides. At hcmf//, they perform an improvised set with Composer in Residence Jennifer Walshe, which will no doubt prove to be a playful, sensorially delightful affair.

Determined to play the creepiest and most irreverent keyboard music there is to hand, b-l duo return to the festival after last year’s psychedelic affair to open this concert. They will present a pair of recent works for MIDI keyboards that operate in the blurred space between physical and digital realities. K.A.M.I.K.A.Z.E sets the mute yet heavy presence of Tokyo to an erratic, fragmented fresco of digital sound, alluding to everything from video games to vaporwave and inviting listeners to navigate the incidental encounters that emerge from this juxtaposition. always give up, meanwhile, draws from transgressive noise music practices, manifesting as a ‘sonic body-horror’ traversing themes of futility, violence and harm.

Produced by hcmf// supported by Culture Ireland and Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation.

Programme

b-l duo:

Francisco Uberto (Argentina, 1988) - K.A.M.I.K.A.Z.E (2023) 12’ World Premiere

Bertram Wee (Singapore, 1992) - always give up (2023) 10’ UK Premiere

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Matmos (US) with Jennifer Walshe

improvisation 45’

Tickets

Tickets £21 // Concession £17 // Under 30 £5
Advance booking required at the hcmf website.