Supersonic Festival returns to Birmingham, with the 2015 programme stretching over four days and various locations across the city.
Ticket prices vary, depending on how much and where you want to be, with tonight‘s opening concert priced at £15 and a 4 day pass priced at £95.
For details direct from Supersonic Festival, including a full breakdown of tickets and events, click here
Starting out as ‘a one day sonic arts festival based around the theme of sonic modification’ in 2003, Supersonic was widely praised for its eclectic programming and avant-garde intentions.
Running through the line up of the event’s early years, names including LCD Soundsystem, Tuung, Senor Coconut and DJ Food flicker across the festival bills – with the later comparing Supersonic to the Sonar festival in Barcelona.
Promoted & programmed by Capsule, the Birmingham born arts organisation that have brought the city events from the Rapture to Home of Metal, Supersonic has evolved into a four day smorgasbord of music, exhibition and art. Reaching out to Birmingham’s more ‘curious audiences’, Supersonic 2015 has based its main programme at Boxxed on Floodgate Street, with ancillary events happening at a range of venues from Millennium Point to The Crossing.
There’s a lot going on too, with a line up that warrants a perhaps more open minded exploration through the excitingly unfamiliar. But to help you on your way we’ve cherry picked a few solid first steps forward.
Or just cut the line up into strips and pick out events from a hat – you’ll probably not be far off the mark.
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The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble / Opening concert @ Town Hall, 11th June, 19:30 – 22:30 / £15
Although it sounds like a deleted scene from Willo the Wisp, The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble is in fact homage to the inventor of the classic synthesiser and early pioneer of Electronica.
Marking a decade after Robert Moog’s death, composer and multi instrumentalist Will Gregory (widely known for his work with Alison Goldfrapp) heads a ten piece ensemble performing instrumental music from Johann Bach to John Carpenter – all synched and delivered ‘on a fascinating array of vintage instruments, their oscillators so sensitive to temperature and movement that there seems almost something organic about these gorgeous machines.’
For more on The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble, click here
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A Folded Path, 12th June – 14:45 & 17:00
A ‘pedestrian symphony’, A Folded Path is an innovative production from the primarily Bristol based Circumstance – coming to Supersonic in partnership with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG).
In a nut shell, groups of 30 people will be taken on a walking tour of the city centre, each carrying ‘location sensitive’ portable speakers playing sounds that reflect and represent the cityscape around them. Backed by GPS, this truly innovative idea could, in reality, be a swing and a miss, with an urban sprawl of variables to potentially bring the whole thing to a halt, but (however it pans out) is a certainly creative way to appreciate the city.
To see what happened when A Folded Path took place in Bristol, click here
For more on Circumstance, visit http://wearecircumstance.com/
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Holly Herndon @ The Crossing, 13th June, 22:10 – 23:10
Saturday sees the internationally versed sound manipulator’ Holly Herndon play at The Crossing in Digbeth.
A contemporary musician whose sound is once again pushing the boundaries of Electronica, Herndon is also a doctoral student in composition at Stanford University. Having recently released her sophomore album, Platform, on 4AD, Holly Herndon comes to Supersonic in Birmingham ahead of appearances at Sonar (Barcelona) and the Dancity Festival (Foligno).
To watch the official video for ‘Interference’ by Holly Herndon, click here
For more on Holly Herndon, visit http://hollyherndon.com
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Supersonic Festival 2015 begins today/Thursday 11th June, running until Sunday 14th June. Supersonic presents exhibitions and events at venues across Birmingham – as promoted by Capsule.
For full event details, including the expanded festival programme and online tickets, visit http://www.supersonicfestival.com/
For more on Capsule, visit http://www.capsule.org.uk/