Cutting edge live electronic and electro-acoustic music, audiovisual installations, performance art, music PR & consultancy and lecture / seminar sessions.
Funckarma is the long standing project of Don and Roel Funcken, Dutch brothers notorious for their bass heavy groove filled IDM and experimental approach to all forms of electronic music. Since 1995 their prolific output under various names has found them homes on labels around the world, from Warp to n5md, Skam to !K7 and many more . Always forging new sounds in their constant sonic evolution, they’re breaking into the dubstep and DnB scenes as well, bringing their own unique form to these ever shifting landscapes while staying true to what built their fanbase .
Funckarma live is a spontaneous fusion of material from their amazingly broad catalogue of production sources. They feed the audience their infamous intense ground shaking moments as well as something minimalist and stripped, all in one smooth transition. This gives a totally unique perspective on the work, and guarantees a fresh set every time by providing a tremendous amount of freedom to its creation.
With their DJ sets they integrate music from other artists with their own. Genres mainly flow through dubstep, techno, acid and dnb but are not limited to these forms. he DJ sets are renowned for their approach using digital mixing and controllers enabling them to alter tracks into a new blend.
No matter which set they play, it’s all about bringing innovation and new dimensions of sound to the system by blending their own production with the finest in the new wave of artists warping dance floors and minds around.
Mike Dred aka The Kosmik Kommando is available for live and DJ sets.
Mike Dred is a true legend of electronic music. He has produced records since 1990 and counts 210+ published works on over 50 commercial projects, on labels such as Rephlex Records, R&S Records, and his own recently revived imprint Machine Codes. He has performed in over 120 cities spanning 27 countries. Rough Guide publications ‘ The Rough Guide to Techno’, describes Mike as “The Jimi Hendrix of the 303” and “Full on Acid (Music) Genius”.
Discography: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Mike+Dred http://www.83db.com/pdfs/CullenMC_Discog_2009.pdf
Early sonic experiments prompted Dave Robinson, Editor of Future Music (November 1995, Issue 37), to write: “We boldly call ourselves Future Music. But how often do we bring you something so forward-looking, yet at the same time so contemporary that it might – just might set the agenda for the next post-techno, post-analogue phase?”
Links to some performances people have uploaded on to YouTube & Vimeo:
Bangface 11 – Live Show, London UK.
Live @ BLOC Weekender, UK.
Live, Tokyo. Japan.
There are many more video and music uploads. See under the following guises:
Mike Dred,
Kosmik Kommando,
Universal Indicator with Aphex Twin.
RIVAL CONSOLES is London-based youthful purveyor of intelligent dance music Ryan Lee West. With his critically acclaimed debut album IO released on Erased Tapes Records in 2009, West crafted an electronic record to transcend the discerning and flirt a little with the club culture. The follow-up record Kid Velo is slated for release in summer 2011 and we are taking bookings for club shows and festivals in support of this highly-anticipated release.
Biography:
Born November 10th, ‘1985’, Ryan Lee West grew up in the small city of Leicester in the midlands of England. Fascinated by sound from an early age, Ryan chose to dedicate his time to studying, experimenting with and producing sound at De Montfort University Leicester before relocating to London. West strives to humanise and at the same time emphasise entirely computerised sounds to defy categorisation in modern electronic music. Rival Consoles combines a clever and complex mix of hard-hitting beats with catchy acid melodies.
Or as he describes it in his own words: ‘Rival Consoles is a musical project where I take ideas which are cheap and processed, and combine them with rich, unpredictable patterns – resulting in music which appears commercial yet typically against commercial music at the same time.’
Earlier EP releases clearly define his progression from ‘The Decadent EP’ and the follow-up 7-inch ‘Helvetica’, where instead of X-Box vs. Playstation, classical theory meets dance. More recently West contributes three album tracks, ‘Milo’, ‘Func’ and ‘ARP’ to his 12-inch split EP with Ólafur Arnalds’ minimal-techno outfit Kiasmos.
There is more to this freshly graduated 23 year-old than meets the eye, for those not content with 4/4 beat dance floor stormers; West is fast establishing himself as both a sound designer and programmer. Having repeatedly performed at the Tate Britain Museum in London, where he drew over 2000 visitors into his unpredictable, yet detailed sound drawings ‘…using self-created sound manipulation tools in MAX/MSP and Super Collider’. New York based composer Nico Muhly, known for scoring the Oscar-nominated The Reader and his collaborations with artists from Björk to The National, is amongst one of the first to receive West’s trademark remixes.
The album got recommended by James Chapman of MAPS: “I just got into this guy. The album’s great (‘IO’) and this (‘Electorate’) is my favourite track. It turns from electronica into a real kinda disco groove. Superb.”‘1985’ got introduced by Tom Robinson on BBC6 Music. West recently moved to London where he is working on his next full-length album scheduled for a mid 2010 release. In the meantime he will showcase his new material at London’s FABRIC and other club venues throughout Europe.
Press:
UK:
US:
Germany:
Selected Press Quotes:
‘West’s Rival Consoles project revives the schism between the commercial house music of suburban hell-holes and the perverted beats of electronica’s golden boys. A massive slice of jagged grandiosity… ‘IO’ is a party record even snobs can enjoy.’ (7/10) – NME
‘A new sulphuric wave is about to wash over our dancing forms and reduce us to boogieing bones – and Ryan West, aka Rival Consoles – is riding it on an acid-proof surfboard… leading the crusade against tired welterweight club rhythms… one minute indebted to the techno godfathers, the next paying reverential tribute to the masters of electronica’ – DJ MAG Fantastic Four
‘If you miss the Aphex Twin who wrote songs that lit up warehouse raves at 3 a.m. but still tied your brain into knots, do yourself a favor and check out Rival Consoles. West is a nascent IDM hero on IO’ (9/10) – XLR8R (US)
‘Writhes in a field of its own, twitching and buzzing like little else… One of the best releases of its kind this year.’ – CLASH
‘Rival Consoles finally comes in full album length and satisfies all along the line. His tracks appear to be little short of celestial, are catchy and contain several grandiose melodies’ (5/6) –RAVELINE (DE)
‘Ibiza yesterday, Berlin today, Miami tomorrow. You don’t need to get on a plane to explore the international club-scape: putting on IO by Rival Consoles will do’ (4/5) –MUSIKEXPRESS (DE)
WISP is available for selected club / festival dates in the UK & Europe in 2012.
Please email us at agency@thecentrifuge.co.uk to discuss a booking, with as much information as you can give us. Date, Location, Venue Size, Budget, Lineup. We are able provide support live acts and DJs as required.
Wisp (Reid Dunn) comes from Niagara Falls, New York. He makes electronic music that spans many genres, from jungle and experimental drum n bass to ambient and downtempo electronica. Nostalgic computer games bear an influence on his music. He began releasing music for free, in the form of mp3s on netlabels, but has since released on Sublight and more recently has been signed to the legendary Rephlex Records.
Professional radio / tv sound designer by day, electro-breakcore mentalist by night, this smiling misfit has caused so much recent mayhem in his hometown of Grenoble (France), that only London could take him. Since arriving here, he’s already torn up the Interakt electro party, Yardcore, north London’s ill FM show, and various events across Europe including the Riddim Collision Festival 2007 with Plaid, Scorn and Enduser.
Coming from a background in thrash metal and industrial music, with his previous 12-piece metal band gigs involved fake-blood-splattering theatrics and on-stage riots, he later went the solo electronic route as it was more efficient at causing mayhem. Taking up Native Instrument’s Reaktor software, he’s spent the past few years exclusively designing his own instruments and effects to further mangle audio to his own extremes.
Intrigued by his way of adeptly and confidently switching from solid, body-rocking electro grooves to abstract, mentalist breakcore, feisty hyper-processed dancefloor electronics, labels like Jarring Effects, Bedroom Research and Peace Off have been quick to release his militant, lunatic sound.
The decision to move to London came after his last performance in France caused a small riot among old punks fighting in a record shop, resulting in smashed windows and other damage.
The Centrifuge curates, produces and delivers the “Supernatant” programme of Workshops, “Make Sessions”, Lectures and Seminars. These have been designed to enrich and enliven artistic, cultural and electronic music festivals, outreach events, universities and beyond. Supernatant is a multi-faceted project focussing on artistic and technical practice at the interface of sound, experience, science, interactivity and future technologies.
We can provide a tailored solution to your requirements. Below is a recent example of such a programme for The Culture Yard, Elsinore, Denmark in December 2011 focusing on “creative electronics”.
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Outline of event: The goal of the workshop & seminar session is to provide the audience with a greater understanding and appreciation of the state-of-the-art creative and technical processes that go into music and media creation and publication across a variety of areas.
Summary of session:
missaw – discussing the major changes occurring in the music industry as a result of the advent of digital music and the changing roles of artists, music publishers, record labels and consumers;
Nick Bugayev – showcasing new digital tools and technologies for creation, from his experience as a founder of music software company Liine and a developer working with Lemur and Max For Live interfaces;
Scrubber Fox & DJ Stuff – the repurposing of old and obsolete equipment to produce contemporary audio and visual content;
Beat Frequency – using instruments such as the theremin in new and unusual ways;
Mr Underwood – building and using novel devices to interact with and make music from their environment;
Short description of event / group / organisation / organiser: The Centrifuge is a UK-based electronic arts collective, operating a digital record label and organising events around Europe. The musical focus of the organisation revolves around the expression of the experimental aesthetic in electronic music, with particular focus on electronica, glitch, ambience and minimalism, acid, IDM, electroacoustic music and drill & bass.
In the past 12 months we have organised events in numerous European and North American locations including London, Manchester, Malta, Barcelona, Oakland, Hamburg and Berlin) in a variety of formats such nightclub events, workshops, outdoor performances, art exhibitions and installations.
More information on contributors:
missaw
missaw is Dr Wassim Alsindi, The Centrifuge’s founder, events promoter, artist manager and label curator. As such he has a wide-angled perspective of the challenges facing the music ‘world’ and ‘industry’ (the two are quite different) and will be sharing his approaches to building a music organisation which is consistent with our increasingly digital and connected future.
Following a short but prolific academic research career spanning the fields of photophysics, astrochemistry and ultra-fast laser spectrocopy he undertook an Innovation Fellowship to engender an entrepreneurial culture in the academic research world. He later worked in a technical business post in a small university “spin-out” company, before focusing fully on his vision for The Centrifuge which is in its 5th Anniversary year in 2012.
Nick Bugayev
Nick Bugayev will speak about his work on the Plastikman Live tour using Max for Live. Plastikman Live was ‘number one’ live electronic show of the year in 2010 by the readers of the largest electronic music portal Resident Advisor.
Nick Bugayev has produced electronic dance music, composed commercial music for video games, developed interactive art installations and created sound art for contemporary dance choreographies. He is one of the founders of Liine – a company whose mission statement is to redefine the way people interact with sound. Since founding. Liine software has been featured on the front cover and inside such media as The Guardian, Future Music, Computer Music, Sound & Recording. Nick holds a degree in Electroacoustic Composition from the Montreal Music Conservatory and he is concurrently doing a PhD in Music Composition at the University of Huddersfield.
Scrubber Fox & DJ Stuff
Scrubber Fox and DJ Stuff are audiovisual artists and hardware bend-makers. Using home-built modifications and circuit-bending techniques, it is possible to take antiquated and obsolete electronic equipment such video game consoles (e.g. Megadrives, NES, Atari 2600) and turn them into AV engines, using the existing sound and graphic chips within them. Such hardware can then be utilised as an “instrument” for avant-garde music and visual generation.
Beat Frequency
Beat Frequency is an theremin expert and espouser of experimental techniques to control, play and manipulate them and their sonic output. He will give a masterclass in how conventional and avant-garde theremin use varies, discussing and exhbiting techniques. If EVNTS funding is awarded then we would be able to supply a few “demo” theremins for an audience participative workshop experience.
Mr Underwood
Mr Underwood is an electronic and electroacoustic musician and hardware maker. As an advancement of last year’s opening seminar piece, he will be demonstrating new developments in the MIDI Octopus as a tactile instrument which turns every surface into a “playable” instrument using a series of resonating tentacles.
Eutechnik
Eutechnik is a Berlin-based composer, music programmer and hardware maker. He will be discussing the modification of methods of data input to computers, from traditional devices such as mice and keyboards and music-focussed ones such as MIDI controllers into ‘tangible’ interface devices which use people’s knowledge of real-world events. His augmented reality system uses a camera as a data input device and symbols as control objects which the software recognises as being unique and then tracks their movement. This gives the ‘musician’ and indeed the ‘audience’ the ability to control sound and visual events simply by playing with objects.
An ex-Sublight talent discovered by none other than Mr Aaron Funk (aka Venetian Snares) and counting such luminaries as Richard Devine, Kid606, Wisp and Phoenecia as ardent fans, Gareth Clarke’s lush, sophisticated melodies intertwine with clean, crisp post-jungle beats for the perfect pleasure amalgam for body and brain. We are mighty proud to have this insanely talented fella on our books! Big things to come including a very cool label announcement very soon, check the tracks below for an exclusive taster of his future releases.
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