Monday 28 October 2013

Algiers @ DCR // The Haunting // 31.10.13 @ Red Gallery. EC2A = 5 now // 7 at the door



We met @ ICA coffee shop in-between Travis Jeppesen’s The Suiciders reading on Saturday 26 Oct (See post 23 oct 13) = Lee Tesche and Ryan Mahan from the band Algiers (Franklin James Fisher lives in the US) and Anthony Faramelli (lecturer) of DCR.
Punk. Arnaud Deplechin. 80’s-90’s US hip-hop/rap. Massive Attack. Klaus Nomi. Serge Gainsbourg. Spike Lee. Iggy Pop. Yo Soy Cuba. M.I.A. Black Panther. Samora Machel @ Bernard Pivot’s Bouillon de Culture. Steve Buscemi. Living in small towns with restricted access to film or music. Les Inrocks. Gay. Grunge. Brit-Pop and Tony Blair’s conspiracy. My Bloody Valentine. 4AD. Michael Clarke. Jarvis Cocker. Relaxed Muscle. Familly’ alienation in US and France. Youth. Young people today. Becoming older. James Batley. Nippett...

We never met but we were boun(ce)d to meet. Quantum Physics. Ryan and Lee (both North American) say that there is an element of anti-colonial struggle in their band’s name Algiers = a place of freedom – sense of resistance... and it’s their relationship to freedom that influenced the name.

For their latest video, Lee says he sat and watched thousands of hours of images-moving images footage to put the video together. It’s about race because there is a race issue in the United State and both of them wanted to expand the idea of Black identity. Ryan continues in saying that when they listened to Public Enemy or other hip hop acts, it led them to jazz, free jazz, the history of Black culture. It opened their minds about their place as white men within a mixed and repressed culture. The music they listened to might have been somehow commercial and yet very underground. They dug the origins of everything they liked and paid tribute to it. It’s about their joy of discovering!

Both Ryan and Lee talk about the political element in what they do but they also feel that their work can be seen as “you can leave the politic out because they are elements of pushing boundaries” = Klaus Nomi or Serge Gainsbourg were not known for being leftfield propaganda(h)ists but were definitely controversial and provocateurs.
Algiers is also influenced by ambiguity, contrasts and contradictions, difference of experience and acceptance of others’ perspective. But as we go deeper in conversation, they definitely don’t want to give in in processed-music-and-ready-to listen made in a pre-digested cultural vomit environment. Since their teens, they are on a research journey in any kind of art = graphic, street culture, films, music, photography...

DCR’s Anthony Faramelli tells me that 31-10-13 will be a “full sensory experience. Mysterious. Live experience. Dark. Moody. Definitely moody. And fun. The Crows will perform live ahead of their forthcoming album out on Pop Noire label (they are Savages’ little bros). James Batley will show his previously shown in Cannes short film Kneel Through the Dark, in a loop. Brad Feuerhelm-mister analogue photography- will present a photographic flagellation of the macabre and uncanny... Lee Tesche and Andy Becker will tickle your desires through a sound installation. DJs fighting it out for your soul will be AlgiersJen Schande and SALU.

Sunday 27 October, as I was writing this post, Nick Cave came up to my mind “... and the wind did howl and the wind did blow... and the wind did roar and the wind did moan” I had a thought for Nippett and wondered if she was purring quietly in her finger-made castle (Make sure you ask Sir Batley next time you see him... on the 31-10-13!)

Monday 28 October, as I am about to post, I read The Crows might pay a tribute to El Maestro Lou Reed, now resting on the wild side...


Algiers - "A band I've personally fallen in love with." Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins, Bella Union) http://vimeo.com/35896162 // http://algierstheband.com/ // https://www.facebook.com/Algierstheband

The band – The Crows on same label as Savages = http://vimeo.com/73623978 // https://www.facebook.com/londonCROWS

The Film – Kneel Through the Dark = www.jamesbatley.com
James Batley being interviewed last week = http://london.lecool.com/inspirations/james-batley/

The Art - Brad Feuerhelm. 2013 // Unholy Passion: Abjection, a discourse for Lesser Heavens = http://bradfeuerhelm.org/

There is more...

The secret organisation = http://www.facebook.com/DCRLONDON

The place // date // time // money = Halloween - 31st October 13.  Doors 7pm - 2am
Red Gallery 1-3 Rivington Street, Shoreditch, London, EC2A 3DT = http://redgallerylondon.com/event/dcr-presents-%E2%80%98-haunting%E2%80%99-art-music-film/2013-10-31
Cheap early bird tickets £5: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/243502 or £7 @ the door

BYOB


Be an invisible friend on FB = https://www.facebook.com/babylondon.orbital
Stalk the twit on = https://twitter.com/bbldnrbtl  - fresh videos


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