Sonic Acts 2017

For its 2017 edition Sonic Acts is asking what does it mean to be human? How can we deal with the noise that surrounds us in our rapidly expanding societies? Will the introduction of more or advanced technology obscure our view, or help us to understand the world better? Because we are all entangled in a web of different encounters, can we strive for a world in which all (non)humans are equally (non)human? The Noise of Being embraces the confusion, disputes and challenges around these questions. The festival includes an exhibition, three-day conference, performances, film programme, workshops, masterclasses and club nights at Paradiso, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Bimhuis, De Brakke Grond, OT301 and Arti et Amicitiae.

Electro-Pythagoras: A Portrait Of Martin Bartlett

Glaswegian filmmaker Luke Fowler presents an intimate portrait of computer music pioneer and Western Front co-founder, Martin Bartlett. An individual whose contribution has become largely unknown since his early passing from AIDS in the early 1990s, this film indulges in the social aspect of Bartlett’s vision of music. Sound artist Ernst Karel will contribute through a surround diffusion performance, making use of materials gathered from the Bartlett Archive.

Sunday, 26 February, De Brakke Grond 

Klein

A self taught musician, South London’s Klein is an artist who’s neoteric vision has seen her quickly become one of the UK’s most intriguing and unpinnable producers and performers. Her theatrical approach to composition is played out through organic layers of her own vocals, pitched and stretched out, using her voice as an instrument in a way that leaves it sounding electronic and hyperreal.

Friday, 24 February at Progress Bar at Sonic Acts Festival (Free for Subbacultcha Members until 01.00)

Flohio

In 2017 God Colony and Flohio are taking their friendship and constant collaboration out of the studio and into the club. Having worked together on ‘Steady’, ‘SE16’ and ‘My World’, the trio are hitting this year with loads of new tracks, visuals and a 60 minute sound system set comprised of unreleased material and fresh club edits. Hosted by Flohio, it’s a show you don’t want to miss.

Friday, 24 February at Progress Bar at Sonic Acts Festival (Free for Subbacultcha Members until 01.00)

Kara-Lis Coverdale

Heralded as ‘one of the most exciting young composers in North America’ by the Guardian and a ‘unique navigator of the electronic world’ by NPR, Kara-Lis Coverdale is a fiercely independent voice in new music that champions omnivorous approach to sound. She creates colourful and dense arrangements that blur the line between the human and the data with a unique penchant for long-form melody, harmony, and sonic detail.

Saturday, 25 February at Muziekgebouw aan’t IJ

Sonic Acts at OT301

A thundering lineup will introduce noise itself on the opening night of the festival. Spanning experimental electronic, industrial and noise music, the night will blast between the intimidating, dirty sounding JK Flesh to the innovative Emptyset duo of James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas who depict a limitlessness in sound, the deep meditation and collapse of structured normality that permeates Aisha Devi to the lyrical complexity of VIOLENCE.

Join Sonic Acts at OT301 on Thursday, 23 February