February at Cafe OTO

From London’s Cafe OTO:

DM&P + TEMPERATURES
Friday 3 February ’12 • 8PM • £5 advance / £6 on the door

London free-rock duo Temperatures pair up their radical collapse of hypno-rhythm and noise with stalwarts of the Scena Krakowska improvised music scene in Poland, DM&P whose two saxophonists converge with electronics/custom-written software for some truly questing and organic free improvisation.

IDEOLOGIC ORGAN #1:
ANDREW CHALK & TIMO VAN LUIJK (ELODIE) +
JESSIKA KENNEY & EYVIND KANG
Saturday 4 February ’12 • 8PM • £10 adv / £12 on the door

First concert in a new series curated by Stephen O’Malley of SUNN O))) extending the work he’s undertaken with his Ideologic Organ label for Editions Mego. The first event is a double bill of duos. An exceedingly rare appearance from Andrew Chalk – here as Elodie, his duo with Timo Van Luijk and Vocal/Violin duo Jessika Kenney and Eyvind Kang, both collaborators on SUNN O)))’s Monolith’s & Dimensions and responsible for the second LP on the label: ‘Aestaurium’.

THE LONDON IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA
Sunday 5 February ’12 • 8PM • £6 / £4 concs

Regular meeting of The London Improvisers Orchestra. The LIO draws on London’s rich pool of improvising musicians and is part of a long and varied heritage that stretches back to the free-jazz big bands of Chris McGregor and Mike Westbrook, the intuitive ensembles of John Stevens and purely improvising groups such as the Continuous Music Ensemble.

UPSET THE RHYTHM’S KINGDOM TOUR:
GENTLE FRIENDLY, WAY THROUGH, PEEPHOLES
Tuesday 7 February ’12 • 8PM • £5 advance / £6 on the door

UTR hit the road with three incredibly inventive bands from their native soil to bring their pastoral punk, junked rhythms and tribal synth dance parties to the near and far of the United Kingdom. Upset The Rhythm’s Kingdom Tour sees GENTLE FRIENDLY, WAY THROUGH and PEEPHOLES team up to present a revolving lineup that resonates deep within landscape, drawing on forgotten pasts and remembered futures in equal measure.

BLACK TOP #1:
PAT THOMAS / ORPHY ROBINSON / SHABAKA HUTCHINGS + GUESTS
Wednesday 8 February ’12 • 8PM • £6 adv / £7 on the door

Originally proposed as a new trio of Pat Thomas, Orphy Robinson and Steve Williamson, Black Top started out as a duo at Cafe OTO after Pat Thomas was unable to make the original gig. Black Top now returns to Cafe OTO reincarnated as an ad hoc series dedicated to exploring the intersection of live instruments and technology such as the looping and sampling used in dub, reggae and other worldly noises. The Black Top project will use improvisation to explore these black influences but not necessarily from an African American perspective. This first show in the new series will feature Pat Thomas – one of the UK’s most unique and vital keyboard players alongside Orphy Robinson’s Steel Pans and Shabaka Hutchings on saxophones plus guests.

THE WIRE SALON: PRACTICAL ELECTRONICA:
FROM CHROMASONICS TO THE MEGATHERM
Thursday 9 February ’12 • 8PM • £4 on the door

For this editon of The Wire Salon, Brighton based film maker, composer and instrument inventor Ian Helliwell stages an audio-visual celebration of the early electronic music of FC Judd, one of the unsung heroes of the UK’s DIY tradition of amateur audio adventurers and experimental hobbyists.

LE VOLUME COURBE + LONESOME FRENCH COWBOY & THE ONE + HARVEY SMITH SALUTE
Friday 10 February ’12 • 8PM • £6 adv / £7 on the door

London show from Le Volume Courbe. Le Volume Courbe is helmed by French ex-pat Charlotte Marionneau and inspired by the do-your-own-thing ethos of Nico, Patti Smith and Yoko Ono. Their new EP “Theodaurus Rex” is now out on Pickpocket Records, the label formed by Le Volume Courbe’s leader and lynchpin Charlotte Marionneau with Kevin Shields.

IAN NAGOSKI PRESENTS ‘TO WHAT STRANGE PLACE’ +
THE FAMILY ELAN
Saturday 11 February ’12 • 8PM • £7 adv / £8 on the door

This concert sees a rare pairing of two musical entities divided by the Atlantic but united by a mutual love for obscure musical outpourings from under-heard sections of diverse cultures – Ian Nagoski will do presentation based on his acclaimed collection ‘To What Strange Place : The Music Of The Ottoman-American Diaspora, 1916-1929’ and The Family Elan will follow in their current bouzouki/bass/percussion power trio format, delving into the same mine of influence – dipping musical toes in Uzbekistan, Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

MIA ZABELKA / MAGGIE NICOLS / JOHN RUSSELL
Sunday 12 February ’12 • 8PM • £6 adv / £7 on the door

Free improvisation from three highly individual musicians with backgrounds spanning a wide variety of musical experiences, the trio’s music both captures and enthralls with its immediacy and a shared, almost telepathic intimacy: Mia Zabelka (Violin), Maggie Nicols (Voice), John Russell (Guitar).

EAT YOUR OWN EARS PRESENT:
MATTHEW BOURNE + ICARUS
Wednesday 15 February ’12 • 8PM • £10

Pianist Matthew Bourne plays Café OTO to mark the release of his first ever solo studio album, Montauk Variations (out Feb 7). Bourne’s extraordinary physical performance on the intimate venue’s grand piano is not to be missed.

WITH LUMPS + LEXER/NOBLE DUO
Thursday 16 February ’12 • 8PM • £6 advance/£7 on the door

Uncategorisable guitar/percussion duo of former Pee-Ess-Eye drummer Fritz Welch and guitarist Neil Davidson paired up for two duos and a one-off quartet with the reconvened Lexer/Noble Piano/Percussion combo following their stunning first encounter for Muddy Ditch #2.

JASON KAHN, ALFREDO COSTA MONTEIRO & JUAN MATOS CAPOTE (ASTERO) + PHIL JULIAN AND MATT DAVIS : TWO DAY RESIDENCY
Friday 17 February ’12 • 8PM • £6 / £7 on the door
Saturday 18 February ’12 • 8PM • £6 / £7 on the door

Two day exploration of various configurations from this group of die-hard electronic and electro-acoustic music experimentalists exploring unstabe systems, analog synthesisers, circuit bending, reclaimed domestic electronics (speakers/radios), prepared instruments and more.

PETER BRÖTZMANN / PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE / FRED LONBERG-HOLM

Sunday 19 February ’12 • 8PM • £10 advance / £12 on the door
w/ special guest: Pat Thomas
Monday 20 February ’12 • 8PM • £10 advance / £12 on the door
w/ special guest: Steve Noble

Sax/Cello/Drums isn’t the most regular of trios, and even if it were this wouldn’t be the most regular example of it as it brings together three of the most adventurous and creative players in improvised music. Having played together for the first time as a trio as part of the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet tour celebrating Peter’s 70th birthday in 2011, the three made an instant decision that this was a group that needed to play together more. At OTO, they’ll be joined by pianist/keyboard Pat Thomas on the Sunday and drummer Steve Noble on the Monday for a reunion of the incendiary twin-drum showdown that pushed the final set of Lean Left’s recent residency to dizzying heights.

BODY/HEAD – KIM GORDON (SONIC YOUTH) & BILL NACE
Wednesday 22 February ’12 • 8PM • SOLD OUT

Unpredictable guitar combo pairing Sonic Youth founder/bass player/guitarist/vocalist Kim Gordon and Boston’s favourite free-noise guitarist Bill Nace. As a duo they’ve put forth a limited cassette only blast via Ecstatic Peace! and covered ‘Fever’ for an Ultra Eczema compilation so its hard to say exactly what this show will bring, but its sure to be a good one!

THE FUJII
Thursday 23 February ’12 • 8PM • £6 adv / £7 on the door

An exploration of the blues guitar lexicon with The Fujii – Koichi Fujishima on National Steel Guitar/Vocals and Paul Shearsmith on Pocket Trumpet, Tuned Gas Main, Baliphone and Amazonian Hand Flute.

THE WORKSHOP SERIES
Monday 27 February ’12 • 8PM • £5/£4 concs

February’s concert of experimental improvised music drawn from participants of Eddie Prévost’s weekly workshop. This month’s musicians are Marjolaine Charbin (piano), Philip Clark (piano), Chris Hyde-Harrison (double bass), Ross Lambert (guitar), Tom Mills (violin), Tom Mudd (electronics).

KEIJI HAINO // TWO DAY RESIDENCY
Tuesday 28th February 2012
Tickets : £14 adv / £17 on the door

Wednesday 29th February 2012
Tickets : £14 adv / £17 on the door

£26 two day pass

The dark enigma of the Japanese avant-garde returns to Cafe OTO for another two day residency after last year’s heady two days of hallowed blues, noise assualt and spry improvisation. This visit promises to reveal even more of Haino’s multifaceted musical enquiries including a special set for solo voice and more TBC.

Keiji Haino’s 30-year career has encompassed a dizzying range of approaches from wild, guitar-led ensemble rock and near-Neolithic drumming; live electronics, untutored explorations of lute and flute, to voice experiments and extended performances for gamelan and other percussion. He has also collaborated widely with the likes of Derek Bailey, Merzbow, Jim O’Rourke and Tony Conrad. Throughout, Haino has retained a visionary focus upon temporary suspension through noise (and silence) whilst refining a mercurial, highly distinctive method and an arrestingly dramatic on-stage presence that borrows the raiments of performance art.

Related articles

• This week’s new live music (guardian.co.uk)