ANBB - Blixa Bargeld & Alva Noto

Doors - 21:00
ANBB - 21:30

Blixa Bargeld, an 1980's alternative icon (singer and leader of Einstürzende Neubauten and guitarist of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) and Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai), a leading producer in experimental electronics and an audio-visual artist, appear in a unique live fusion of abstract electronics and solid vocals, the lyrical setting and noisy rhythms, the digital subtlety and organic rawness.

The impulsive live performance of Blixa Bargeld and the elaborated beat structures and sound landscapes of Alva Noto merge to a surprising and unexpected result. Working on their own experimental material that gains its strength from the spontaneity of the live-performance of Bargeld’s voice as well as rethinking traditional songs (i.e. timeless tunes by the likes of Bob Dylan and Harry Nilsson) in their own special manner, they deliver an outstanding and inspiring musical blend for their audience.

“Crystalline noise formations. Phrases, words, syllables of pure sound isolated until normal sense disappears, leaving new, unexpected abstractions to emerge. [...] the most suggestive and nuanced version of ‘I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground’ since Bob Dylan.” (The Wire, 12/09)

The collaboration of Alva Noto and Blixa Bargeld, friends and admirers of each other’s work for a long time, first staged in September 2007 when they united for a special appearance in San Francisco to perform at Recombinant Media Labs Studios. Since then they have recorded several tracks, five of which were released last spring on a preliminary EP on Raster-Noton – titled Ret Marut Handshake (r-n 120). The European tour following this release also includes their appearance at Kino Šiška!

Alva Noto
Visual artist/electronic musician Carsten Nicolai (born 1965 in Karl-Marx-Stadt) performs and records using the pseudonyms Noto and Alva Noto. Described as ‘metal machine music of a most beautiful kind’, Nicolai’s powerfully synaesthetic live performances combine minimal electronic sounds and real-time visualisations. Alva Noto has performed in many of the world’s most prestigious spaces and has won a number of highly regarded prizes for art and electronic music. He collaborated with the likes of Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ryoji Ikeda, Mika Vainio, Michael Nyman and Thomas Knak. With Olaf Bender and Frank Bretschneider he founded the record label Rasternoton in 1999 and runs the pioneering label ‘supergroup’ Signal.

Blixa Bargeld
Blixa Bargeld was born 1959 in Berlin. In 1980 he formed the group Einstürzende Neubauten as lead vocalist. From 1984 to 2003 he was guitarist of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He has performed numerous concert-tours through Europe, North and South America, Australia and Japan. He works as composer, author, actor, singer, musician, performer and lecturer in almost any field of interpretative art.

The Wire online interview with ANBB:
http://www.thewire.co.uk/articles/4469/?pageno=1

www.blixa-bargeld.com
www.alvanoto.com
www.raster-noton.net/anbb
www.myspace.com/alvanotoblixabargeld