Kickstarter Campaign - Keith Tippett Octet on Discus

Martin Archer's label Discus Music have launched a Kickstarter campaign to support the release of Keith Tippett's newest album, The Nine Dances of Patrick O'Gonogon.

The 56th album to be released on the label features a new suite of music commissioned by Richard Wiltshire and was recorded at Real World Studios.

This new suite is based on themes from Irish folk music and was written for his new octet, which includes several recent graduates from the Royal Academy of Music’s jazz programme along with a long-time collaborator, the drummer Peter Fairclough, and the London-based Italian trumpeter Fulvio Sigurta.

As the album has already been recorded, mixed and mastered, the kickstarter campaign is a way for listeners to purchase their copies in advance to enable Discus Music to distribute the album. The campaign lasts for another 29 days and has a target amount of £1,500.

Keith Tippett Octet are -

Fulvio Sigurta (trumpet/flugel)
Sam Mayne (alto)
James Gardiner-Bateman (alto & flute)
Kieran McLeod (trombone)
Robbie Harvey (trombone)
Tom McCredie (bass)
Pete Fairclough (drums)
Keith Tippett (piano/composition)
Julie Tippetts (voice)

For more information and to contribute to the campaign, visit the Kickstarter page.

Upcoming Dates for Inclusion Principle

Inclusion Principle, a trio featuring Martin Archer, Peter Fairclough and Herve Perez, have publicised their upcoming gigs which are scattered across the country between now and April 2016 in a sort of elongated tour.

Inclusion Principle operates in a space between electronics, nu-jazz, contemporary electroacoustic music and free improvisation tending towards a minimalist approach. Its members can be seen in numerous different projects , many of which have recorded for Martin's label Discus Music.

They currently have 5 albums available, the most recent being released earlier this year. These can be listened to and purchased on the Discus website.

Information on live dates can be found below with more details to follow on the website soon.

19 Nov 15 - Lee Rosy's Tea Shop, Broad St, Nottingham
2 Dec 15 - Jazz At The Lescar, Sharrow Vale Rd, Sheffield
22 Jan 16 - The Others, Manor Rd, Stoke Newington, London
3 Mar 16 - Blackout, venue tbc, Leeds
5 Mar 16 - Halton Mill, Lancaster
17 Mar 16 - Venue tbc, Bradford
20 Mar 16 - Mopomoso at The Vortex, London
3 Apr 16 - Bridge Hotel, Newcastle
27 Apr 16 - Flim Flam, Ryan's Bar, London

Northern Musicians head to Canada

Discus Music owner and saxophonist Martin Archer has worked in collaboration with vocalist Julie Tippetts for the past 9 years. 4 studio albums have been recorded, receiving critical acclaim. As a team, they have been described as peerless, fearless musical adventurers.

Up until now, their work together has been confined to the studio but Martin has recently announced that they have been invited to perform at the prestigious Victoriaville Festival in Quebec in May.

FIMAV has a long history of programming forward-thinking artists spread across the world. Last year's festival featured musicians including Hamid Drake, Marc Ribot and Deerhoof.

Martin and Julie will be joined by Sheffield's Seth Bennett and Pete Fairclough on double bass and drums respectively,  Leeds-based Laura Cole on piano and Manchester's Anton Hunter on guitar.

Find out more about the festival on the FIMAV website and visit Discus Music's site for information on all releases.

Juxtavoices shake up Wirksworth Arts Festival

Jazz and improvised music has a rich history of giving a voice to the bold and the rebellious. 'Jazz is the big brother of revolution', so said Miles Davis. Well, Sheffield's premiere anti-choir Juxtavoices did their bit for the rebellion recently by being ejected from the Wirksworth Arts Festival midway through their performance.

According to MD and Discus Music owner Martin Archer -

Juxtavoices were ejected en masse from St Mary's Church 1 hour into our 3 hour performance at this years Wirksworth Festival! The performance was halted by the church on the grounds that the visual artists with whom we were sharing the space felt our music was "too challenging" and was preventing people discussing their visual works, and that some members of the public were disinclined to enter the space. This despite the fact that plenty of people were sitting and listening, and enjoying the performance. And all this despite us having paid to book the space for the afternoon.

 Audiences will have another chance to see Juxtavoices perform live soon, when they perform alongside the Bennett-Cole Orchestra in Sheffield on October 18th (fingers crossed they get to finish their set this time!)

Juxtavoices Open Up in Sheffield

Juxtavoices, Sheffield's 30-voice new music and peformance poetry anti-choir, has been invited to take part in the annual Open Up event in Sheffield this weekend.

Open Up is an opportunity for artists to open up their workspaces and invite the public to watch them at work at venues across the city. Running since 1998, the event lets practitioners share their work and their work processes, discuss what they do and connect with audiences.

Juxtavoices will perform at four points throughout Sunday 3rd May -

11.30 a.m.

Manor Oaks Studios, 389 Manor Lane, S2 1U

1.00 p.m.

Exchange Studios, Exchange Street, S2 5SZ

2.30 p.m.

St Mary's Community Hall, South Road,  Walkley, S6 3RX

4.00 p.m.

Fulton's Yard, 49 Nethergreen Road, S11 7EH

You can find out more about the event at the Open Up website, and the Discus Music website contains more information on Juxtavoices including how to be involved and their upcoming recording projects.

New Releases from Discus Records

Sheffield-based label Discus Records, run by musician and composer Martin Archer, has announced the release of three new albums this week.

Third Opening is the 5th album for trio Inclusion Principle. Featuring Martin Archer, Herve Perez and Peter Fairclough, the group is described as being in a space between electronics, nu-jazz, contemporary electroacoustic music and free improvisation tending towards a minimalist approach. Their new release is a double album.

Bad Tidings from Slackwater Drag is the second album from the AACM-inspired large ensemble, Engine Room Favourites. The band gigged across the North in 2014 with support from Jazz North's Northern Line scheme and the material for this new album was developed during those performances. 

Personnel: Martin Archer, Mick Beck, Laura Cole, Corey Mwamba, Graham Clark, Seth Bennett, Walt Shaw, Johnny Hunter & Steve Dinsdale.

Vestigium is the fourth release from Julie Tippetts & Martin Archer duo. The line-up is a mixture of musicians from both jazz and rock backgrounds (reflecting Tippetts own varied musical career from Brian Auger to Keith Tippet) and is decribed as a homage to the heady days of musical collison and exploration...

Personnel: Julie Tippetts, Martin Archer, Peter Fairclough, Seth Bennett, Gary Houghton, Michael Somerset-Ward, Kim Macari, Lee Hallam, Chris Bywater, James Archer, Michael McMillan, Heather Cordwell, Aby Vuillamy & Mick Bardon.

Tour Preview: Beck Hunters UK Tour

Sheffield-based saxophonist Mick Beck set up his new trio around 18 months ago, featuring Anton Hunter on guitar and Johnny Hunter on drums. To mark the release of their debut album on Discus, The Hunt Is On, the trio will be playing dates across England during February and March.

The album caught the attention of many critics and has received positive reviews:

Aggressive when it needs to be, but comfortable winding down into unhurried, meandering humour, it sounds like a miniature Art Ensemble at play. - Daniel Spicer, The Wire
 
…truly mind-blowing, ranging between a cardiac arrest, epileptic fit and a nervous breakdown. The trio are extremely tight, threatening to unravel before skilfully coming back into sync. - Rob Aldam, Now Then Magazine 

Full information on the album can be found on the Discus website and the tour dates are listed below.

Thu 5th February - Over the Top, Sheffield
Thu 12th February - Noise Upstairs, Manchester
Sun15th February - Vortex, London
Wed 25th February - Safehouse, Brighton
Sat 14th March - Halton Mill, Lancaster

Discus Concerts in June

Discus Music, a label run by composer and improviser Martin Archer, are hosting two gigs this month in Sheffield.

Friday 13th June
Burngreave Cemetery Chapel, Sheffield
7.30pm
Peter Rophone plus Juxtavoices

You've probably never visited this atmospheric old building, buried away in east Sheffield. Now's your chance! A short opening set by everyone's favourite antichoir will feature a performance of Guardian Weekend Remix, the piece current in prep for that even more difficult second album, plus others.

We're very happy to supporting this launch event for a CD by Sheffield's finest maverick singer, songwriter and guitarist

Thursday June 19th
Over The Top, Sheffield
8.00pm
£5/3
Chris Meloche

A one off group featuring Sheffield based colleagues of Canadian electroacoustic musician Meloche making one of his occasional visits to town:

Chris Meloche - electronics
Hervé Perez - electronics
Martin Archer - electronics
Mick Beck - bassoon
Nick Robinson - guitars and loops
Andy Peake - keyboards
Charlie Collins - percussion

Expect various groupings of low key towards minimal improvised dronescapes.

See more information at Discus Music website.

 
 

Upcoming Discus concerts in March

Discus Music, a label run by musician and composer Martin Archer, have been in touch to spread the word about two concerts in Sheffield in March featuring Northern Line group Engine Room Favourites and Coastguard Allstars.