This two-night program, presented by Issue Project Room, iDEAL, EMS, WELD and the Consulate General of Sweden NYC, features a huge lineup of some of Sweden’s most exciting experimental musicians. Performances include collaborations between U.S. and Swedish artists, as well as a cross-section of Swedish groups, such as the prolific The Skull Defekts (joined by C. Spencer Yeh), and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, one of the most important free jazz and improv musicians working today.
Lineup for Saturday 12/3 (subject to change):
Mats Lindström & Anna Koch
CM von Hausswolff
Ikue Mori & Ida Lundén
Mats Gustafsson
The Skull Defekts + C. Spencer Yeh & Daniel Higgs
For the Swedish Energiesevent, prolific The Skull Defekts is a trio with founding members Joachim Nordwall (iDEAL boss, collaborator with Mika Vainio, Leif Elggen, Mark Wastell and others) and Henrik Rylander (ex-Union Carbide Productions, conceptual artist and photographer) joined by ex-Lungfish guitar player Asa Osborne (who does deep solo recordings as ZOMES nowadays) from Baltimore. While The Skull Defekts was on tour as a quintet with singer and esoteric magician Daniel Higgs in the US in April 2011, ZOMES were the obvious choise as opening act. The artists share the same view upon music and sound. In Pawtucket, RI, they put down three pieces for a 12” on Thrill Jockey. Magic happended. For Swedish Energies, Brooklyn improviser and artist C.Spencer Yeh will join the band (unreleased recordings of Nordwall, Rylander and Yeh exist!). Yeh is a man of magic and we can possibly expect drones and psychedelic electronics. Deep stuff.
As one of the most important free jazz and improv musicians in the world right now, sax man Mats Gustafsson is constantly surprising his audience by ever evolving. Mats is insanely active performing solo shows and with his many groups (The Thing, FIRE!, Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Swedish Azz etc) around the globe, clocking in for some 200 shows per year. His solo gigs are usually blessed with live electronics and something you can always expect from this man - controlled and uncontrolled energy and creativity.
Carl Michael von Hausswolff is a master of minimalism in both his visual- and sound-art. Since the 1970’s, he has worked as a composer, curator and conceptual visual artist. In the 80’s, he formed the Radium record label changing the Swedish music scene at the time and forever, releasing everything from pop, nasty garage rock to experimental music and noise. Hausswolff is working with electronic drone, electricity, frequencies, colors, state of minds and so forth. There is always a presence in his work, difficult to explain. Carl Michael von Hausswolff is also one of the kings of the imaginary Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland.
Ikue Mori + Ida Lunden
Ikue Mori is a true legend in the contemporary improv music scene, with her background as the drummer for the infamous NYC no wave outfit DNA and has a long, impressive career as laptop improviser, composer and musician. Mori brought drum machines into improv music in the 80’s. She has worked with Zeena Parkins as Phantom Orchard, Kim Gordon and John Zorn to name a few. Ikue Mori is one of the most important creators of sound today. Ida Lundén from Stockholm focuses mainly on electronic and chamber music as a composer and performer. Lundén is part of Syntjuntan - a female ensemble to combine women’s curiosity for technology and electronics and true DIY synth building. At Swedish Energies, Ikue Mori & Ida Lundén will perform together for the first time.
Anna Koch + Mats Lindström
Anna Koch is a dancer, choreographer and musician. She is also the curator of the venue for experimental stage arts WELD, probably the most important one in Scandinavia for these kind of activities. Koch is comfortably moving between modern dance, theatre and electro acoustic music. Mats Lindström is the main man at EMS (the Electronic Music Studio) in Stockholm and a master of the pure electronic sound. Lindström recently performed with jet engines in Russia (!!!), and has worked a lot with dance vs light in his performances.