GRAILS + Philip Jeck + Invisible Bees

Tue 11th May 2010

Miles of Smies presents
GRAILS
 + Philip Jeck
+ Invisible Bees

Doors 7.30
Invisible Bees 8.00 (30)
Philip Jeck 8.45 (30)
Grails 9.45 (45)

£10 at WeGotTickets

Grails is an instrumental quartet from Portland, Oregon. Since 2003 guitarist Alex Hall, drummer Emil Amos (Om, Holy Sons, Jandek), guitarist Zak Riles (Harbour, M.Ward) and bassist WIlliam Slater have, over the course of nine albums, patiently developed into a rather radical study in tension and meditation.

From their first two albums 'The Burden Of Hope' and 'Red Light', often compared to the epic grandeur of Dirty Three, 'Black Tar Prophecies Vol 1-3' a series of conceptual LPs revealing the band's fondness for 60's and 70's experimental artists such as Flower Travellin' Band, Faust and Ash Ra Temple, through to 2008's 'Doomsdayer's Holiday', a mix of Middle Eastern psychedelics and mountain-ascending riffs; Grails inhabit a netherworld where virtually all earthly and otherwordly sounds are equally explored to reflect the disparate influences of its members. Black Tar Prophecies 4 and a new full-length LP is due to be released in 2010.

'Grails' Middle European music exudes a dark occult mystery few are capable of achieving. Like some East German ensemble of the early '70s, their heathen Ur-klang combines guitars, banjos, bouzoukis with drums and samples that summon up the Ancients.' Julian Cope, Head Heritage.

Main support is Philip Jeck, who started working with record players and electronics in the early '80s. He works with old records and record players salvaged from junk shops turning them to his own purposes and he really does play them as musical instruments, creating an intensely personal language that evolves with each added part of a record. Jeck makes geniunely moving and transfixing music, where we hear the art not the gimmick. He won the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Composers 2009 and is published by Touch Music.

Opening up are Invisible Bees, aka London-based Jackie O'Motherfucker associates Damian Burgess and Elin Eriksen, a primitive-psych-folk-duo united in their aim to send time out of joint. the insect ritual is darkly hypnotic-droney-buzzy-with primitive saz-warm accordion swells -minimal guitar motifs-strummed violin-tolling bells- bowed metal and devotional vocals.

 

 

Follow this Grails show at The Luminaire on Songkick

 

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