News / experimental
DIY Sci-Fi Futurist Musick Ball brings outsider sonics in
The experimental noise entity that is Schwet, well known among Bristol’s underground music lovers for its high-quality leftfield and avant-garde lineups, is hosting its 12th festival.
Schwetfest 12.0 will present the ‘upmost aural freakishness’ at Strange Brew on June 20, with eight artists making their Bristol debut and a secret special guest still to be revealed.
The DIY Sci-Fi Futurist Musick Ball’s lineup of ‘global sonic miscreants’ comes from Canada, Norway, Belgium, Germany, Scotland, France and England.
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Music will cover a range of indefinable genres Schwet intriguingly describes as Fragmented Future Shock Rock, Maximal Wave Synth Punk, High Voltage Tantric Hypno-Techno, Tradcore Kraut Noise Witchery and more.
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Live sets come from ‘sophisti-synth-punk’ Das Kinn, ‘ritualistic Dark Age motorik techno’ duo Zohastre, Foudre, Kou and ‘no-wave blues trash’ outfit Drainolith, and So Low DJs play late.
Adam Reid, the brains behind Schwet, has been running experimental music events across Bristol since 2012, totalling in the region of 200+ events to date.
His objective is to showcase touring artists and music that would not otherwise be heard in the city, with a strong focus on international acts that has in the past included those from Kampala to Java, Ramallah to Tokyo and many more besides, with Giant Swan, Holy Tongue, Pigs x7, Part Chimp, Copper Sound and the Evil Usses just a small taste of the broad range of artists he has programmed.
French trio Foudre describe themselves as characterised by “an insatiable appetite for urgency, boundless experimentation, and the spontaneous combustion of live performances” – photo: Didier Goudal
Reid, who also hosts a bi-weekly radio programme on Noods, is also keen to scale up DIY underground events which typically attract intimate backroom crowds of 20-50 people.
He has made a concerted effort to create events that collect audiences of 150-350 people, showcasing artists attempting to cover new ground and push the boundaries to bigger crowds.
“This generally falls in the realms of freak-folk, post-punk, industrial, rave/punk, lofi, noise/metal, ambient-drone, experimental pop and outsider music,” he says.
“This latest Schwetfest is a very ambitious show and will be a definite highlight in the calendar this year, in my opinion!”
Find out more at headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/strange-brew/fri-20-jun-schwetfest-12-0-123759#e123759
Main image: Das Kinn by Marc Krause
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