Soundings Part One

About the event

Fourth Portal, along with sound artist in residence, Richard Sanderson, presented an afternoon of exploratory sound and ambient music in the extraordinary and resonant space of St Andrew's Arts Centre in Gravesend - a former seamans' chapel on the waterfront.

Featuring sets from raxil4, Klaus Bru and whthppnsfprssthsbttn

The performers played elongated sets throughout the afternoon, and audience were encouraged to walk around the space and experience the sounds and resonances from different locations, and also to make themselves comfortable and let the extraordinary sounds wash over.

PERFORMERS

raxil4 (live electronics)

raxil4 is multi-disciplinary sound artist Andrew Page, specialising in analogue electronic dronescapes, acoustic audio phenomenon and installation. 

He has performed live all over Europe, and many of his performances have been in non-traditional venues, often choosing to play spaces with character and interesting acoustic qualities, such as caves, churches, crypts, prison cells, psychiatric hospitals & water towers. 

He has also performed live and installed durational works in galleries such as Tate Modern (London), The Barbican (London), The Arnolfini (Bristol), M-HKA (Antwerp), Sonnestube (Lugano), Soundfjord (London) & GV Art (London).

Some of his generative pieces have been discussed in classes on composition at the Royal Academy of Music. The first 400 releases of his back catalogue now reside within the British Library Sound Archive.

Klaus Bru (saxophone and electronics)

German-born Klaus Bru is one of only a few saxophonists performing exclusively on the rare C-Melody and C-Soprano saxes -- instruments, which were extremely popular in the 1920s. These antiquities sound utterly contemporary in Bru’s hands, particularly when he furnishes them with electronic treatment.

His artistic output is characterised by its variety: He brings in the folk music of the world (typically from Eastern Europe and Turkey), Avant-garde ridden improvisation concepts, air sounds and electronic noises, strange meters and odd tempos, plus -- last but not least -- singable melodies over the moving chords of jazz standards or his compositions.

whthppnsfprssthsbttn

(pronounced "What Happens If I Press This Button")

Experimental live electronica from Roy and Rich from Rochester.