Pure Scenius, Concert Two; 7.30 to 9pm, June the 14th 2009
Sydney Opera House, Sydney Australia
These are not brilliant recordings but an important recording of a rare event with some magical music. It was a little hard to tell what each person was doing except most of the vocals were Karl Hyde, Eno did most of the in-song narration and Jon Hopkins any drum machine. The sublime piano piece is Jon Hopkins and Chris Abraham's. When we walked in they were sitting on a couch on stage talking and they went back there at different times to listen to the others through out the performance.
Official Promotion Material;
Sydney Opera House presents LUMINOUS - a festival of music, ideas, light and performance. Curated by Brian Eno, this inaugural year features a plethora of music acts, alongside public talks and spectacular light and art installations. Music highlights include Battles, Ladytron, Lee Scratch Perry, Jon Hassell, Reggie Watts and Karl Hyde. LUMINOUS is part of Vivid Sydney, a Sydney wide mid-year festival. "I feel very honoured to have been invited to curate this festival. The brief I was given can loosely be read as 'you suggest it and we'll organise it' which is about as generous and trusting as one could ever dream." Brian Eno March 2009
http://luminous.sydneyoperahouse.com/events.htm
Concert Two June the 14th 2009
One day. Three improvised concerts. Two intervals. Each concert picks up where the other left off. Choose your own one, two or three part adventure in sound and vision. The first concert is based on a predetermined sequence of events and parts two and three will progress from there - each will have its similarities, each will have its differences. Like a laboratory conducting an undisclosed experiment, PURE SCENIUS will be a combustible, spontaneous, must-see mix of intellect, innovation and instrumentation.
And the experiment goes beyond audio; offstage Toby Vogel will be filming, mixing, re-processing and projecting layers of imagery on three massive screens - just like he does for Underworld's live shows.
Whether you're fascinated by process or performance, improvisation or collaboration, minimalism or chaos, you need to experience the grand finale to the LUMINOUS festival.
Karl Hyde is the poet and voice of Underworld... lager, lager, lager - remember the track Born Slippy at the end of Trainspotting? In the early 90s, along with band mates Rick Smith and Darren Emerson, Hyde assimilated techno into the art-rock tradition, lacing pulverising rhythms with frantic cut-up lyrics, eccentric humour, subtle textures and waves of improvisation.
Jon Hopkins is a musical shapeshifter: a composer, pianist and a self-taught studio wizard. He makes affecting, bold electronic music using walls of synths, lustrous melodies and amorphous bass rumbles. Co-producing Coldplay's Viva La Vida with Eno, his own ethereal compositions transcend genres, melding digital coldness with subtle, bucolic textures; veering from simple elegance to strange, unsettling sonic depths.
The Necks are one of the great cult bands of Australia. Pianist Chris Abrahams, drummer Tony Buck and bass player Lloyd Swanton conjure a chemistry together that defies description in orthodox terms. Working in every field from pop to avant-garde, the deceptive simplicity of their music throws forth new charms on each hearing.
Discovered by Eno tinkering on a guitar in a music shop, Britain's Leo Abrahams has since worked with the man himself as well as Paul Simon, Grace Jones and Nick Cave. An uncompromising and innovative musician, he pushes the guitar to new levels. Rejecting traditional techniques such as sampling, sequencing and computer effects, he instead relies on ambient sounds generated exclusively by the guitar to create pure music unaffected by commercial considerations.