Can’t believe that two weeks have now slipped passed since Counterflows volume 2. I thought I better take a little time to sum up this year’s achievements in our continuing development of the creation of a new festival. Our aim has been to keep alive the beauty and power of what some folks call marginal...
Annette Krebs + Rie NakaJima + Peter Brotzman & Paal Nilssen-Love + Fuaim is Solas + Death Shanties + Phill Niblock & Thomas Ankersmit + Lina Lapelyte’s Candy Shop + Janie Nicoll & Annette Krebs Residency + Sami Sanpakkila + Jarse + Hector Bizerk + Kan Mikami + Alex Neilson + Jandek + Gareth Dickson...
First things first: the work that Janie and Annette are making is very very strong. It’s amazing what comes out of just a few days of working together…of knowing each other in fact. It’s worth coming to see. Today was a fascinating insight into the roller-coaster ride of making. Both Janie and Annette have been...
If you have a ticket booked please bring either: a print out of the eventbrite email show us the email on your phone use the eventbrite iPhone or Android app. Everyone will be given an old school proper event ticket on the door If you have a Festival or a day pass: you will need...
Janie Nicol and Annette Krebs are a couple of days into their Counterflows Residency. Inevitably, everything they do has hanging over it the spectre of Saturday: what will we share with the public? Will we present a piece of work? Or (and?) will we have a conversation about how the residency has panned out? If...
Counterflows likes to throw some curved balls into the mix just to see what might happen. Well, now we have another one to wet the appetite of fans of the dark and wonderful world we all inhabit. As Cafe Oto put it “a mind boggling late addition”, to a programme of music that is already...
Alasdair asked Fielding from Cry Parrot to write today’s blog post on his plans for the Saturday late night at Stereo… Part of my involvement in Counterflows this year was to curate an afterparty of some sort to follow Kan Mikami, lll人 and Jandek’s performance at Stereo. It wasn’t an easy task. DJing after a...
Working with Cafe Oto, it is always great to hear from Hamish what is coming through their programme which is the most wonderful and intriguing bunch of music around. When Hamish said that we needed to put on a trio of musicians going by the tricky and beautiful nom de plume lll 人 at Counterflows...
It seems it is an ongoing question and again I was asked it last week for the piece for the Herald covering Counterflows by Kate Molleson. “Is it a good time for this kind of music?” Kate phrased it a bit better than that of course. My simple and possibly flippant answer is that it...
A festival should not really just be a series of gigs and Counterflows, as it grows, will develop projects and events where participation will be encouraged in one form or another. Sharing the joys of making music can be such a rewarding experience in so many levels. Daniel Padden who has been a stalwart of...
Today we kicked off the first Counterflows Residency. Visual artist Janie Nicoll and Composer / performer Annette Krebs are working together for 8 days in the CCA Creative Lab. Bringing different artforms together and also different cultures – Janie is based in Glasgow and Annette in Berlin – they’ll be using their time to explore...
Counterflows is about bringing music together from all the myriad of strands of creativity that exist out there. I have been working with Martin Green on and off for years now. His commission Monstre that brought together the Kirkintilloch Brass Band and his own elastic ideas was one highlight of many. When I launched AC...
I first heard about Hector Bizerk through asking Fielding Hope of Cry Parrot who was this band with such a great name. I’ve always been partial to these old Scottish names and coupled with the word Bizerk, it’s perfect. There is also the fact that one of my favourite hip-hop records of old is the...
It is a common misconception of the way we lead our lives that we are meant to aspire to this or that way of doing things. In 2004 I was ruminating in the audience at an evening of Instal when on to the stage stepped a be-hatted gentleman who proceeded to wack beautifully at his...
Great article and interview with Alasdair in today’s Glasgow Herald on Counterflows. Terminology can be a tricky thing when it comes to a festival such as Counterflows. Sound art, experimental, free, avant-garde? Contemporary, new, noise, downright weird? The opaque descriptors bandied about by the culture industry and by writers like myself are constantly trying to...
Way back at one of the early Instal festivals run by Barry and Bryony of Arika, I think before they were called Arika, I was excited to hear that they had Phill Niblock performing. At this point I had only heard his music through the insubstantial CD format. When I stepped into one of the...
I first worked with Lina Lapelyte at Le Weekend 2010 when she played violin as part of a commission devised by Mark Wastell.
No excuses needed for having Peter Brotzmann and Paal Nilssen-Love play at Counterflows. And certainly none from me. They are two of the most profound and astonishing musicians around. I first heard Peter Brotzmann live at the 2001 Le Weekend festival in Stirling, way back before I was involved in the festival other than as...
I’ve been lucky enough to be able to go over to Finland for a week for the last couple of years. It is an amazing place and the people have a wonderful grasp on life. Last year when I was there I made a point of meeting up in Tampere with the very special Sami...
It was always my plan to try and get a programme of residencies happening at Counterflows. Music is often about collaboration, in fact probably always and so the idea of getting two artists who have never worked together to lock horns to look at what they do and to share ideas and possibly to produce...
Kan Mikami It came as no surprise to me to find out that last year’s festival revelation Kim DooSoo and Kan Mikami are very close friends. Kim DooSoo emailed me to say that Kan was really excited to be performing in Glasgow again and to be a part of a festival that Kim DooSoo enjoyed...
As we head towards the festival weekend wanted to just say few words on the artists. At the heart of Counterflows is the mix of local and international acts and the commissioning of new music and creative partnerships. In the run up to the 5th April I’ll be doing some notes about the artists and...
Can’t believe we’re into the last month. Loads of work still being done by the Counterflows team as we prepare for the 5th April. Flights, hotels, car pick-ups all confirmed but really still need checking for any changes of plan.Backline and PA requirements are pretty much there and my thanks to all the venues &...
Would you like one of these Counterflows posters designed by Lucy Duncombe? We’ve had a few A0 size specially printed by @dpiprint_online and one, just one, of these will be given at random to someone. Please just like this on Facebook, retweet this post or comment below so we know you’re interested. To give you...
Great poster for the Brotsmann-Nilssen-Love Tour.
The physical tickets are now back from the printers and available from the venues as below. For anyone that buys a ticket via eventbrite however we will happily give you one of the printed tickets when you check in at the door.
