Network Music Festival presents hi-tech digital music on 22-24th February 2013
For immediate release: 24th January 2013
Network Music Festival returns to Birmingham to present a weekend of innovative hi-tech musical performances and installations from local and international artists.
Hi-tech, digital music weekender, the Network Music Festival is set to return after a highly successful debut last year. The Birmingham-based festival will showcase a diverse range of musical acts across several genres – linked by the common theme that all involve computer network connections. This year’s very special guests are The Hub – considered by many to be the inventors of network music – making a rare visit to the UK. This legendary band first started wiring computers together for live performance in the 1980s and remain a seminal influence for computer music bands today.
Other highlights include the live-coding band Slub, inventors of the ‘Algorave’: that is, dance music produced using computer algorithms, written live in front of the audience. The festival will also welcome another highly innovative act, PB_UP, who were the first laptop band to perform entirely wirelessly. The German group describe themselves as an ‘acoustic computer folk band’ in that they perform completely ‘unplugged,’ without any external power or amplification.
Contemporary composer John Eacott will present his piece ‘Floodtide’, which is based on the natural movements of the river Thames. It will see Eacott collect real-time data on the river’s tidal movement, which is automatically translated into musical notation, and transmitted via the internet to be performed by a chamber group of classical musicians in Birmingham.
In addition to the six concerts, Birmingham-based curator Samuel Rodgers (Consumer Waste) has programmed a sound installation exhibition which addresses the theme of networking. The festival will also include a chance to explore the inner-workings of network music with a variety of general interest and specialist talks and workshops – open to all levels of experience.
This year’s musical line-up has been curated by some of the performers from NMF2012. Benoît and the Mandelbrots (CO/DE), Wrongheaded (UK), Glitch Lich (UK/USA) and Birmingham’s own network band BiLE have each curated a concert at the weekend long festival. NMF2013 will feature specially invited artists, including audio-visual laptop duo Alo Allik (EST) and Yota Morimoto (BRA), and artists selected from the festival’s Open Call, which received more than 90 proposals from Europe, the Americas and Australia.
“We’re very pleased to once again bring the Network Music Festival to Birmingham after such a successful first year.” said festival organiser, Shelly Knotts. “NMF2013 is set to showcase some of the most innovative approaches to music-making. We are thrilled with this year’s line-up and especially excited to be presenting a rare performance from The Hub – their only European concert this year!”
The NMF2013 will take place 22-24th February 2013, once again at the home of the Friction Arts collective, the newly expanded The Edge warehouse, in Digbeth.
Tickets for NMF 2013 are available now from: http://networkmusicfestival.brownpapertickets.com.
More information about the festival can be found at the festival website: networkmusicfestival.org or you can follow us on facebook: facebook.com/networkmusicfestival or twitter: @netmusicfest
Network Music Festival // 22-24th February 2013 // The Edge, 79-81 Cheapside, Birmingham, B12 0QH
Web: networkmusicfestival.org
Twitter: @NetMusicFest Hashtag: #NMF2013
Facebook: www.facebook.com/networkmusicfestival
Email: networkmusicfestival@gmail.com
For press enquiries please contact Shelly Knotts at networkmusicfestival@gmail.com