ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Martin Brandlmayr
Martin Brandlmayr is an Austrian percussionist, drummer, composer and electronic artist. He is widely recognized for his work in a variety of so-called "post-rock" bands, namely Radian, Trapist, and Autistic Daughters, among others.
He is considered to be one of the most innovative drummers active in the current avant-music scene today, and has crafted a signature style that somehow manages to sound loose and improvised while maintaining complex time signatures often inspired by intelligent dance music; critic Brian Olewnick has called Brandlmayr's work "extraordinarily precise". Among others, Brandlmayr has recorded or performed with John Tilbury, Fennesz, Chad Taylor and Otomo Yoshihide. He was artist in residence 2002 at Podewil, Berlin. He now lives in Vienna, Austria.
So far he was performing live at rare occasions. Martin Brandlmayr plays drums, vibraphone and computer.
It´s all about soundmolecules and their identity, movement, sequencing, sound and silence.
Pierre Bastien
Pierre Bastien (born Paris, 1953) post-graduated in eighteenth-century French literature at University Paris-Sorbonne. In 1977 he built his first musical machinery. For the next ten years he has been composing for dance companies and playing with Pascal Comelade. In the meantime he was constantly developing his mechanical orchestra. Since 1987 he concentrates on it through solo performances, sound installations, recordings and collaborations with such artists as Pierrick Sorin, Karel Doing, Jean Weinfeld, Robert Wyatt or Issey Miyake.
The French composer and multi-instrumentalist Pierre Bastien played first in some collective bands (Operation Rhino, Nu Creative Methods, Effectifs de Profil), and with the Dominique Bagouet Dance Company.
Around 1986 he started participating in Pascal Comelade's Bel Canto Orquesta. At the same time he created - and literally built - his own orchestra called Mecanium : an ensemble of musical automatons constructed from meccano parts and activated by electro-motors, that are playing on acoustic instruments from all over the world.
" A composer's dream : a fail-safe orchestra at one's fingertips obeying ever so gently to his every command : a timeless sounding orchestra, both futuristic and slightly dada, conjuring ancient traditions in its surprisingly sensuous music. This is, in a nutshell what Pierre Bastien's "Mecanium" is all about, a daydream of sorts that he has successfully pursued since 1976. The musicians of his orchestra are machines. And the idea behind it is simple, efficient and poetic : to have traditional instruments (Chinese lute, Morrocan bendir, Javanese saron, koto, violin, sanza, etc.) played by a mechanical instrument made of meccano pieces and recycled turntable motors. These hybrid and self-playing sound sculptures perform a series of short pieces, charming and hypnotic. " (Michel F. Côté)
In the nineties the mechanical orchestra developed up to 80 elements. It took part in music festivals and art exhibitions in Norway (World Music Days'90), Australia (Tisea'92), Japan (Artec'95), Canada (Fimav'95, Sound Symposium'98), Poland (Warsaw Autumn'95), United States (Flea Festival'96)…
In the recent years, Pierre Bastien and his machines collaborated with video artist Pierrick Sorin, fashion designer Issey Miyake, dj Low, British singer and composer Robert Wyatt and the Trottola circus. The most recent compositions were released on Lowlands and Rephlex.
Franck Smith
Born 9th January 1973 in France, noise manufacturer, multi-instrumentalist and composer Franck Smith works on various instrumental and musical situations. In 1993 he composes Rituels for string quartet and develops an utopic book for drumset studies titled Les quatre éléments. He creates Zoïkhem in 1995/96 and writes the discographic diptych Requiem/Vox clamantis in deserto (1997) before recording the two solo albums — IX. que ce bébé se taise crierons-nous dans nos tombes (1998) and Ici ∉ Ø si 340 m/s < rien (1999).
Holder of a diploma in musicology Franck Smith plays anvils, gongs, sirens, drums, piano and writes various fictitious dialects...
He sets up Odiolorgnette in 2001 and starts learning the use of electronic devices. Playing a self-configured digital percussion module, turntable and pre-recorded supports manipulation, he becomes in 2002 a specialist of real-time electronics, recording a peculiar collection of new works on Pygmy music, Japanese Noh theatre, Butoh dance, cartoon music and video-game soundtrack. On stage Franck Smith currently performs a series of solo works and conducts the «sonic formula» Qoo-ij orium since 2005.
Resident composer in Bologna, Italy, for the piece Une porcelaine dans un magasin d'éléphants, for 9 instrumentists, electronics & pre-recorded supports [as Ijnveïq de Ernestine, winner of the 2002 edition of "Pépinières Européennes/International Angelica Festival, at Palazzo Re Enzo] and for the commissioned composition Requiem II, for 10 female voices, small ensemble & electronic, in tribute to the Basilica of San Petronio ["Suoni & luoghi", 1st edition, 2004].
Continuing personal electronic researches and studies he enhances his sound arsenal with vinyls, theremin and vintage analog effects to make a unique and evolutive setup. On Odiolorgnette he recently releases two new works, Les urnes funéraires (2006) and Nekrob umics (2007), while elaborating a personal répertoire of micro-rituals (or mono-rites) for hybrid electronics performed as Qiipnm'id Yorgomnüg. His last discographic works to date are Qoo-ij orium's first recording titled Trompe-l'œil & bagatelles (2006-2007) and the 2 albums of his Qiipnm'id Yorgomnüg project — A silica(te) replica (November 2007) and Monolith (December 2007). He launches out into The Darwich Fetish Edition, a collection of sound-objects and custom-made phonocrafts conceived for special pressings on vinyl disc.
Commissioned composer for the soundtrack of Elvire Bastendorff's 'Vision d'elles' audiovisual exhibition, for 20 manipulated vinyls & electronic, [Luxembourg, 2007].
After the recording of Qoo-ij orium's second (and last) opus Radiophonic works and the publication of the electro-acoustic tribute Le tombeau d'Edgard Varèse (April 2008) — in addition to his electronic percussive devices expertise — Franck Smith throw himself into experimental mixing and alternative digital. He creates the dual electronic unit Zn'shñ in June with artist/sound-activist Elvire Bastendorff and records a series of specific electronic works between December 2008 and September 2009.
www.myspace.com/sthintosmithereens
dj sniff
dj sniff first wanted to be a DJ after he saw the movie Juice (1992)