performing on the night (doors 4pm) will be ex-wise heads, polar twins, the use Of ashes and the sleep of reason.
ex-wise heads is the outcome of a chance meeting between bass player colin edwin (porcupine tree) and multi-instrumentalist geoff leigh (best known for his work with the legendary henry cow). since forming the band around a shared interest in north african trance music in 1998, ex-wise heads have developed and explored their own idiosyncratic sound with five album releases, blending bold improvisations with highly developed ambient and rhythmic elements. absorbing and unique, yet still accessible, latest release schemata showcases the duo's ever developing fascination with soundscapes, minimalism, atmospherics, unusual instrumentation and hypnotic rhythmic patterns around the core elements of colin edwin's forceful bass playing and geoff leigh's fearless and spontaneous flute and saxophone solos.
polar twins are the two baritones dirk polak and mark ritsema who fronted (in)famous dutch underground bands like mecano (dirk) and spasmodique (mark) in past decades. the songs and voices of polar twins were already heard from the dark cafes of athens to the posh art-galleries of amsterdam and berlin. in 2005 the two met at an art exhibition and developed an almost instant, creative friendship when mark proudly joined the newly revived mecano, one of his favourite early 80s bands. by the time mecano collapsed for the second time, dirk and mark had written their first song. the bulk of wee small hours at wwansneck (their debut on tonefloat) was written during august 2008, in the after hours at mark's place in rotterdam. late 2010 polar twins started recording. composing and recording on and off, the last mixes were finished one memorable sunday in february 2012. this mixture of classic pop, artrock, folk, chanson, with a continental european touch, flashes of avant-gardist texture, but love songs in any way, bring polar twins in the fortunate situation to present their product with solemn pride: a humble totem of consciousness. for this occasion, polar twins will perform as a full band six piece line-up.
over the past few years, alongside their own solo projects, dirk serries (microphonics, fear falls burning, vidnaobmana) and jon attwood (yellow6) have been slowly working on a trilogy of albums. this trilogy combines their own individual takes on guitar drone and ambience into something with its own character and style. the resulting music sees their guitars blend into slowly shifting soundscapes that take you to a different place and time. each album is a continuation of the previous one but differs on an almost subliminal level, making the listener realise over time that the sleep of reason is a slowly mutating, thematic and specific musical entity.
born in 1979 as mekanik kommando, the band first surfaced in 1980 with a flexidisc included with dutch postpunk magazine 'vinyl'. mekanik kommando all but instantly found themselves in the midst of the ultra movement, signing with emi's wereldrecord imprint and guesting on the cure's pornography tour. soon, however, they would move on to different musical horizons. once they'd completed the transformation to a krautrock and 60s beat infused eerie blend of folk and psychedelia, the band changed their name into the use of ashes with the release of 1988s the castle of fair welcome. since then, new material has been published with increasing infrequency thanks to the formation's scrupulous attention to quality. following in the wake of firetree (1996) and ice67 (2004), the use of ashes returned to the limelight with the hand of tzafkiel, the first episode of their conceptual white nights trilogy - which they would follow up with glowing lights and, in 2012, flake of eternity.
