SEE OUR REVIEW OF SUBSTRATA FESTIVAL 1.2
Anticipated Highlights from Substrata 1.2, 2012
Tim Hecker is about as acclaimed as they come in this musical realm. In 2011, he was named as one of NPR's Top 100 Composers Under 40. 2011's full-length release
Ravedeath, 1972 was released to wide critical acclaim, including praises from this website, and was nominated for Canada’s Polaris Music Prize.
Lawrence English is a prolific composer, multimedia artist and curator from Brisbane, Australia. He is one of the leaders in Australian sound art and experimental music and is about as intertwined as possible with the musical community there.
"Substrata is truly a community supported event...
Interconnectivity... seems persistently ingrained in Substrata: everything flows and happens in a rather organic manner."
-- Rafael Anton Irisarri
In just two years time, Seattle's tiny
Substrata Festival has become one of the better curated festivals of the ambient and experimental electronic genres. Put on by Rafael Anton Irisarri, of The Sight Below and
Orcas, Substrata seeks to entertain as much as it does to enlighten, as half of the experience is spent enjoying the music, while the other half is spent listening to the musicians describe how the music is created. Performances, lectures, discussions, and a field trip are all on the festival's itinerary, limited to a select and lucky few.
Like last year's festival, Substrata Festival 1.2 is sold out (save for a remaining 20 tickets on Friday) -- and 1.3 will most likely be sold out as well. Held in The Chapel at Good Shepherd Center in Seattle's Wallingford Neighborhood, showgoers will have the rare opportunity to bear witness to the beauty of the weird, bizarre, and challenging sounds of a global set of musicians and artists.
In the Q&A below with Irisarri, he takes REDEFINE behind the scenes of the festival to offer insight into its goals and curatorial aspects, and what the grassroots efforts which set it apart from other festivals. This year's festival takes place from August 3rd through 5th, in Seattle.
Scanner aka Robin Rimbaud is a profilic British experimental artist. His first works involved found conversations on mobile phones and police scanners, creating heavily layered, yet incredibly twisted soundscapes that turned common communication on its head.