| We are currently looking for part-time bar and cafe staff (up to 3 shifts per week) who are passionate and knowledgeable about music as well as having a broader interest in what we do here at Cafe OTO. For more info and details on how to apply, please visit our website. Tonight we’re very pleased to welcome a stacked bill of technicolour musique concrete, ramshackle DIY experimentation and uncategorisable weirdness with acts from different ends of the country. The show is headed up by Kelly Jayne Jones, whose ‘the reed flute is fire’ was a major highlight in our Takuroku catalogue last year. This week on TauRoku, we’re delighted to present new work from Chinese multi-instrumentalist, Mamer. The unbounded creativity and elasticity of Mamer’s practice finds itself at home in Freeze Wizard. Tying his fingers to the strings of his guitar, he engages with a wide array of acoustic and fx-driven approaches, exploding the melodic, rhythmic and textural possibilities of the instrument wide open. Winding pitch-shifted motifs unfurl themselves slowly before falling off-track and into unknown terrain. Elsewhere lightning fast runs and percussive attacks on the strings collide and soar towards maximalist flurries. We’re prou to present this release plus a selection of other Mamer titles from our digital catalogue below. |
| THIS WEEK AND BEYOND: | KELLY JAYNE JONES + CHORA + FOOD PEOPLE + ‘THE HEADS AND THE GOLDS£12 adv (£7 members) / £14 door | FRI 1 OCTOBER A COLOURFUL STORM PRESENTS: VALENTINA MAGALETTI + MARK + PRINCESS DIANA OF WALESSOLD OUT |
| SAT 2 OCTOBER HAHA SOUNDS COLLECTIVE PRESENTS DAVID AXELROD, ARTHUR VEROCAI, ALAIN GORAGUER AND MORESOLD OUT | SUN 3 OCTOBER MATINEE: ACTION PYRAMID + BRIGITTE HART + LI SONG£10 adv (£8 members) / £12 door | SUN 3 OCTOBER DAN HAYWOOD BAND + KISHON KHAN TRIO + EMMA TRICCA (SOLO SET)£12 adv (£7 members) / £14 door |
| MON 4 OCTOBER THE BOHMAN BROTHERS + XENTOS FRAY BENTOS & TED BARROW + SIR GIDEON VEIN, ELENA VON GOTHA & ‘THE PHANTOM SPIRIT’£12 adv (£7 members) / £14 door | TUES 5 OCTOBER BABA YAGA’S HUT: LUCRECIA DALT + NZUMBE£18 adv / £20 door | WED 6 OCTOBER XENIA PESTOVA BENNETT / ED BENNETT PERFORM KARLHEINZ ESSL’S GOLD.BERG.WERK£14 adv (£8 members) / £16 door |
| NEW ON TAKUROKU:Download these releases – or any others in our ever-expanding online catalogue – for just £10 by becoming a Digital MemberAs well as being an outlet for some incredible new work, TakuRoku aims to provide a way to help sustain both Cafe OTO and the artists involved through these incredibly challenging times. 50% of the profits from each purchased download will go directly to the artist, and artists will continue to receive the usual split from titles downloaded with membership credits. |
| MAMER – FREEZE WIZARDPleased to reveal a new release from prolific experimentalist Mamer.”A natural born multi-instrumentalist blessed by a prodigious gift, an iconoclastic music author notorious for reticence and reclusiveness, and a profound contemplator about the contemporary conditions of Kazakh culture with an often dystopian vision.” – Mabu Li, The WireMamer’s approach to his instrument nestles itself closely to Kazuhisa Uchihashi’s pliant guitar playing and Fred Frith’s wiry explorations, but heralds its own incendiary potential. This is music that literally can and does go anywhere, gleefully subverting any improvised tropes and delving itself deep into a world of sonic oddness. |
| FROM THE DIGITAL ARCHIVE: | MAMER – FAINTISH RADIATIONAfter his self imposed exile from the global world music niche, Mamer found his stage at Shenzhen’s two annual music festivals – Tomorrow Festival and OCT-LOFT Jazz Festival – curated by his loyal friend and supporter Tu Fei, who would always reserve at least one set for Mamer’s newest sonic experimentations. Mamer’s most recent album Faintish Radiation documents his full performances of solo improvisation at the seventh (2017) and eighth (2018) OCT-LOFT Jazz Festivals. | MAMER – 星空 = SKY = KÊNGISTIKMamer’s signature dombra solo album Kêngistik (meaning “sky” in Kazakh), arguably one of his best-received and widest-known works to date. Apart from tracks 3, 7, 9, 11 which are Mamer’s own composition, all tracks are interpretations of tradition Kazakh tunes. Instead of showing off his skills in the high-speed type of playing typical of dombra virtuosos, Mamer plays the dombra note by note, slowly and calmly, with heavy reverb. His approach to the instrument here, as in his other solo releases, reflects Mamer’s unique and contemporary understanding of the music tradition of his people. |
| TATSUYA YOSHIDA & MAMER – WILD WEST ADVENTUREMamer met the legendary Japanese drummer Tatsuya Yoshida in 2014 at the 1st Tomorrow’s Festival, where the two first shared stage.Wild West Adventure consists of two discs titled “See the Mountain” and “See the River”, the album documents another fearless improvisation session of the duo recorded in October 2016 in Ürümqi. The album showcases both musicians’ remarkable ability as free improvisers and masters of their own instruments, and it takes its listeners to an epic adventure filled with explosive and enchanting dynamics of rock-oriented avant-garde music. | MAMER 马木尔 – KAYTALAW 循环More ‘traditional’ dombra solo album from Mamer – more cyclical, less sustain driven reflections on Kazakh tunes.—1. Bande 土匪 Brigand – 01:42 2. Aylanew 旋转 Rotating – 04:33 3. Jamaw 补丁 Patch – 01:58 4. Dom Mêtal 炼钢 Steel-making – 02:31 5. Kaytalaw 循环 Cycle – 02:29 6. Iyirim 漩涡 Whirlpool – 02:29 7. Xaman Biy i萨满舞 Shaman Dance – 03:09 8. Kêngês 闲聊 Chatting – 02:49 |
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