ADAM DONEN 'False Bay Echoes' & RAF AND O 'Time Machine' ALBUMS LAUNCH

Event information

Kaparte Promotions presents:

ADAM DONEN
RAF AND O
Both presenting their new albums 'False Bay Echoes' and 'Time Machine' out in April 2014

Plus very special guests

ADAM DONEN - 'FALSE BAY ECHOES' ALBUM

The journey following Donen's Vampires (2010) was an strange but beautiful one, encompassing classical suites, operas and theatre, and leaving Donen one of Europe's most in-demand living composers (among other events, his first symphony premieres next year in Russell Square with 190 musicians, and his Bernhard Suite comes to London's Cadogan Hall this June).

But now he's back to the real business: songs.


False Bay Echoes was recorded over 3 years in Cape Town, Berlin, Bavaria and London. It moves from disquieting spoken word to Sinatra-esque croons to the bloody rock 'n roll Donen used to play with Alexandria Quartet. It's a violent, schizophrenic work, not unlike Tom Waits' Rain Dogs, and it's produced by Donen's longtime collaborator, Grammy nominated Robert Harder (Brian Eno, David Byrne).

The album's 50+ instruments include metal chains and smashed plates alongside opera singers, orchestra, Paul Love's musical saw and Donen's trademark growl.

The launch performance will feature a number of very special guests.

www.adamdonen.com


RAF AND O - 'TIME MACHINE' ALBUM

Raf and O AKA Raf Mantelli and Richard Smith (O) unveil their second album 'Time Machine' on Telephone Records.
The compact group from South East London have been garnering widespread acclaim in the UK and all over Europe since the 2008 release of their first 10'' 'Has The Air Gone Walking?' in collaboration with Graham Dids Gagarin (Nico, Pere Ubu) followed by their debut album 'A Giant In The Snow'. Press described them as 'Indietronic delicacy' (Mixmag), 'Emotively intense' (Subba Cultcha), Bewitching (Raveline, Germany).
Early 2012 onwards, saw the two piece band airing a completely new set of original material; exciting shows highlighted magnetic performances, a unique sound-world channeled via their no compromise live ethic.
They have performed extensively in arts and renowned venues, underground clubs and UK Festivals, supporting amongst others, legendary Faust, Alabama 3 and Little Annie Bandez with Larsen at Cafe OTO.

Raf and O's new album, 'Time Machine', presents the unique songwriting and vocals of Raf Mantelli, that have been referred to as 'haunting, sensual and bewitching' alongside the soundworld created by Raf and Richard Smith (O). They fuse electro/ acoustic drums, self-made triggers, pads, samplers, vocals, synths and acoustic guitar to startling effect.
Building on the reputation of their first album described as 'Really excellently knitted experimental and cinematographic world' (De-Bug Germany) whilst 'They display outright pop mastery' (Flux Magazine), the two piece band employ the same set up for live performances. The songs are a concoction of emotional journeys, time travel and surreal dreams featuring eerie, magnetic vocals, gentle, at times frenetic dark guitar picking, contrasting with washes of warm synthesizers and challenged by a hybrid of electro/ acoustic drums, repetitions and glitches. The eponymous 'Time Machine' encapsulates the sound described; it projects future possibilities and questions of the present, while 'Saturated Dreams' focuses onto a pre-packaged world 'the shelf supplies one more of many more'. From the pastorally tripped infusion spy-themed world of 'Mad and Brilliant', the opening track, to the magical sound of 'Strange', which brings the album to a close.
In 2013, Raf and O launched their unique interpretation of David Bowie's Lady Grinning Soul, also featured as a penultimate track in 'Time Machine'; God Is The TV Zine described it as 'Avant-bizarre'. Mike Garson, Bowie's long-standing pianist and creative collaborator/ performer on the 1973 original, praised Raf and O's minimal approach to this classic track after seeing a performance from December 2012. This led to the band being given the honour to open up proceedings on the legendary bandstand, hosting the remake of the Beckenham Free Festival, originally organised by David Bowie in 1969. Bowie gave his support again to Memory Of A Free Festival held on 15th September 2013. The minimal approach taken on 'Lady Grinning Soul' brings to the fore a conversation between Raf's vocals and Richard's analogue synth lines, transforming later into a quasi krautrock groove, before dissolving into a soup of sonic delights.
An eponymous EP is also released, with remixes by: Merlin & legendary Charles Hayward of This Heat fame, Kumo AKA Jono Podmore collaborator of Irmin Schmidt from Can and part of collective Metamono and Robert Logan electronic composer who has also contributed to Grace Jones latest releases.
'Time Machine' is a beautiful and imaginative album full of surprises and timeless songs steeped in sonics of past and future.

http://rafando.com

Kaparte Promotions is a music and art based project/organization founded in 2003 by artist Klarita Pandolfi, whose main objective is to creatively produce one-off events in different art spaces and venues and to build stimulating collaborations with and between musicians, art practitioners, independent record labels and like-minded producers.

http://www.kaparte.info


Tickets now available on the door