Festival Fukushima! - Flags Across Borders

Event information

The third night of Festival Fukushima! - Flags Across Borders, a benefit concert to support the work of Otomo Yoshihide and friends in the tsunami- and nuclear fallout-afflicted Japanese prefecture of Fukushima. Programmed by Resonance FM's Ed Baxter, tonight features as headliner Sean O'Hagan, singer, songwriter and arranger best known for The High Llamas (http://www.highllamas.com). Blending loungecore, musique concrete and the melodies of The Beach Boys, Sean's music is lyrically limpid and soothingly psychedelic. In the wake of the latest Llamas album, Talahomi Way (Rough Trade), Sean has recently be working as arranger for Paul Weller. This is his first live performance in London for many months.
Formerly of sampledelic combo Die Trip Computer Die, Lepke B. has recently returned from a tour of China from which that country has scarcely recovered. The de facto inventor of plunderphonics before the fact, a pioneer of UK underground deconstructed cinema, bricoleur extraordinaire, Lepke is the man who can make music out of any object. He promises an audio-visual suite, a treat for the senses which combines his abilities as a VJ with his innate fluidity as a vocalist and master of found sound.
Purveyor of tropically topical songs, corrosive crooner Bing Selfish returns from self-imposed exile in Catalonia to present a scathing indictment of contemporary mores. Known for his hilarious radio series on Resonance FM as well as for his remarkable feature films with arthouse collective Libre Albedrio, Bing is a Renaissance Man of DIY culture, both "an intuitively sharp lyricist with few peers" (The Wire) and "a phenomenon in the galaxy of songsters today" (Chris Cutler).
Kay Grant is an extraordinary vocalist known for her work with Elliott Sharp, Veryan Weston, The Hauntological Orchestra and more, encompassing the operatic, the soulful, and the technologically savvy with an altogether alluring directness and depth. She presents a new project for this special event.
NB: apologies that Kinnie The Explorer cannot after all perform tonight due to illness.
The Alcohol label, on which most of the performers appear (alongside Otomo, Toshimaru Nakamura etc), will be running a stall to add to the fund-raising drive. Special guests are also promised on this gala night. Dig deep: ALL takings will go to Project Fukushima.
www.pj-fukushima.jp