What Is Music? Festival

The tradition of Whatismusic trying to cram as much diverse, amazing experimental music into one night continues with this tour de force at Sydney's Carriageworks on Saturday the 12th of December. Once again the focus is on our incredible array of local talent, but with a few special overseas guests as well. In addition to pushing sonic boundaries, this year will see the return of instrument builders as well as a large focus on experimental film works and soundtracks.

Digital sonic extremist John Wiese will be gracing Australian audiences with a barrage of laptop noise of the highest order. Having never performed solo on Australian shores before this will prove to be a very exciting performance, and anyone with even a passing interest in computer music and/or harsh noise should be up front taking notes - rumblingest of bass, chunkiest of mid, squealingest of treble, bad/good-time frequencies.

On the not-so-harsh front, Polish sound artist and Musica Genera festival curator Robert Piotrowicz will provide a false sense of security to audiences prior to Wiese's aural destruction. Piotrowicz deals in a much more lush, beautiful and ear-massaging sound, layering dense analog synth tones to build a gorgeous mass of pulsating sonic architecture.

Screening on the night will be "Suicidal Variation", a terrifying experimental short film by Korean experimental sound and film practitioners Kim Gok and Kim Sun. A masterful study in paranoia and claustrophobia, taking a story of murderous regret and spinning it into an all-out sensory assault, with an incredible soundtrack provided by the filmmakers' group Astro Noise. Not recommended for those weak of heart or those who don't enjoy great film.

After blowing minds and eardrums last year with his Feuerwasser piece, Miles van Dorssen returns with an orchestra for a new sonic construction of his own, namely spinning contraptions that capitalise on the Doppler effect. Expect bizarre, otherworldly sounds that, as with all of van Dorssen's performances, are sure to leave anyone lucky enough to experience it thrilled and enrapt.

We are thrilled and honoured to have the godfather of our experimental music scene, Jon Rose, performing at this year's festival. Master of all things string and beyond, Rose will perform an all-too-rare solo set for violin and multi-channel speaker. Everything this man does should be classified absolutely unmissable.

Anna Zaradny also hails from Poland and is the other half of the curation team of the Musica Genera festival. Her laptop work shows a virtuous patience and meticulous attention to detail, based around complex, slow-shifting tones that are designed to draw in and hypnotise the listener with their splendor.

The one interstate visitor for the night is definitely an exciting one, the venerable David Shea, who has not performed in Sydney for many years. Shea will be presenting a live cut-up collage of Arthur Lipsett's soundtracks as an accompaniment to one of Lipsett's films - a process that Lipsett would engage in himself, as well as piece entitled "Caves", based on Buddhist ghost stories.

Reunited from the 16000 km gap between Sydney and Berlin, Chris Abrahams and Clare Cooper are one of the greatest improvising units our fair country has produced. Their album Germ Studies was one of 2008's greatest releases, and they will be delving further into their work as the world's greatest DX7+guzheng duo.

Former light heavyweight bulshido champion, Brendan Walls, brings live video feed manipulation and instrument abuse. There will be blood.

Another amazing improv duo who have been unfortunately split up by a move to Berlin will be similarly reunited for this festival; namely Jim Denley and Clayton Thomas. The two have a wealth of improvisation experience, amazing chemistry, and a history of playing some of the most intriguing minimalist experimental music Australia has produced.

This is Sydneysiders' only chance to witness the incredible experience that Whatismusic periodically brings to audiences, so clear your schedule, open your ears and get down to the Carriageworks!

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