Category: Performances

  • Sam McLoughlin and David Chatton Barker – 26 February 2019

    Sam McLoughlin and David Chatton Barker – 26 February 2019

    Sam McLoughlin and David Chatton Barker are good friends and creative collaborators whose wide-ranging work encompasses folklore, instrument design, visual arts, noise, harmony, intuition, arcana, field recordings, tinctures, icy swims, moors and mills. Except when it doesn’t. http://www.folkloretapes.co.uk http://www.samandtheplants.co.uk What better way to launch The Noise Upstairs Todmorden? Before and after their set, there will…

  • Michael Perrett Rob Thorpe Duo – 14 February 2019

    Michael Perrett Rob Thorpe Duo – 14 February 2019

    Michael Perrett is, amongst other things, a musician based in Manchester. He studied clarinet and composition at the RNCM. As a composer, he has written for EXAUDI and The House of Bedlam and his music has been performed internationally and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. As an improvisor he has collaborated with Otto Willberg, Sam…

  • Wolf Scarers – 10th Jan 2019

    Wolf Scarers – 10th Jan 2019

      Wolf Scarers, formed in 2010 by Simon Prince and Keith Jafrate, are a sax duo who play improvisations that swerve from gentle meditations that almost become chamber music across to full-blown shout-ups in the true tenor sax tradition, via, possibly, messed-up marching band funk and deconstructed jazz strut. “They really are in conversation and…

  • Rider//Taylor – 13 December 2018

    Rider//Taylor – 13 December 2018

    Rider//Taylor are one of the most exciting new duos to emerge from the fertile Leeds experimental scene. Mixing fiery improvisations, delicate soundscapes and haunting melodies-the pair share a musical connection bordering on telepathy. As always, the night begins and ends with YOU! Names-in-a-hat-improv-jams for days! (well, not days, just this one day, until next month.…

  • some things – 8 November 2018

    some things – 8 November 2018

    some things are the ‘arresting trumpet duo’ of Chris Dowding and Ben Higham, from Norwich. They use original and other material as a basis for improvisation. This results in interlocking solos, tight unison patterns and free improvisations.   They have performed at The Vortex Jazz Club, ClerkenwellARTSlab (several times), and various venues around Norfolk. In…

  • HRH Trio + Whiteman/Prince/Thorpe – 15 October 2018

    HRH Trio + Whiteman/Prince/Thorpe – 15 October 2018

    A collaboration with our good friends at NQ Jazz on Monday 15th October at The Whiskey Jar. Details below… HRH Trio Mark Hanslip – Saxophone Federico Reuben – Live Electronics Paul Hession – Drums Heavy improv from heavy improvisers. Listen here. Whiteman / Prince / Thorpe trio Nina Whiteman – voice/stylophone Simon Prince – flutes…

  • Drift Ensemble – 11 October 2018

    Drift Ensemble – 11 October 2018

    Comprising composer-improvisers, percussion, violin, recorder, soprano and electronics, DriftEnsemble specializes in presenting experimental contemporary music. Our collective integrates each individual’s making, demonstrating the multidisciplinary practices – composition and interpretation, improvisation, live-electronic MAX/MSP coding, musicological thinking – we engage. Media link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr187RYKYOOVSbDD7Q5WJfw Who Drift Ensemble – 11 October 2018 When Thursday, October 11, 2018 8:00pm – All…

  • Adam Fairhall & Tom Ward – 13 Sept 2018

    Adam Fairhall & Tom Ward – 13 Sept 2018

    This month’s special guests are:   Tom Ward and Adam Fairhall represent the fertile exchanges in creative music between Manchester and London that have occurred in recent years, involving such organisations as London’s LUME (with which Tom and Adam are associated) and Manchester’s Efpi label (on which both Tom and Adam have releases). Tom and…

  • Children of the Sun – 9 Aug 2018

    Children of the Sun – 9 Aug 2018

    This month’s special guest Children of the Sun are an improvising quintet from Leeds; inspired by the music of Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Weasel Walter and Albert Ayler. Part quiet, part intense. As usual, before and after their set we’ll have a load of names-in-the-hat-improvising-good-times with YOU! Who Children of the Sun – 9 Aug…

  • John Pope / Anton Hunter – 12 July 2018

    John Pope / Anton Hunter – 12 July 2018

    This month’s special guest… A hard-working figure on the North East jazz scene, bassist and composer John Pope draws on a lifetime’s immersion in jazz, funk, rock and avant-garde music, filtered through the cracked vessel of the free improviser. As well as leading his own chord-less Quintet, John is a founding member of garage-jazz trio…

  • SHOAL – 14 June, 2018

    SHOAL – 14 June, 2018

    SHOAL are a Manchester based collective interested in exploring movement, light, technology and improvisation. We have collaborated with composers like Eyvind Gulbrandsen, Michael Brailey and Michael Baldwin and have recently began our own research into different improvisation methods. Our improvisation at the Noise Upstairs will feature Isobel Mortimer, Jack March and Callum Coomber. Who SHOAL…

  • The Chorlton Radiophonic Workshop – 10 May 2018

    The Chorlton Radiophonic Workshop – 10 May 2018

    This month’s special guests are The Chorlton Radiophonic Workshop. Regulars Alexx (Saxophone) and Jim (Synthesiser) O’Shea are joined by Andrew Rothwell (drums).Alexx and Jim have organised numerous experimental music events and installations for FutureSonic/FutureEverything, Manchester Science Week and Chorlton Arts Festival. Expect a blend of free improvisation and electronic music. Who The Chorlton Radiophonic Workshop…

  • ​Tortusa/Breistein – 12 April 2018

    ​Tortusa/Breistein – 12 April 2018

    This month’s special guests are ​Tortusa/Breistein, a norwegian duo consisting of electronic musician Tortusa and saxophonist Inge W. Breistein. The music has an electronic-experimental sound and refers to genres such as electronica, nordic jazz, ambience and minimalism. Compositions and larger improvised sections blends together through rhythmic repetition, harmonic textures, ambience and strong melodies. A majority…

  • Beck Hunters – 8 March 2018

    Beck Hunters – 8 March 2018

    This month’s special guests are Beck Hunters: Mick Beck – reeds, Johnny Hunter – drums, Anton Hunter – guitar “Saxophonist Mick Beck has been a fixture on the Sheffield free music scene since the early 1980s, but in this trio with the two younger Hunter brothers he sounds more like a denizen of some imaginary…

  • Davis/Rogan Duo – 8 February 2018

    Davis/Rogan Duo – 8 February 2018

    Davis/Rogan are a Manchester based experimental duo who mainly do improvisations using an assortment of different gear. Their most recent project involved plugging different synths into guitar pedals and Ableton. Who Davis/Rogan Duo – 8 February 2018 When Thursday, February 8, 2018 8:00pm – All Ages Where Fuel Cafe (map) 448 Wilmslow Road Manchester, England…

  • Tapiwa Svosve & David Meier – 11 January 2018

    Tapiwa Svosve & David Meier – 11 January 2018

    Tapiwa Svosve (saxophone) & David Meier (drums) are based in Zürich, Switzerland. They improvise and shape their own musical space in the moment drawing from many different influences. Manchester audiences might remember David from his several performances with Trio Riot and Schnellertollermeier, while Tapiwa came to Salford last year and played a duo set with…

  • Seth Bennett & Cath Roberts – 9 November 2017

    Seth Bennett & Cath Roberts – 9 November 2017

    Cath Roberts and Seth Bennett started playing together in Roberts’ band Sloth Racket, set up to explore her compositions for free improvising ensemble, and decided to branch out into a duo as a side project. They play with the possibilities inherent in combining Bennett’s five string double bass with Roberts’ baritone saxophone – both instruments…

  • Kate Armitage+Gary Fisher / Ctrl Freq – 12 October 2017

    Kate Armitage+Gary Fisher / Ctrl Freq – 12 October 2017

    Kate Armitage and Gary Fisher will bring together their unique individual styles of improvisation for a collaborative performance involving found objects, percussion and other curious noises. There will be discord, humour and possibly, moments of harmony. Kate’s debut solo album is out now on cassette on Fractal Meat Cuts. katearmitage.com Gary will be composer in…

  • Gift Aid Stickers – 14th September 2017

    Gift Aid Stickers – 14th September 2017

    This month’s special guests sees the debut performance of Gift Aid Stickers (aka Mike Walsh on drums and Anton Hunter on guitar). Kickstarting their two-date UK tour right here in Manchester (second and final date is in Stoke the next day), in support of their debut release Money Chops. Mike and Anton have been improvising…

  • The New Art Quintet – 10 August 2017

    The New Art Quintet – 10 August 2017

    The New Art Quintet play Free-form improvisations, inspired by the music of Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Ra, John Coltrane… Andy French – Tenor Saxophone Joel Stedman – Bass Clarinet, Flutes Ozzy Moysey – Double Bass, Cornet, Vocals, Percussion James Milligan – Guitar Joe Simmonds – Drums, Percussion Who The…