WSK 2014: Festival of the Recently Possible

WSK 2014

A festival celebrating digital culture, music, and the crevices between science and art.
Nov 7-9 2014
Concerts | Workshops | Artist Talks | Radio

wsknow.com

WSK FESTIVAL OPENS ON NOVEMBER 7 AT BLACK MARKET!

In collaboration with Black Market and with the generous support of The Japan Foundation Manila, WSK 2014, Festival Of The Recently Possible – will be headlined by two of Japan’s most groundbreaking electronic musicians to have crossed over in recent years: Yosi Horikawa and Daisuke Tanabe. Together, they produce music and sound design that is equal times experimental and genre-defying, yet undeniably approachable. They are joined by influential indie-electro duo Stylish Nonsense from Thailand.

Supporting acts include our local creators, such as Children of Cathode Ray, one of the seminal sound art collectives in the 80s, in their first reunion performance since 2001, and Pinoy electronica pioneer Malek Lopez as his first appearance as Mumuy, with special guest Caliph8. The diverse range of their productions and the styles they touch on make this year’s performers among the most original ear-gripping voices in the current electronic music scene.

The concert will be accompanied by live visuals and projections from a collaborative effort from some of the best media artists working today in the USA, Manila, and Southeast Asia: Gene Kogan, a New York-based media artist, programmer, and Fulbright recipient; video artist and veejay Ricky Janitra and art-tech-hacker community Lifepatch from Indonesia in collaboration with some of the top live veejays, motion graphic artists, and visual labels in Manila, such as UNDE, MVLTIVERSE, Edsel Abesames, and Clang Sison.

PRODUCERS:

YOSI HORIKAWA [JP] is a Tokyo-based electronic music producer who first started making music at age 12, recording in his bedroom using his voice and various found and made sounds. After many years honing his talents, 2009 saw him join the French label Eklektik Records where he released his first EP, Touch. In 2011, Yosi contributed a track to the Nihon Kizuna compilation, which raised over $30,000 for earthquake and tsunami relief efforts in Northern Japan, and shortly after this he was invited to the Red Bull Music Academy in Madrid where he collaborated with the likes of Dorian Concept, Anenon and Jesse Boykins III, as well as receiving further praise for his productions from the likes of BBC Radio 1‟s Benji B.

DAISUKE TANABE [JP] is a Japanese beatmaker and electronic musician. After carefully honing his craft from the age of 16, it was his first EP release in 2006 that brought him to the attention of tastemakers like Gilles Peterson and Pete Adarkwah. Since then he has remixed the likes of Elan Mehler and Aaron Jerome, collaborated with Monday Michiru, and released music on labels like Ninja Tune, BBE, and Brownswood Recordings. Taking inspiration from ambient, jazz, folk, reggae, and the entire canon of electronic music, Daisuke Tanabe assembles superbly subtle compositions made up of distinctively miniscule layers of sound.

STYLISH NONESENSE [TH] is a pioneering Bangkok-based music, education and production duo comprised of Yuttana Kalambaheti (aka June) and Wannarit Pongprayoon (aka Pok), who have been actively producing and promoting independent and electronic music in Thailand since the late 90s. The duo founded leftfield independent music label Panda Records, through which they released the highly influential electronic music album “Use your Professor” (2004). In the mid to late 2000s, they co-produced electronic, noise and experimental music projects in artist- run spaces, such as NO SPACE. Stylish Nonsense has been playing regularly in Bangkok and numerous other cities all over Thailand such as Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Phuket. They have also toured in Germany, France, Japan, USA, Vietnam and Indonesia.

MUMUY [PH] will premiere the live performance of ‘TV Was My Daddy’, the first solo record (produced by Dub Temple Records), with special guest Caliph8 on live percussions. ‘TV Was My Daddy’ is a throwback to Mumuy’s time playing alongside Caliph8 as part of the retrofuturistic groove gurus Bent Lynchpin. Malek Lopez, a.k.a. Mumuy, is considered as one of the pioneers of live electronica in the Philippines. Malek was behind popular electronic music groups Rubber Inc. and Drip. He has won awards in his various capacities as sound designer and composer-arranger-producer for films and independent contemporary Philippine music. His projects and collaborations with kindred artists have involved electro-acoustic composer Chris Brown, fusion jazz group Humanfolk, computer-network improvisation collective The Gangan Ensemble, Germany’s minimal techno meisters The Teichman Brothers, and much more. He was part of the critical electronic music collaboration anthology, Asia-Pacific Plate, and has brought Manila’s underground electronica culture to venues of convergence across the planet. Malek is currently based in Singapore where he works as a sound designer.

CHILDREN OF CATHODE RAY [PH] is the seminal sound and media art collective formed by tech-journalist Jing Garcia and acclaimed filmmaker-media artist Tad Ermitaño, among others. The group was formed in the late 80s and this will be their first reunion performance since 2001.

LIVE VISUALS:

GENE KOGAN [US] is an artist and programmer based in New York City. Gene writes software for the performing arts and researches the application of emerging technology for creative expression across a variety of contexts including live music, theatre, and dance. He contributes to numerous free and open-source software projects, and frequently gives workshops and demonstrations on topics related to code and art. In 2012, Gene was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to research emerging trends in creativity and technology in India. He has exhibited works and given workshops and lectures in USA, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Russia, The Philippines, and Vietnam. Notable works include Tip of the Tongue (2012/2014), Machine Yearning (2014), The Rub (2012), and Acoustic Portraits (2013). His works can be found at www.genekogan.com.

LIFEPATCH [ID] is a community-based organization based in Yogyakarta that focuses on art and science education through practice in the use of technology. Their focus is on biological technology, environment technology and digital technology. lifepatch culture emphasizes the spirit of DIY (Do It Yourself) and DIWO (Do It With Others), and invites members and anyone involved to examine, explore, develop and maximize the functionality of the technology, both the theoretical and the practical use for the people and the culture itself.

RICKY JANITRA [ID] focuses on visual-based new media art and performances. In 2011 he founded the GIF Festival in Jakarta. In the same year he held the solo exhibition “Cyclture” at Grand Indonesia in Jakarta. Ricky is also actively collaborating for multimedia performances at various national and international events. He conducted “UNDERDEVELOPED”, a series of soundscape performances for OK.Video: Flesh, the 5th Jakarta International Video Festival. Since 2012 he has been involved in a media art platform “DRIFT” with members from influential artist initiative Ruangrupa, and has frequently collaborated with DJs and designers to create a performance-based visual mapping. Ricky’s participated in the group exhibition “Blended by Desire” curated by Rifky Effendy at Galerie Michael Janssen, Singapore.

RSVP: https://www.facebook.com/events/657165034382318/