Sound is now, Sound is here!

ABSTRACT CONCRETE (UK/EU) brings together some of the most exciting and forward-thinking young London players from a diversity of European underground and experimental scenes.

Charles Hayward (This Heat, Camberwell Now): Drums & Voice,
Agathe Max (Kuro, UKAEA): Viola,
Roberto Sassi (Vole, Cardosanto): Electric guitar,
Yoni Silver (Hyperion Ensemble, Steve Noble): Keyboards,
Otto Wilberg (Yes, Indeed/Historically Fucked): Bass.

+++ LTD Silkscreen Poster available at the show, design and printed by : ROGIER SMAL

ABSTRACT CONCRETE is another big step for UK underground heavyweight Charles Hayward on his music journey (This Heat, Camberwell Now, Quiet Sun, Massacre).

ABSTRACT CONCRETE is music which spans a wide emotional landscape focussed on connection and communication using a genre fluid sound world of song, groove and fire with all the lyrical intensity the world demands right now.

Combining sweet chamber pop hooks with dubwise bass, plaintive Balearic guitar licks, and a blend of folk and jazz-informed post punk, accompanied by lyrics that bend from the political to depressed toilet cleaning apparatus, Abstract Concrete follows a continuum of such melodic art school innovators as The Kinks, Brian Eno, Robert Wyatt and Penguin Cafe Orchestra, as well as Hayward’s own experimental post punk past, all the while nodding to a childhood spent listening to folk and pop.
Their self-titled debut album is due for release on 17 November on vinyl, CD and digital, as well as a special state51 Atelier Edition of 51.

Album Review: Abstract Concrete – Abstract Concrete

Charles Hayward should be a household name, perhaps even a national treasure. He has been an innovative and experimental musician and singer for nigh on 50 years now, playing with Phil Manzanera in Quiet Sun back in the 70’s, providing his unique take on modern experimental jazz prog even then. As a member of This Heat in the early 80’s he broke up the rule book and released two seminal albums that resonate even today, name checked by bands like Squid and Black Midi. Since then he has been a prolific artist, collaborating with a myriad of people from Coil to Thurston Moore, always on the periphery of art and innovation.

It was while working with a cast of musicians for the This Is Not This Heat project that he began to formulate the idea of a new band with people who excited him musically. With the idea of throwing people out of their comfort zone violinist Agathe Max (Kuro, Ukaea) learnt the viola, while upright bass player Otto Willberg (Yes Indeed!, Historically Fucked) was given the task of transferring to electric. Yoni Silver (Hyperion Ensemble, Steve Noble) has swapped his traditional clarinet for keyboards, and Roberto Sassi (Vole, Cardosanto) comes in on electric guitar.

The songs came together in fragments over a period of time and were realised through the process of recording, ‘I’ve always got fragments of songs just waiting to find a home’. Take for example the song “The Day The Earth Stood Still” (‘farewell rock and roll, as if we ever cared’) , the idea for which had been ‘going round my head for over 25 years’. The lyrics throughout concern themselves with topics ranging from Covid to the role of music, and are never too far from being political, as he explains they are ‘a reaction to the times we’re living in’.

Although Hayward and his fellow musicians operate mostly on the edges of commercial music there is a pop sensibility at work here. In the immediacy of tunes like the bossa inspired “Sad Bogbrush”, which sounds uncannily like Damon Albarn singing for King Crimson, to the disco tinged “Tomorrow’s World”, Hayward’s plaintive cockney inflections sounding at times like Robert Wyatt, repeating the question ‘are we there yet?’ over the funkiest fluid bass line. The song “Ventriloquist/Dummy” is perhaps the most “prog” and maybe belies his roots the most, with the scratchy guitars and odd time signatures, but the viola flows and B-52’s organ stabs perfectly compliment and elevate it into something more unique.

The highlight of the album for me has to be opener “Almost Touch” , where everyone is laying out their stall in the most dramatic style, the dub inspired bass playing, the angry melancholia of Hayward‘s voice pleading ‘tear down these walls, brick by brick, stone by stone’, while the synth layers descending riffs around him, and the drums which batter away insistently, creating dynamics so easily it’s almost as though the song itself were breathing, heart thumping in unison. It’s a tour de force.

This Heat were a pretty big influence on me, especially the album “Deceit”, and Charles Hayward‘s voice was above it all pinpricking its way into my heart with its desperate softness. It’s so wonderful to hear him still as good as he ever was, surrounded by a cast of musicians as attuned to the spirit as ever, and I look forward to many more.

CHARLES HAYWARD

Charles Hayward is an English drummer/singer/composer and was a founding member of the experimental rock groups This Heat and Camberwell Now. He also played with early European improv group Mal Dean’s Amazing Band and gigged and recorded with Phil Manzanera in Quiet Sun as well as a short stint with Gong. Since the late 80’s he has concentrated on solo projects and collaborations, including Massacre (with Bill Laswell and Fred Frith), Monkey Puzzle Trio and Albert Newton (with Pat Thomas and John Edwards).
The project This Is Not This Heat has recently completed a 3 year series of performances in UK, Europe, US and Japan.
Throughout a nearly 50 year career Charles has developed idiosyncratic attitudes and insights into a wide range of soundwork, spanning improvisation, song, sound as sound, using order and chaos as creative energies. He curates a six monthly series of performances, workshops and installation called Charles Hayward Presents on behalf of Lewisham Arthouse for Albany Theatre. Recent releases include ‘Objects of Desire’ cassette on Blank Editions and the piano centred song cycle ‘Begin Anywhere’ on Klanggalerie & God Unknown Records.

AGATHE MAX
Graduate in Electroacoustic Composition, violinist Agathe Max, besides her collaborations with KURO, Mésange, Papivores… works on different projects including music and sound design for documentaries, animated movies, short movies, theatre, contemporary dance and art exhibitions/sound installations. After training in classical music for 1O years, she graduated at the Bourgoin-Jallieu School of Music, France, in 1995. Later on, she was exposed to improvised music and to the experimental scene. Inspired by a world both enchanting and draped in darkness, she has developed a wide range of sound textures, unique and melodious, creating unconventional and magnetic musical pieces reflecting a personality in constant search of rareness in music.

ROBERTO SASSI
An active member of 90s Italian underground rock scene (Cardosanto, Anatrofobia), after relocating to London he has been part of a number of bands and projects including Vole, Snorkel, Forebrace, the Glenn Branca Orchestra and the Cholmondeleys & the Featherstonehaughs dance company.
Throughout the years he has been developing a musical language that has brought his guitar playing from the noise rock beginnings to working within experimental music and free improvisation alongside an interest in sound design for video installations and dance theatre.
As an improviser he has been a regular member of the London Improvisers Orchestra and he has worked with several musicians including Roland Ramanan, Ricardo Tejero, Pat Thomas, Alex Ward, Steve Beresford, Steve Noble, Alan Wilkinson, Rachel Musson, Terry Day, John Russell, Xabier Iriondo, Claudio Lugo, Marcio Mattos and Javier Carmona.

YONI SILVER
Bass-clarinetist and multi-instrumentalist Yoni Silver’s activities include hyper-spectral adventures with Iancu Dumitrescu’s Hyperion Ensemble; a bass clarinet and percussion duo with Steve Noble; a bass clarinet/violin and possessed vocals duo with Sharon Gal; Denis D’or with Grundik Kasyansky and Tom Wheatley; bass clarinet and drums duo with Crystabel Riley, and solo performances on amplified bass clarinet.
He has appeared on labels such as Creative Sources, Confront Recordings, Wasted Capital, Chocolate Monk and Edition Modern.

OTTO WILLBERG
Otto Willberg is a improvisor who lives in London and plays the Double Bass and Bass Guitar. Otto currently plays with include Ashley Pauls trio (ray), Yes Indeed (with Laurie Tompkins), and the band – Historically Fucked.
Otto maintains a website called www.bootlegspatialrecall.net which is an open/publicly sourced archive of public space reverbs. He also has a solo recording ‘Barbaric Mystical Bored’ which is released on Why Eye.