Nice review of the ‘So Below’ live show, from earlier this year.
https://www.list.co.uk/article/107783-so-below-alex-smoke-and-maarten-vos/
There will be news on further performances shortly, and am working towards a London show in the not-too-distant (but probably more distant than I think) future.
It’s been a quiet start to the year as far as observable activity is concerned, but behind the scenes it has been full on.
The first work to break ground will be ‘So Below’, a one-off performance with my sometime collaborator Maarten Vos at the Glasgow University Memorial Chapel, supported by the PRS Foundation and Cryptic.
I don’t want to go into too much detail on what to expect but it will be immersive, will incorporate cello, electronics and multi-channel surround, and will take place at night.
Hopefully some of you can make it.
Wed 3rd April, 8pm. Tickets are £10/£7 and available here.
The second volume of my Other World Music series, under my own name, has been released.
Again, it draws its influences from various musical traditions and forms and incorporates some of the research of my NHS music fellowship this year.
I am just pressing up tapes and releasing them myself although they will also be in shops such as Boomkat sometime around the middle of December.
It is limited to a run of 111.
You can buy it from my website here:
https://www.alexmenzies.net/product/other-world-music-vol-ii-cassette
For the last few years I have been working increasingly away from the dancefloor under my own name, and soaking up more varied influences. Other World Music will be a series of albums reflecting my explorations in these new fields, part electronic, part acoustic, and exploring facets of sound and music such as psycho-acoustics, modal forms and various other approaches to modern composition.
Other World Music Vol.1 is the first release on my new label of the same name, and represents a bit of a crossing point in some ways, as is nearly always the way when setting a new course.
The release is digital and cassette, and can be bought from my Bandcamp, although the digital release on its own can be bought from all the usual places. The cassette comes with a free download version and is housed in a nice handmade lino-print sleeve with a tracklist card. If you would like it signed, just ask at checkout on Bandcamp. It is limited at 100 copies.
As a precursor to the Transcending installation in Glasgow Cathedral later in the year, myself and Florence To will be doing a one-off show at Cafe OTO in East London.
We shall be incorporating elements of the research we have done so far to create an immersive A/V performance, utilising aspects of brain entrainment, psychoacoustics, modal music and ritual.
That’s all well and good I hear you say, but most importantly it should be something different to wrap your ears and eyes around. It will NOT be me standing at my modular making squeaking noises, like a mouse stuck in a tube, while Flo puts the strobe on.
Booking details and further info here: https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/cov-alex-menzies-florence/
We have had to wait a long time to announce this, as we have been getting together the funding and a coordinating with various people to make it happen, but finally it is in the action stages.
Transcending is a new large-scale project that will explore the transformative power of light and sound in a spiritual context, incorporating ideas from the earliest religious practice to the latest scientific research in neuropsychology. It will initially be performed in Glasgow’s St Mungo’s Cathedral, one of the great Medieval buildings of Scotland.
I will be working alongside Florence To, who has a pretty incredible back catalogue of visuals and installations (www.florence-to.com), and who I have worked with on several occasions before. We have decided to create our combined efforts under the name of CøV.
Further details will be announced in due course.
We are very grateful to the PRS Foundation for their support.
