Tuesday 30 July 2024, 7.30pm
Celebrating label Dark Energy's inaugural release, Bantu's debut album "Instability," four protagonists explore the juxtaposition of heavy bass with noise. Bantu himself presents deep modulations that simmer with a quiet rage, exploding unexpectedly into bit-crushed stutter and then abrupt silences. Shamica Ruddock posits disjointed and chaotic loops, broken and sometimes beyond repair, subby and disorientating. Dushume contributes menacing low end frequencies, neither pulse nor drone, that envelop bodies like an impenetrable black fog. Dhangsha offers an industrial inflected dancehall which invariably collapses under sonic duress, with mutilated beats straddling the boundaries of good taste.
Shamica Ruddock is an artist working with sound and moving image. Previous presentations include festivals Margate Now (UK), Abandon Normal Devices (UK); group shows with the Barbican (UK), Durham Gallery (CA) and live performances at Silent Green (DE) and Madeira Dig (PT) alongside long time collaborator Hannan Jones. Solo shows also include Treasure Hill Artist Village (2019, TW) and South London Gallery (2022, UK). Shamica has held residencies with QO2 (BE), and was previously an Eccles Centre Visiting Fellow at the British Library researching Maroon sound cultures.
Bantu is the alter ego of Gary Stewart, an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of sound, moving image and computational creativity. His work examines social and political issues of identity, culture, and technology. Through the application of innovative technologies and practices he is part of a global network of collaborators who are advocates for equality, climate justice and better health through the arts especially those from marginalised communities. Operating through a range of theoretical, fictional, and artistic frames his work traverses media art, experimental music, and research.
Amit Dinesh Patel, aka Dushume, is an experimental noise and sound artist, influenced by Asian underground music and DJ culture. His work focuses on performing and improvising with purpose built do-it-yourself instruments, and recording these instruments incorporating looping, re-mixing and re-editing techniques. Lack and loss of control are central to his work. He has a PhD in Music, “Studio Bench: the DIY nomad and Noise Selector” (2019), from the Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. He is a Senior Lecturer in Music and Sound and an active member of the Sound/Image Research Centre at the University of Greenwich, London, and Principal Investigator for the AHRC Research Grant “Exploring Cultural Diversity in Experimental Sound” (2021-23)
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FV010964%2F1
www.dushume.co.uk
Insta/Threads:
@dushume
DHANGSHA (Bengali for ‘destruction’) is the alias of sound artist and educator Aniruddha Das. He works at the interface of bass culture and experimental noise, creating turbulent scores where 'alien' motifs evolve over sparse but heavy beats and distorted bass. Aside from a stash of albums, he has contributed to compilations by Iklectik, Syrphe, Avon Terror Corps, Tusk Editions, The Wire, Industrial Coast, Hard Return and Nonclassical. Known for his visceral live sets, he has performed in the UK, Europe and Colombia. Aniruddha was recently appointed to teach in the Department of Electronic & Produced Music at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
