Wednesday 22 August 2018, 7.30pm
"The solo project of Arnold de Boer gives us a bunch of avant-garde elements loosely structured - like a child's play - just to build his sonic world." AOTY
"Zea is the solo alias of Arnold de Boer, vocalist in The Ex; using a minimal set-up of guitar and sampler, Zea creates a maximal one-man polemical lo-fi punk funk pop juggernaut. Mechanistic but ramshackle with it, he deployed wobbling bass electronics, dub and scabrous guitar scrapings. There was sharp electro-punk poetry “taken to a field where donkeys grow” shouted with heart-lifting anger. Zea fills the veins and lights-up brains without neglecting to move your feet." - Ears4Eyes
Zea tours together with highly explosive improvising electric clavi-chord wizzard Oscar Jan Hoogland. Coming from the Ditch improv scene, he is adding a unique sound to Zea's songs, opening them up, stretching them to the limit of space and time.
The Ex vocalist Arnold de Boer's solo performances are always a complete blast. He deploys guitar and sampler for an almighty bout of crazily high energy songs - urgent lyrics over guitar, roughshod beats and grimy bass lines. "One guy stands playing his guitar like he’s trying to saw it in half with his bare hands, the other bashes at the vocoding keyboard devices like he wants them to explode, and they end up making one almighty racket that could be called ‘dance’ music. If you happen to dance like a malfunctioning washing machine, that is. Ace." Drowned in Sound
"It's incredibly bonkers, that's for sure, but it's so bloody energetic, so bull headed and so schizophrenic in its approach to crafting a tune that you simply can't fail to be impressed by it...The results are astonishing." Incendiary Magazine
Ayuune Sule brings the Soul into Kologo Power. In Kumasi, the second city of Ghana and capital of the Ashanti region, Ayuune Sule is the main kologo star. The most famous kologo player these days in the whole of Ghana and abroad is King Ayisoba. In Europe we know Ayuune Sule as a member of King Ayisoba's band and as a solo artist who often opens up for his shows. In 2015 he released his 7″ single with the songs "What A Man Can Do A Woman Can Do More Better" and "Who Knows Tomorrow" on Makkum Records (MR12), which put his name out into the western scenes.
And now there is the full length album of Ayuune Sule! When listening to Sule’s guest vocals on King Ayisoba's albums you hear the warm velvet voice of Ayuune Sule as a striking contrast to King Ayisoba's forceful rasping vocals. We Have One Destiny is full of that velvet tone and true West African soul power. Living in Kumasi makes it easy for Ayuune Sule to be influenced by southern Ghanaian music styles such as Azonto and Hiplife and fuse those with the rhythms and scales from the north. This album is a true mix between modern and traditional as Ayuune Sule included the song “Senyaane”, an acoustic song with just the sinyaka (the kalebas filled with hard berries that sounds like a giant maracas and is hit and thrown up between two hands played by Sule in King Ayisoba's band) and his voice.
New album 'Not So Secret Garden' out now on Red Wig (Germany) and Mon Cul (France).
Solo acoustic bass and singing; third album, 'smaller, now' (February 2016) is a joint release with The Audacious Art Experiment (UK) and Red Wig (Germany).
7" of bass duets with Minutemen/Stooges legend Mike Watt was released in September 2015.
“As inventive and playful as it is richly emotional…his approach to bass is beautifully expressive, melodic and thoughtful, but also takes in flamenco-style flourishes, charging post-punk grooves, choppy, percussive passages and one surprisingly violent bout of chaos.” (Matt Evans, The List)
"Life affirming...fragile, funny, oozing with empathy and above all fantastic songcraft." James T McKay (The Cosmic Dead)
“Unplugged-punk genius Howie Reeve is a linchpin in Glasgow's DIY community…a breathtaking bass player." (Nicola Meighan, The Herald)
"Howie Reeve is a unique and singular figure in the current British underground. Having spent over 20 years playing in a number of key Glasgow bands, since 2012 he has been performing solo on acoustic bass guitar, delivering a fragmented and dexterous music that takes in post-punk, avant-folk and free jazz. Increasingly turning to songwriting, he further engages audiences with cryptic, intimate and unsettling lyrics.
Resolutely DIY in his approach to music, he lives in Glasgow but appears to be perpetually on tour, whether in the UK, Europe or Japan." (Chris Joynes)
