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Rewire announces series of exclusive recordings on Bandcamp

09 Feb 2021

We’re excited to announce a new series of exclusive recordings that will be released on Bandcamp, starting with celebrated Chilean-American artist Nicolás Jaar. More archival recordings are to be released via our Bandcamp in the coming months, often focussing on commissioned projects and special collaborations. Find out more about the upcoming releases below.

On Friday 5th February, the first ‘Bandcamp Friday’ of 2021, we begin the series with the release of a performance by Nicolás Jaar & Group. This release consists of a commissioned work for piano, saxophone, duduk, cello, electronics and percussion instruments that were custom-built for the performance. This is followed on Friday 19th February by ‘Free 2 Move’, an innovative collaboration between Nicolás Jaar and spatial designer and artist Vincent de Belleval, specially conceived for Rewire 2019. The contrasting nature of both projects illustrates the collaborative, research-based approach Nicolás Jaar takes in his artistic practice. The third release, scheduled for Friday 5th March, is a work by British composer Kit Downes created specially for the Lutherse Kerk organ, alongside Dutch new music group Ensemble Klang, commissioned by Rewire & Dag in de Branding.

All three releases originally debuted live at Rewire 2019. The recordings will be available to stream and download on a pay-what-you-want basis via our Bandcamp page on the specific release dates mentioned above. Any proceeds from donations will go to a charity of the artists choice or fully benefit their collaborators on these projects. More special projects are to be released via our Bandcamp in the coming months.

Nicolás Jaar & Group
Nicolás Jaar’s first performance at Rewire 2019 showcased his proclivity to collaboration and experimentation, thriving as a composer and performer working with accomplished musicians from across genres. Taking the stage as Nicolás Jaar & Group, he presented a new work for an ensemble consisting of percussionist Valentina Magaletti, who played custom-built metal and wood instruments created by Turin-based artists Marzio Zorio and Anna Ippolito, saxophonist Mette Henriette, cellist Milena Punzi, pianist Johan Lindvall, and Hamlet Nazaretyan and Ivane Mkirtichyan on duduk, an ancient double-reed woodwind instrument that is indigenous to Armenia.

The performance sees Jaar and his collaborators explore an expansive sonic terrain that touches on contemporary jazz and modern classical, with the custom instruments played by Valentina Magaletti and Jaar’s pensive electronics adding an otherworldly dimension to the compositions. The music exudes a sense of mystery as to its origins, and in this way the performance recalls the Fourth-World atmospheres pioneered by Jon Hassell. With this project Nicolás Jaar sought to develop new sonic languages, drawing parallels to his stunning 2020 releases ‘Cenizas’ and ‘Telas’.

Custom instruments designed by Marzio Zorio & Anna Ippolito

Nicolás Jaar & Vincent de Belleval: Free 2 Move
‘Free 2 Move’ was built around de Belleval’s interactive light installation and a hybrid, solo live/dj set by Nicolás Jaar. With the stage left completely empty, the audience were left free to explore the space, with the lights then lowered from the ceiling. Going beyond the conventional performer-audience relationship, throughout the show the audience frequently began to interact with the installation, quickly realising that the lights were linked to Jaar’s synths. The performance became a collaboration and conversation between artist and audience, and at one point Jaar stopped playing completely, letting the audience control the music with their movement and interaction, composing in real-time.

Sonically, the performance sees Nicolás Jaar explore recent iterations of his club-oriented work, including his Against All Logic alias. Jaar navigates his way through varied drum patterns with effortless eclecticism, unafraid to draw from a wide range of club subgenres. Washes of tape saturation build tension as the performance becomes increasingly hypnotic, with vocal loops and brash digital distortion charged by bellowing club beats.

Kit Downes & Ensemble Klang
In collaboration with The Hague-based festival Dag in de Branding, Rewire commissioned British composer Kit Downes to create and perform a new set of works for the Lutherse Kerk organ in The Hague, alongside Dutch new music group Ensemble Klang. The performance, entitled ‘Debris’, featured a rhythm section of piano, percussion and guitar positioned at the front of the stage, with a horn section playing from the back of the stage. Anchoring the performance in the middle of the stage was Downes playing the Lutherse Kerk’s almost-300 year old pipe organ.

About the performance, Downes said: “Debris’ was premiered at Rewire and Dag in de Branding Festival in 2019 – a collaboration between myself and the brilliant Pete Harden and Ensemble Klang. The music was designed to embrace spontaneity – a calculated risk between the players, with everyone having fluid roles in the overall ensemble sound. I was excited to work with people that were so skilled in moving between written, semi-scored and improvised roles, and in this sense it felt like we had a lot of common ground to work with. It opened up avenues where things were allowed to relate together or not, to work together or against – the trick became about finding themes with enough character to guide decisions, but that were also oblique and open-ended enough to allow personal decision making. This middle ground that I was looking for would allow each performance to assemble itself in a different way, and for the piece to develop with repeat performances. The first performance however was just about jumping off the cliff edge together – with the understanding that we were all listening in the same way, and with just enough unsaid to encourage surprises.”

Keep an eye out for more special projects released via our Bandcamp in the coming months.