понеделник, 23 ноември 2015 г.

KKIIVV (exhibition, 2015)

A very short excerpt from over 50 minutes of soundscapes (divided in two movements) I've created for KKIIVV - an exhibition by Kostadin Kokalanov and Ilian Iliev presented during НОЩ '15 in Plovdiv. 

 Full info about the exhibition can be found here: http://www.kkiivv.com/portfolio/night15-exhibit/

Motion graphics and animation: Pavel Pavlov

петък, 13 ноември 2015 г.

Last Mytrip & Dayin shows for 2015

Closing the touring season with a few shows in Germany and Poland. This starts on Sunday in Berlin: Noiseberg #22 - I R + Mytrip + Joscha Bauer


15/11 Noiseberg, Berlin, DE
18/11 Maze, Berlin, DE
19/11 LAS, Poznan, PL^
20/11 Wroclaw, PL

^playing as Dayin

сряда, 7 октомври 2015 г.

November shows w/ Leaver in Sofia & Bucharest

This November we'll playing the last Leaver shows for the year. On both we'll be performing alongside one man post-rock / shoegaze project thisquietarmy (Canada). Nov 6 we're in Sofia and a day later in Bucharest.

Nov 6 @ Swingin' Hall, Sofia, BG
RSVP: https://facebook.com/events/1234838739866122/
Nov 7 @ Question Mark, Bucharest, RO
RSVP: https://facebook.com/events/840006349440243/

вторник, 22 септември 2015 г.

Mytrip & Rosetta Stone @ DA Fest, Sofia Sept 17 (full set)

There's a full recording of the set I played with RosettaStone (live visuals) on Sept 17 during DA Fest. Huge ups to the festival crew and Streamer.bg for capturing and broadcasting this.

Watch it here: http://www.streamer.bg/bg/517/filmpage-go


вторник, 1 септември 2015 г.

More sonic affairs this September

Besides playing the first Dayin show for the year on September 18, I'll be joining two pretty nice events with great collab projects. First is the annual НОЩ Пловдив (Night of the Museums and Galleries), which for the past years has become one of the finest traditions in Bulgaria's tiny art life.

On Sept 11 I'll be doing live sound for Austrian artist Fanni Futterknecht's performance 'Меко движение' during Нощ/ Пловдив 2015. Stuff's happening in 'Lotus Hall' all info under #71 in the schedule below or here.





Another thing for the Plovdiv night I've done is create over an hour long soundscapes for the opening of KKIIVV - a very dark and special exhibition by illustrator Ilian Iliev and Kostadin Kolanov (calligraphy). Below is an excerpt:





A week later, on September 17 I'm playing playing Sofia's Da Fest, curated by the Digital Arts programme in Bulgaria's National Academy of Arts, where I've been teaching Sound Art for 2 years now. 

Photo by HRB. (http://iamhrb.tumblr.com)

My set will be enhanced by live visuals by RosettaStone

All info about us is here (don't mind it says 16, we're playing on September 17th). 

понеделник, 24 август 2015 г.

September 18 - playing a Dayin live set in Sofia

I don't really talk about this project, because... well the music says it all. Anyhow, on March 16th Germany's Cosmic Winnetou released my first Dayin album 'Letting Go of People'. It's now sold out,  but streamable and downloadable below.


Good thing is I'm sometimes playing live shows under that name as well. The first one for 2015 is happening in Sofia on September 18 alongside my friend Tim Holehouse's brand new project Raeppen & Skittish Arm from the USA.

In November I'm taking Dayin to Poland. I love Poland.



петък, 17 юли 2015 г.

Another day, another less ordinary project


If you're around Sofia you have about a week to experience something very curious, which a bunch of great and very creative people curated. Curated here is said pretty figuratively since their concept was to avoid accentuating over persons, names and authors, but leave it all to your very personal perception. A selection of carefully picked art pieces in three mediums, exploring three of your senses will do the talking instead. Their creators will be revealed only if you wish.

Few nice press hints (in Bulgarian) can be found on Fonoteka Elektrika & Under The Line.

So head to Slavyanska 27, yes the abandoned ruins of an old 90s mobster restaurant, and experience the Museum of Less Ordinary.

Here's me soundchecking.


сряда, 15 юли 2015 г.

Transfiguration Festival (Bulgaria) 6-9 August


Here's an event I've been waiting to play the whole summer. Yes, my music as Mytrip hasn't seen too many outdoor performances but this August I'll be bringing the drones in the Village of Dolen, Bulgaria. The line-up is pretty special and so is the whole event. Above you can see the second of two stages, all hand-built during the past few monts, 8 m. tall... Really, what a place! 

Mytrip is playing on August 9th, the last day of the festival. The event itself will be accessible for only 1024 people due to the capacity of the village. So it'll be indeed quite a unique ocassion. That's why I'm cooking a special set, which will be the backbone of my first proper full-lenth album.



понеделник, 15 юни 2015 г.

Martin Lukanov & Mytrip - second ever show

On June 18th in Sofia's Czech Center me and Martin Lukanov will perform our piano-based, neo-classical album 'Two' alongside 'Between' and other (unreleased) pieces in the very same vein. We have performed this only once before, as the opening live of the 7th Alarma Punk Jazz Festival, back in 2012 or something. Now that Martin is back from Thailand for a few months we were invited to do it for a second time (after an unsucessful attempt to play the music with a guest pianist in 2013).


Our special guest will be Simeon Dotkov and his newest brainchild BHE (Binaural Headset Experiment). This will be his first gig with this alias and he'll present material from his third album 'Remember', released by Mahorka on May 18th. Besides neatly composed and produced, his music is a very interesting experiment with binaural beats and isochronic tones. I recently invited him to speak about his approach in front of my Sound Art students and he did manage to really grab their attention so yeah, really looking forward to hearing BHE on a large sound.



a-m_e|k_p 46

вторник, 2 юни 2015 г.

Leaver in Sofia's *Mixtape 5* 30/05/15

We played a show alongside drone lady Foie Gras and King Dude, who really is a dude. Our favorite photographer in town made us nice photos. All the love for HRB.

For sure it wasn't our best show from a technical side because we are simply not playing live too often and in the same time we decided to experiment with few new things, including live drumming. However, there are people (journalists included) who seem to have enjoyed our set.

"Носталгия, красива и леко призрачна..." ~ MetalHangar18

"Атмосферата натежава... хората се чудят на това пляскаме ли? По-скоро не. Но не от неодобрение, тъкмо напротив." ~ Mysound 








сряда, 27 май 2015 г.

mother spit is back!

Four years after our last show me and Martin Lukanov (gokkun) will be playing as mother spit again. What may sound as just another collaboration exploring the drone / noise music is actually one of my favorite sonic endeavors. Even if 2013 saw the release of our 3" CDr 'carve' (on Aetheric Records) the concept behind mother spit has always been - play music that lives on its own. 



We don't talk before or during the collabs. We don't know what the other has prepared whenever we are about to play. We don't exist as a studio project, but do everything only in front of the audience. We're not musicians here, but mere transmitters of sound. Our first show and probably a last one for another couple of years to come is happening in Sofia on May 28th. We're playing alongside a debuting collab project called dwaal, formed by two good friends of ours.

After our separate sets we'll do a quadro improvisation. Recordings may follow.


неделя, 17 май 2015 г.

сряда, 13 май 2015 г.

A new collab - Minoar "Unsullied"

Recently I started collaborating with Bulgarian aseasonal clothing label MINOAR by designing sound / music for their collections. Their approach and designs are a huge inspiration and it's one of the most inspring projects one can wish for. This week we revealed some sounds for the first time. You can check out the MINOAR 'Trails of Vicinity' feature on Sixth Finger Magazine.

Minoar 'Trails of Vicinty' // photo: Yoan Galabov & creative: Tea Avosaps

Below I embedded two tracks I've written for them. Oh yes, I added a personal Soundcloud accout only for commisioned works and media music, separate from my solo work as Mytrip or Dayin.

Feel free to follow: https://soundcloud.com/angelxsimitchiev


вторник, 28 април 2015 г.

Leaver - back on May 30

Leaver has been silent for quite some time, almost an year actually.
We're playing a show in May, opening for King Dude and amazing Foie Gras.
I'll never finish the album.



събота, 25 април 2015 г.

Mytrip & Conjecture Tour - Days 13-15 - Novi Sad, Belgrade, Plovdiv & The End

22/04 Novi Sad and oh we're DJs now lol
After 2-3 hours of not so easy driving through country roads, which were at least sometimes picturesque we manage to reach the Romanian - Serbian border, where we spend the next 30 minutes as the 'super kontrola' is convinced we have drugs. They bring the selfie-stick and check our car big time. At this point the trunk is stacked with vinyls, both from the Ugly & Proud Distro that Niki's bringing on the tour and from our own hunts. They ask him if he's a DJ, he says he's not ahaha. Anyhow, after a half an hour they let us go and after maybe one hour and something we reach Novi Sad. After getting lost for a bit we manage to find the place where we're supposed to find Boyan from Rebuild Collective. He's at work, but he's managed to find us both a sleeping place and a gig that we can join. So we briefly meet him and then head to Culture Exchange, a biker's place, with a cool library, nice coffee and the bartender greets us with Fall of Efrafa blasting from the speakers. After a cup of coffee we go for a walk around the city with Goran, who used to play in Furtive Forest with Boyan back in the day. Around 8 we're back at the place which is slowly getting crowded (it's not too big anyhow). There's a guy playing an acoustic set. He mostly does covers, sometimes girls join him 'on stage' and sing with him. People are sitting on tables, clapping and moving their lips as if singing. I wonder if they are all schoolmates. Me and Vasilis are wondering what should we do tonight because our stuff will probably piss on each and every party mood. We decide to do a short DJ set. We have a bit over an hour before the place is closed so we play our current favorite tracks jumping from IDM to Industrial and whatnot. Some people leave, others come and say they're a bit sad we didn't really do our live set. Still, we're happy how this all turned out still it seems we'll have a reason to come back.

On our way to the Novi Sad fortress
A bit after 12 pm we grab something to eat and go to sleep in Crna Ovca, Rebuild Collective's DIY heaven, full of vinyls, zines, films on vhs and comic books. The Greek people ravage the place and buy a tons of records, while me, Niki, Goran and Boyan chat about whatever. Around 1 we call it a day and cool thing is no need to hurry tomorrow.

23/04 Belgrade, but falafel first
Our next actual show is in Belgrade. It's actually the pre-final gig of this tour. However, the ride from Novi Sad to Belgrade is pretty fast so we go on another walk in Novi Sad. We go to the fortress and it's nice, but even better is when we sit in Ananda, an awesome vegan place in the city center where we get served great stuff. The falafel in this place are out of this world. I will be bold here and say they are as good as those in Poznan... Okay I did it and it's true. Since Novi Sad is far closer to Sofia I guess that's my new Poznan. After we pick our stuff we go to Culture Exchange for a quick coke, because that's what you drink after falafel and you know that. About 4 pm we're already on the road and Belgrade here we come.

The Belgrade venue!
We easily find the spot and it's awesome. A building with only walls in the most hipster area of the Belgrade city center. Right next to the river. After some pizza, few issues with the PA we're good to go, just waiting for some people. And quite many of them actually show up. It seems Srdjan and Sofija have managed to do some great work on this event and we manage to play in front of a pretty big crowd, actually one of the biggest for this tour. It would have been cool if the people would shut up for a bit but meh, whatever. I really dig the sets of both Raven and Lomz, especially Lomz I'd like to hear in a bigger venue with a longer performance since we were all kind of shortening our sets to fit the curfew and not piss of the police (and the neighbors, who actually all came to bitch about how loud our show was). After the show we chat with some cool people for a bit and then decide to head to Sofia right away. The trip is pretty smooth. We don't stop, just blast Rado Shisharkata and some mega folk hits, which Vassilis and Philip already know the lyrics of and here we're at home for the first time in two weeks. Now some sleep so we can go to Plovdiv tomorrow and finish this tour.

Surprise harsh noise set from Srdjan.
Oh yes, the kittens are bigger and cuter, I don't want to give them to anybody. THEY ARE MINE.

24/04 Plovdiv, the grande finale of this tour
Shower, breakfast, fun times at the change burreau, because Vasilis is a financial guru and we're already on our way to Plovdiv. We get there around 6 pm and the doors are already open the sound is set. We quickly plug-in, soundcheck I leave a playlist of hipster music and go to grab a bite. Me and Niki get a huge pizza because after Novi Sad and Poznan the thing that they call falafel in Plovdiv will be simply embarassing. We sit in the park, eat, feed the cats, we do the crust-punk thing. Around 8 pm we're in Kosmos again, which is probably in the Top 5 venues of the tour. I meet some friends, some of whom have travelled from Sofia for the show and around 8:45 I start playing. There are quite some people, but I'm not really sure most of them know what this show is all about - deep dark music and obscure visuals. Anyhow for both our sets there are people hanging out and watching / listening so it's a pretty nice evening. Petko (nemko-fi from Melformator) does GREAT job with the live visuals and I can't wait to collaborate with him again. After the show we pack and head straight to Sofia. I'm not sure any of us is realizing our 15-day-long tour has just come to an end. Yes, it might feel okay now, but I'm sure I'll have to face the sad truth when next Monday, instead of going into the car to head to another city I'll have to take the tram and spend the next 9 hours writing.

To sum things up.

5500+ kilomtres, 15 days, 15 cities, 14 shows, great food, great people, awesome promoters everywhere. Definitely worth it... as touring in general. Thanks to everybody who booked us, hosted us in their house, cooked us food, supported us by getting some merch. Huge ups to Niki for driving relentlessly, to Philip for helping us get proper sound everywhere, to Vasilis for enduring this tour despite everything and to me for working on this shit for the past 5 months.

сряда, 22 април 2015 г.

Mytrip & Conjecture Tour - Days 10-12 - Poznan, ?!?!, Oradea

19/04 Poznan - KEBABISTAN I LOVE YOU
We wake up after the awesome night in Dresden and we sit in the place where we played last night and have a great breakfast. Actually a power electronics breakfast, which turns into dark ambient breakfast when Ulrich changes the music to Inade so we don't get too misanthropic in the morning. After few cups of coffee, fruits and everything needed for a great start of the day we're packed and on the road to Poland.


Okay, so I have to admit I've booked this tour with reaching Poznan and the best falafel in the universe as my main destination. No, seriously, this is some highlight stuff. I spent the past 3 years talking about the falafel heaven Kebabistan so I'm excited! After few hours on the road we arrive in the city and go for a walk. Our meeting with Konrad, who's doing the show tonight is in 2 hours so we have some time to kill on the Sunday streets of Poznan. It's as beautiful as usual, Polish ladies included. We finally land in front of the venue and Kristian, who's running LAS shows up. The place is great, we hang around, quickly set up and check and we're good to go. Some people start showing up, including my Plovdiv friend Petko, or should I say Gdansk friend, as that's where he came from to hang out with us. It's time I start this show and I do it. I fucking love the sound, fat drones fill in the whole space, I see people with closed eyes and I get really into the music myself. Conjecture starts right after me and the sound is so good that I wish he had played longer. Actually it's when I realize this tour could have been even better if there were more local acts on those shows, since we're mostly playing these shows alone.

After the show we hang out for a while and on our way to the hostel WE GO TO KEBABISTAN. And oh the pleasure... It's like breathing for the first time. My biggest fear these past 3 years was that they will somehow fuck up those falafels, but man. That stuff's eternal. Now I can sleep... forever.

20/04 Highways, anarchists, night snacks...
We wake up around 10 and around 11 am we're out on the looks for food. Sadly Kebabistan is not open before lunch and the one that's actually working has no falafels. Fuck my life. Anyhow we leave Poznan a bit worried since last night we got a call and few messages from our friends in Bytom saying that the whole crew, who was running the place where we are playing was... arrested after a protest action in Katowice. Some info you can find here, don't know how reliable the source is, but I guess that's all we know as well. 

So we decide to directly head to Oradea, which is some 800+ kms drive. I won't go into details how 'exciting' 15 hours in the car are, especially for Niki, who once again proves he's the king of driving. Let's just say we make it to Oradea at about 8 am after several wi-fi, food and sleeping pit stops on gas station. Thankfully we're safe and sound, even if tired as shit.

Forest, my main cat mate in Oradea
21/04 The cats of Oradea
Our host for the morning is Razvan. He and his girlfriend Lavinia let us sleep in their place until the afternoon and then head to work. But we're not alone! We spend the next few hours in the company of their 4 cats. Some hang out with us, others hide, but whew. It was high time we spent some quality cat time on this tour. At some point we're all refreshed and awake, and Razvan gets back home from work early so we can hang out with him as well. He's also playing tonight. Actually doing his first TAUUSK show in Oradea.

TAUUSK and his monster drones on stage
Few hours later George, who's running Moszkva comes to bring us there. We get to the place, which is great and huge. I'm kinda sad we'll never have such nice things in Sofia, because... people. Anyhow, we drink coffee, talk shit as usual and in the meanwhile thanks to our mate Boyan we manage to score a last minute gig in Novi Sad for the next day to replace the Timisoara show that got cancelled (still haven't heard from the promoters haha). We set up our gear, the sound is promising, the atmosphere is perfect and we're good to go. TAUUSK opens the gig with a great guitar drone / doom set with perfect melodies, build-ups and textures. Then it's my turn and even if I kind of fuck up the beginning of the set I think it gets pretty okay in the end. Conjecture plays longer and does few tracks we haven't yet heard on the tour and they sound awesome. Definitely one of the top 3 gigs of this tour. Big ups to everybody involved. I finish my second veggie burito, cooked by Lavinia and off to the sleeping place we go. Next stop Novi Sad for a semi-day off / semi-gig thing. 

неделя, 19 април 2015 г.

Mytrip & Conjecture Tour - Days 7-9 - Kassel, Berlin, Dresden

16/04 Kassel and a bunch of the wrong Bulgarians
So after a decent sleep we head on a walk around Frankfurt so I get myself a new charger, since mine is in Prague. Till lives on a great spot and some 30 minutes of walking we reach the pretty busy center where I find all that I need. Next stop is a café on the small square near his place again, then falafel times and we’re on the road again. Our next stop is Kassel. Where we’re playing a show with Berlin’s raw punk band Piss. We get to the place an hour early and we go for a walk. It’s an immigrant area and me and Niki are not really surprised to hear a conversation in Bulgarian between a dude hanging on a block balcony and another one who has just “found a bike on the street” that he’s about to sell. We don’t introduce ourselves to these people because we kind of have some stuff they’ll be probably really into finding on the street as well.

Piss killing it in Kassel
After several minutes of wandering we’re back in front of the venue to see one of our kind hosts Joscha (also playing in Abest, whose LP I recently reviewed onDIYconspiracy) arriving to show us around the awesome punk house we’re playing tonight. It has it all – a neat kitchen, hang out area, large PA and as we’re about to find out a bit later – many nice people. In a bit Steffi, the other person responsible for the event also shows up. Few drinks, neat talks and we’re ready to set up. Piss arrive, do a fast sound check and me and Vassilis put a table in front of the drum set and we also check for a bit. After Joscha cooks us rad vegan pasta the show is ready to start with me, and there even seem to be some people enjoying it. We don’t do a break, Conjecture merges with the ending of my set and he does his thing as well. I see some heads moving so I guess it’s cool. After us is Piss. They play a fast and primal punk, with an almost black metal feeling at times so I’m all for that. Somehow reminds me of UHL, whom I haven’t heard in ages. I’m really glad Joscha and Steffi decided to do the gig that way – mixing genres one would not really often see on the same stage. It allows the night to really stand out. Few hours later we’re already in our sleeping bags as on the next morning we’re leaving early, because Berlin and its record stores and vegan places are waiting for us.

17/04 Berlin and okay we’re now poor
It’s about 9 and we’re already on the road, because… Berlin, man. There are at least 2 record shops we have to check and here we are. First stop is Static Shock, Niki does a trade, I score some hipster stuff, Philip indulges his secret desires for heavy metal and Vassilis, hm I don’t remember. Okay he’s telling me now – he gets a Coil record and we do an oil fight over a Lustmord record, which actually nobody gets. Next stop Yana’s place. We take her from the heart of Kreuzberg and Bis Aufs Messer here we come. I score the new Fvnerals and a record I don’t really know, Vassilis gets the Merzbow / Full of Hell collab and the new Correction House, Niki scores the Unbroken discography, the new Blacklisted (cause he wants to be trendy sometimes) and Philip gets some hairy black metal – Lychgate and Death Karma. The guys at the store even stock few copies of my 7” so yeah, if you’re around go for it, for sure you’ll find something worth starving for. Then we hit Yoyo for some vegan magic. Time kinda flies in Berlin and so do our money. On our way to Ma Thilda, which is situated in Neu Koln we go check an exhibition of a Lithuanian artistShaltmira, who I knew only from Instagram. The works she’s presenting are really good, but the space itself is a bit small, especially for the bigger drawings. I’d really like to see them exhibited in a larger gallery since I think this way they can interact more with the space itself and… actually breathe.

Bis Aufs Messer, okay I'm home
Anyhow it’s cool we manage to see this as well and we’re heading now to Ma Thilda to end an already great day with a show. Around 20:30 my buddy Adi, who’s been kind enough to let me play there for two times already arrives and we set everything. An awesome Polish visual artist, I think named Yann, lets us use his beamer and around 9:40 I start the show. Some friends show up, including Daniel and Stefan, and knowing they’ve also seen me playing 1, 2 times I go for a slightly different set, which in the end I think works out pretty fine. At least that’s what they also say. Conjecture hits the stage after a small break and he sounds good even if he looks a bit tired, but Ma Thilda looks pretty full, we hang out, have fun and play our thingies so I guess we did finish the evening the best possible way, or actually not yet. Best thing comes an hour later when we invade Joro and Ina’s place and we open the snoring factory, especially the Greek division (at least that’s what Niki claims, I just sleep there as if I was slaughtered).

18/04 Dresden, tofu and what a sound
We leave Berlin at about 9:30 since Ina is taking a part in a comic convention with her illustration series 'my beloved friend'. The drive to Dresden’s a pretty easy one so it doesn’t really take us too long to get there. Still we have quite some time to kill before meeting Ulrich from Club Debil, who’s taking care of us drone kids today. Loshwitz seems to be quite a fancy neighborhood and while on the hunt for something fast to eat we kind of drag the attention of the locals because… Well, to put it that way, because we do look like people, who spent the past 9 days in a car.

Loschwitz seems quite livable, right?
We manage to find some food not too far from the venue, then we sit in a fancy café and before we realize it it’s always 4 pm and it’s time to meet Ulrich and check out the venue. Our promoter has a birthday today and we’re really happy to be a part of it. Tonight we’re playing a former fire brigade building, which has been restored and is now used as a cultural center. We do some preparations for the show later, but since we’re still waiting for the sound engineer we also go for a walk along the river. Dresden’s a pretty spacey city. With a lot of air, a lot of green fields, nature, even farms with horses so it’s pretty much hanging out in the country in the same time as being in a pretty lively city.

Back in the venue we sound check and Eric, who’s in charge of the sound tonight, does great job giving us probably the best sound for the tour. A lot of bass, one that you can actually feel is filling the cellar of the building and we know we’re in for a good night. It’s time for food and Ulrich cooks us rice with tofu, beans, pickles, peppers and whatnot. After this vegan delight I’m struggling hard not to fall asleep, I attack this instinct with a cup of coffee and as I’m halfway done with this report Vassilis and Philip come to read it and laugh at the image I’m building for them (quite objectively actually haha). After a few conversations about who the Greek Johnny Depp really is and am I actually touring with him it’s time for me to play and it feels really good. There are some people, who seem really into what I do (according to Niki) and I guess it’s a nice set as the bass is slowly creeping in the whole room, pierced by slightly distorted highs. After a short break it’s Conjecture’s turn and his music also benefits from the great sound. He even plays two tracks we haven’t heard on this tour so far. As I write this Ulrich’s birthday party is going with full force, let’s see how much our batteries will last before teleporting to our sleeping place for the night, which thankfully is just two floors above. 


четвъртък, 16 април 2015 г.

Mytrip & Conjecture Tour - Days 4-6 - Vienna, Prague, Frankfurt

13/04 Vienna and a night drive
So we arrive in Vienna after a bit of rain to find the nice place of AU already open and our host Miki there. After a quick load in, a cup of great coffee and a sound check we are good to go. Me and Nikolay, mr. tour driver, go on a falafel hunt and the prey is just next door. It's fantastic, the only thing I can do after that is score some baclava and I'm ready to play. There are already some people in the venue and it stays like this while we are both playing. We don't do anything fancy just play our basic sets. I connect to the wi-fi and find out our gig in Timisoara is cancelled. However, the promoters, whose names I won't mention since I'm not a dickshit, hadn't even bother to inform me (and haven't done it yet). I had to find that through a third party. This is why we can't have nice things in Eastern Europe. Whatever... Due to some accommodation misunderstanding we are kind of not able to spend the night in Vienna and off to Prague we go. Around 3 am our batteries fall and we 'enjoy' a short sleep on a gas station - the crust punk way. 

Weird faces, churches, cemeteries - proper sightseeing 
14/04 Prague, Kafka worship and a boat full of drone
At about 6 am the visitors of the gas station have already multiplied so it's time for us, the immigrants, to leave the bedroom. In about three hours we reach Prague and park the car right pretty close to the venue - an old steam boat, definitely the best place we're to play so far. However, there are eight hours before the load in so we head to the center of Prague for coffee and food, since last night and the drive were quite harsh. The city is kind to us, we manage to find a decent change bureau, good Italian coffee and the view all around is constantly exciting. Definitely better than what I last saw and experienced here some three years ago. Vassilis is a Kafka fan-girl so we go to the Kafka museum. He says the very experience there is awesome and intelligently created but we I find it weird and a bit offensive that a writer with Kafka's philosophy has been turned into and industry. Seriously people, Kafka matches, key chains and fridge magnets... Whoever buys this stuff should be lynched.

Anyhow, a falafel later we are back to the car. We go to the river as it's super sunny and some of us (me) take a nap. Then we get to see the cemetery and church nearby and we go to (A)void Floating Gallery where our hosts Felix and Aleche are already setting up the sound. Before our gig there's a wine degustation. So we sound check an hour later and about 9:30 our DJ for the night (Easy if i remember right) warms us up with a great dark ambient, industrial set. And it's my turn. I play the harsher version of my set as the sound is massive and the boat starts filling up with drones and low freqs. And with people. When Vassilis plays its already quite packed. I meet a friend from Arkham Productions who booked me last time and it's a nice surprise. Last on the bill are Black Highway (Aleche and Felix actually) in a collab with a guitar drone project named Sweeps. And they do a MASSIVE set of physically challenging drone wall, sometimes even getting close to power electronics. More than perfect ending of the night. Few hours later we are finally properly sleeping, for the first time in 48 hours.

Black Highway & Sweeps in a massive drone collab
15/04 Frankfurt, hot Indian food and great people
From Prague to Frankfurt is one of our 4 long drives so we start the day early even if we went to sleep at about 3 am. The highways are busy so it's about 5 pm when we reach the gorgeous building of INM. A short walk in the industrial area where it's situated and a cup of coffee later we meet our hosts Tobias and Till from Phonophon. We quickly set up and right before I sound check I realize I've took somebody else's MacBook charger and he has mine. Thankfully it happens to be in safe hands but it means I gotta buy a new one, because my battery can handle two more gigs tops. After we are ready with the sound we enjoy some fine Indian food hang out on the amazing terrace of INM and at about 9 pm I start playing. I go for a shorter, way more mellow set. TUNNEL is screened on the visuals but I also perform some glitchier oldies, some excerpts from side works and few Dayin tracks. Conjecture is on right after me and due to the great beamer in the venue we manage to enjoy his visuals in full size. Very few people show up, but we have great time chatting with everybody and about 11-ish we are finished and already in Till's house who HAS the best collection of the best stuff ever. Clive Barker comic books, a lot of sci-if gems, boxed C64 games, even on cassette tapes. I love it all. Actually get really eager to do a Barker movie marathon when I come back home. But yeah, sleeping is what you do best on tour and soon I give up and enter the domains of Morpheus. See you tomorrow, Kassel.

Jakob's helpers, plant maintenance crew

понеделник, 13 април 2015 г.

Mytrip & Conjecture Tour - Days 1-3 - Sofia, Subotica, Budapest

10/04 Sofia (and a bunch of baby kittens freshly born)
Not really a tour if you sleep in your own bed, but since Vassilis and Philip have just arrived from Greece for this one I guess it counts as touring already. So, first show in Sofia went pretty smooth. Kind of half the audience we expected showed up, but still they were the right people. This time no tech problems and delays, mostly because Philip had our backs on the mixing desk (make sure you check his band Septuagint as well – occult black metal from the depths of Greece). At 20:00 (almost sharp) I start the show with Fingah’s visuals already kicking in. My set’s not really different from what I did before Lamb so yeah, it does the job, especially for a bunch of friends who came to see me play for the first time. After that we hear evitceles for the first time. And he does a great job – broken beats, sliced vocals,  catchy melodies – he has it all and I think it makes a great debut. Then Conjecture’s on, he’s playing a really short, but an intense set and I’m sure it did leave some people hoping for more. Maybe they’ll catch up in Plovdiv’s Kino Kosmos on April 24th. Next and last on stage is Hypnos. Stanislav does a very atmospheric techno set that’s throws us in a perfect darkness. Huge ups for him since he was invited to this show 3 days before it and he did a rad job preparing this live set as I’m pretty sure he hasn’t done anything like that before. And here we are – with our first show finished, heading for a quick bite and then home.

And at home, on my very bed, I find two freshly born, white baby kittens. So yeah, it really is a new beginning. A pretty cool one. I only hope in the morning I’ll have the strength to leave them and their mother alone and not bring them in the car.

11/04 Subotica (meeting Carlito – my main mate)
It’s Saturday and 600 kms to Subotica are ahead of us. The baby cats are hard to leave behind, but anyhow, we’re on the road at around 11. We spend the next 8 hours in the car, but after a few stops we reach Subotica. It’s been 3 years since the last time I was there and this time we actually going around the city and it’s awesome. All people look fresh and chilled, even if those people we meet at the venue later tell us it’s not really the best city to live in, since there are not too many job opportunities. Still, it’s great to see a city the size of my hometown of Sliven, with an actual scene, supporting touring acts.

The Family sculpture set in Studio 11
So it’s 19:30 and we’re in Studio 11, one of Subotica’s cult places. It’s always decorated with great cyber-punk art pieces by local artists. We see ‘The Family’, a set of sculptures by a local artist, which has just come back from a H.R. Giger tribute exhibition in Berlin. I remember some of his older works – a red sculpture called ‘Toy doll’, which is now to be found in another venue in Subotica. After a quick pizza, we sound check. We set up our gear at the heart of Studio 11, which is actually a recording studio and a rehearsal space. At around 23:00 I start playing, not sure if my stuff is the people at the place’s thing, but… yeah. Then it’s Conjecture, he plays a longer set and almost does a second one.

And now it’s the best moment to mention my main Subotica mate Carlito. He’s the best buddy you can ever meet, a mascot of the venue and the first tour dog of this trip. I secretly want to bring him in Sofia, but I leave it to guard the studio, because if he doesn’t… who else would?

Carlito, my main dawg.
Big ups going to Damir and all of his friends, who made this event possible. Hope to be back there soon, even if I also secretly hope Serbian folks will cut a bit the smoking, especially on public places hahah. Good thing I’m not ‘singing’ on this tour.

12/04 Budapest
We get up and hit a neat bakery near Studio 11, which is just around the corner. After a few croissants we’re ready for the road. Budapest is quite close to Subotica, however, we spend an extra hour and half on the Hungarian border. Good thing is this is actually the last one for the next 7, 8 shows. After a bit of wandering around the streets of the relentlessly busy Budapest we reach Csaba’s place, where we’re sleeping tonight. It’s an awesome flat, which he got to rent from a friend of his, who’s booking punk / noise rock shows. And so it’s full of screen-printed gig posters and photographs. I especially like Csaba’s collection of old movies on tape, which he’s using for visuals on the shows of his band pozvakoski. We don’t really have time to hang out around the city center so few mugs of coffee accompanied by some classic industrial & experimental music and some Greek post-punk gems we’re heading to Golya for our third show of the tour. Oh yes, and my first Mytrip gig in the city after playing Hungary so many times with Expectations.

Pulpo live
Despite being located in something looking as a pretty shady area, Golya is a quite cool place. Something between a bar, a small kitchen and an event location with a social center feeling. People tell us there’s a strong community there and a lot of stuff happening. We finally get to meet Imre, our promoter and his lady Laura. We’re warned it’s Sunday so not too many people are expected. But a small show is better than no show so we’re in. Despite the place is far from full we enjoy a nice PA. Tamas from Pulpo starts the evening with calm guitar-dominated and chill electronics. All live with conceptual visuals screened. He’s working in the fields of documentary cinema and film in general, so I suppose that side is also as important as his music. After him it’s my turn. I go for a way harsher set, with tracks I haven’t done probably since Bristol last April and it feels way better than yesterday. The Conjecture set somehow also feels tighter so I guess that all makes for a good night.


The only puzzling thing is that none of the other acts, who were supposed to perform with us showed up. One is supposedly having technical problems, which seem to be keeping him from even hanging out with us. The second one (whom we’ve booked in Sofia with Amek maybe 4-5 years ago) wasn’t even reachable. Weird way to treat a gig arrangement, but yeah, whatevs. Hopefully nothing bad happened and it was only lack of respect for your own music. As I’m writing this everybody’s already sleeping and you can hear that so I better join the snoring choir. Heading to Vienna tomorrow for another first-timer.