aCivilian

The world is changing….. I am error is a non-conformist musical project, securing the voice of the individual in the process of change. Written from an individual perspective about the inner and outer surrounding world, our songs give voice to the current experience of social uncertainty, addressing the urgent need for individual empowerment and real freedom. This is music for the present day, for the conscious people.

Project Update:

Escalator Music enabled aCivilian to record and produce an album of new material; ‘Invention which is available now. aCivilian continue to perform live and are currently working on new material.

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Adriano Adewale

Rooted in the musical traditions of Nigeria, Angola and Brazil and infused with contemporary European classical and jazz styles, percussionist and composer Adriano Adewale’s music is a global fusion of musical influences that explores issues of history, identity and nature.

“Adriano Adewale boasts an imposing collection of firepower yet deploys it with rare restraint.” The Times

Adriano was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. For many years he was known as Adriano Pinto, a colonial name he received at birth. It was after he visited to Africa (Nigeria and Benin Republic) to discover his roots that he changed his name to Adriano Adewale Itauna, from the Yoruba-Nigeria and Tupi Guarani-Brazil respectively. He moved to England in 2000 and formed his first UK band Sambura, which released one album, Cru. Performing in various festivals and venues, Adriano was introduced to Antonio Forcione and soon became part of the Antonio Forcione Quartet who perform all over the world. He has shared the stage with Seu Jorge, Modeste Hughes, Netsayi Chigwendere, Oliver Mtukudzi (Zimbabwe), Tcheka (Cape Verde) and Jools Holland.

Project Update:

Escalator Music enabled Adriano to collaborate with musicians including  Gilad Atzmon and Kadialy Kouyate to produce a new album; SEMENTES.

Adriano says: “The sound of this album is a reflection of my surroundings, my experience of living in London, my childhood in Brazil, my friends. It is this moment of my life. My concerns with environmental issues, with faith, with African-Brazilian and European identity. It is a birth, a sonic acknowledgement of experiences of my own personal life which I believe I share with many other people. My music relates to ‚Äòworld music‚Äô in the sense that it has been composed in different countries and is influenced by different traditions. There are also elements of the jazz art form on this album, mainly in the strong sense of freedom, which can only be fully understood and felt when the players are not trying to create the moment but when the music is allowed to grow out of their hands. That is when expression begins to happen and the crafting takes the music to a different level of interaction, where artists construct and de-construct free of pre-conceptions.”

Buy Sementes here.

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Alto45

Lab-coat wearing lo-fi popsters, supplying small town melancholia, to anyone with five minutes to spare. Brought together by a shared love of car boots sales, robots, Daniel Johnston and the mid-range audio frequencies. An eclectic mix of lo-fi pop, downbeat and experimental electronica in the vein of Grandaddy, Leonard Cohen and Add n to (x), if you will. Originally from the countryside, alto45 release records on their own Happy Capitalist Recordings and have been championed by deejays such as Steve Lamacq, Tom Robinson, Rob Da Bank and the late John Peel.

Project Update:

Escalator supported Alto45 in the writing and production of their second album ‘The Spectrum Sings’, which came out in April 2012. The new LP find the band in a newly refined mode, closer to the live sound that has gained them such a surge of good will amongst the ever vibrant East-Anglian DIY scene. The band continue to tour in support of the release and are soon to perform a live session of BBC6Music’s Mark Riley.

The Robot Heart (below) is the latest single to be taken from the new album.

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Arhai

‘the band should be on the way to conquer the European world music market …..it really is a Balkan Mantra!’  - FolkWorld Magazine

Arhai project evolved around composer and vocalist Jovana Backovic, and is a research into the music tradition of the Balkans and how it influences the individual music identity of the composer. Arhai is a unique fusion of contemporary electronic music with folk influences from both the UK and Balkan regions. In live performance, technology transforms the classical traditional instruments of the Balkans, blending it with multilayered vocals.

Currently, Arhai project performs as a duo Jovana Backovic ( electronic, voice, tarabuka ) and Adrian Lever ( tambura ).

Project Update:

With the support of Escalator Music, Arhai are currently working on new project Engaging the space – the Secular, the Sacred, the Story; a collaboration with Slovenian-based documentary filmmaker and VJ artist Massimo Mucchiut.

The project seeks to engage audiences in contrasting environments using the advantages and qualities of the space to dictate the musical/visual content, exploring the influence of venue on the choice of music played and the relationship between sound and film from the viewpoint of the audience.

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Balaclava Kid & Dad

‘Hypnotic zeniths of bug-eyed trill-outs’  – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

‘a glorious racket’  – Jon Kennedy, XFM

Balaclava Kid & Dad (or BK and Dad for short) are a duo who produce music of enormous proportions. Violent crashing guitar riffs set into relief thunderous chaotic but controlling drums. With influences ranging from Captain Beefheart and Can through to Ennio Morricone, Melvins and Acid Mothers Temple; Balaclava Kid and Dad also take inspiration from their surroundings, they’re currently working on a body of new work written in and inspired by the Welsh landscape.

Project Update:

On 24th May this year, Bk and dad performed the expansive audiovisual installation they have been working on for their Escalator project as part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival. The performance will took place at St Lawrence’s Church in Norwich and also featured Escalator artists Transept.

The duo took part in several Escalator Music showcases at the end of 2011 including performances at Norwich Sound and Vision Festival and Wysing Arts Festival.  Below video of their performance at the latter. Most recently BK and Dad were asked to headline the Artrocker Stage at Norwich Sound and Vision 2012, they continue to tour and are currently working on new material.

Balaclava Kid & Dad from Marcus Williams on Vimeo.

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Bearsuit

Already championed by the likes of Steve Lamacq, Huw Stevens, Phill Jupitus, XFM, the NME, Artrocker, The Guardian and Plan B, the six piece are making a name for themselves with their unique brand of shouty-pop-fun. With a live show including flute, guitars, keyboards, samples, cornet, singing, bells, accordion, theremin, drums, and a keytar plus a variety of outlandish stage gear – blood soaked prom dresses, marching bands, ‘nurses of death’ outfits, spacemen and silver bear-bot wear to name but a few – Bearsuit are certainly a band to catch live!
The Bears have played the Latitude Festival, SXSW (Austin Texas), Great Escape Festival and Primavera.

Project Update:

Escalator Music has helped Bearsuit to record a new album with Gareth Parton (producer of The Go Team! Pete and the Pirates, Foals and the Breeders). The result is new full length ‘Phantom Forest’ and is available to purchase here. The band toured the new record extensively during 2011 taking in the UK, Europe and North America. In 2011 they performed storming sets at SXSW (Austin, Texas), Primavera (Barcelona, Spain) and the Escalator Music showcase at Liverpool Sound City.

Check out the video for the latest single to be taken from Phantom Forest, ‘Princess, You’re A Test’:

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The Brownies

The Brownies are a punk-pop five-piece whose debut ‘Means To An End’ was the Guardian’s single of the week. Their album release ‘Ourknife Yourback’ was produced by the acclaimed Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill.

“The tag ‘pop punk’ for one generation at least will always conjure up images of Blink 182 and Sum 41, yet the type of Pop Punk that The Brownies juggle up is far removed from this. It’s shouty-faced pop punk that’s pocketed Riot Grrrl’s bite, and been trapped under an avalanche of glowing pop hooks on the escape. Some bands would bite off their spouses fingers to have one song as good as ‘Cougar’; The Brownies deliver an energetic entire set’s worth.”

- Artrocker Magazine

Project Update:

The Brownies recorded and released ‘The Finger EP’ in 2011. They played extensively in support of this release and continue to enjoy regular national and international airplay. The band also made two appearances at Liverpool Sound City 2012, the first as part of the NS&V showcase and the second supporting legendary Peel favourites The Wedding Present.

Cakes & Ale

Cakes and Ale are a seven-string folk band from Norwich. They pool Middle Eastern, Eastern European, Medieval and Modern influences to inform their original compositions and their arrangements often call upon the bizarre and the burlesque (musical saw, honkey-tonk piano, frame drums and strings).
In the three years since forming, their raucous live performances on street corners, at beer festivals and pagan weddings across the country have gained them a cult following.

“ Beautiful playing, fine tunes, simple inviting evocative words… they’ve a sense of fun, a touch of wickedness… Modern life and folk and timeless traditions and everything good here.”  - The Organ.

Project Update:

Cakes and Ale recorded their debut album with the help of Escalator Music. The LP “Five Shillings, Three Bushels of Corn and a Milchgoat” was recorded at The Mill Studio in Norfolk and was launched at Norwich Arts Centre in December 2011. They have toured Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic and enjoyed a busy festival season last year, appearing at Glastonbury, The Big Chill, Cambridge Folk Festival and The Secret Garden Party to name but a few.

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CLOUT!

The members of CLOUT!, Grant Armour, Bradley Steptoe, Jordan Cunningham, Chris Le Monde & William Cunningham, met 5 to 7 years ago as teenagers in and around Southend, in the midst of a nationally covered localised counterculture (between 2004 and 2006). The underground counterculture in Southend at the time was a community of young people obsessed with the celebration of experimental music from the past. It championed and encouraged musical exploration, record collecting and enabled teenagers from the area to subject themselves to experimental music. This occurred during the emerging age of easy access to all music through the Internet. In Southend, experimental music from the past wasn’t just the other side of the computer screen, it was in your town once a month, being brought back to life through a community of people

The members of CLOUT! bonded over record collecting and sonic equipment obsession, finding each other at the same parties or local haunts. CLOUT! formed organically from a group of friends – we never had to recruit or search for members in the group.

With their first release already under their belts – the CLOUT! EP released by Dirty Bingo Records in May 2011 – CLOUT! are looking to the future with their recently finalised mini-album. The record comprises of 5 whole band recordings and 5 segway pieces – each written and recorded by a single member utilising their home studio setups. Micachu and Suki Sou of the band Novella guest star on the record.

Project Update:

Escalator Music is allowing CLOUT! to massively further their sound and performances. The long-term project will see them recording a multitude of audio experiments, utilising their vast sonic arsenal in unusual ways to develop modes of performance that amalgamate the electronic music and avant-garde techniques of the past with devices built by the contemporary boutique inventors online community that has emerged over the past decade.

The final result will be a performance film like none that has seen before – keep your eyes peeled for details to emerge soon…

In the mean time, check out this improvisational video for a taster of what CLOUT! is about:

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