SOFA Music Kyushu 2012

SOFA
SOFA is a Norwegian record label founded in 2000 by the musicians Ivar Grydeland and Ingar Zach. During the 11 years of existence SOFA has released nearly 40 albums of improvised music. This tour presents not only SOFA artists, but all of the musicians involved are somehow having an impact on the label's aesthetics.

Keith Rowe / Kjell Bjørgeengen
This duo is a meeting between one of the inventors of electro-acoustic improvised music and a norwegian pioneer in video art. In recent years they have performed together at festivals in Europe and US, and SOFA is proud to present this duo for the first time in Japan.

Microtub
In microtub, ideas of microtonal tuba music are put into action by the three improvisors Robin Hayward, Martin Taxt and Kristoffer Lo. A unique timbre is created when the sound of the three tubas merge together. Robin Hayward developed the first fully microtonal tuba together with the tuba manufacturer B&S in 2009. After exploring the possibilities in just intonation on the regular tuba, he found it necessary to invent a new instrument where all the microtones could be played in a more logical way. Their album on SOFA was released in September 2011, and received great critics. Brian Olewnick puts it this way:
...an amazing depth of twining tones, long-held, resonating, forming fluctuating pulses that buffet the eardrums in delicious fashion...

Kim Myhr
Kim Myhr is represented on the SOFA label through his releases with MURAL and Silencers. On this tour in Japan he is presenting his new solo set, scheduled for release on SOFA in the fall 2012.

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Biographies:

Robin Hayward
The tuba player and composer Robin Hayward, born in Brighton, England in 1969, has been based in Berlin since 1998. He has redefined the tuba’s potential both in the areas of noise and microtonality, and his compositions for other instruments reflect a similar experimental, medium-specific approach. Pieces have been written for him by such composers as Alvin Lucier and Christian Wolff. He has toured extensively both solo and in collaboration. His approach to the tuba has been documented in the solo CDs Valve Division and States of Rushing, along with various collaborative releases. In 2009 he developed the first fully microtonal tuba together with the instrument manufacturers B&S. Robin Hayward is currently doing a doctorate exploring the acoustics of this new tuba at the Technical University in Berlin.

Martin Taxt
Martin Taxt, born in Trondheim, Norway in 1981, finished his studies at the Academy of Music in Oslo and CNSMDP in Paris in 2006. Since then he has focused on improvised and contemporary music. With the japanese guitar player Tetuzi Akiyama and the Norwegian duo Streifenjunko he has released two albums on the reputable norwegian improv label SOFA. ”Varianter av døde trær” in 2008 and ”Selektiv hogst” with Toshimaru Nakamura in 2010. Both albums received great critics in magazines such as THE WIRE and SIGNAL TO NOISE. Over the last years Taxt has been touring Europe, Japan, China, USA and Canada with the groups Koboku Senjû, Muringa, Microtub and Kim Myhr & TJO. Since 2010 he’s running the label SOFA and he’s also organising the festival Fri Resonans in Trondheim every November since 2006.

Kristoffer Lo
Kristoffer Lo, born in Vestby, Norway in 1985, has his background from the jazz- department at the conservatory connected to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). He has focused his playing around noise and electrical effects. He has experienced a lot of success with his trio, PELbO, receiving great reviews for their debut album and touring Scandianavia. He has also worked with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, and has released cd's with bands such as Sunswitch and Machina.

Kim Myhr
Kim Myhr (born 1981) is a guitarist and composer based in Oslo, Norway. He studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston from 2003 to 2005, and has since had an active performance schedule with concerts throughout Europe, Australia, Asia and North-America. In 2008, he received the JazZtipend at the Molde International Jazz Festival. The prize included a commission for Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, a large ensemble consisting of thirteen handpicked improvisers from Norway and Australia, featuring Sidsel Endresen, Clare Cooper, Jim Denley and Christian Wallumrød amongst others. The 1-hour piece, which was later entitled «stems and cages», recieved wide critical acclaim.

Keith Rowe
Keith Rowe (born March 16, 1940 in Plymouth, England) is an English free improvisation tabletop guitarist and painter. Rowe is a founding member of both the hugely influential AMM in the mid-1960s and M.I.M.E.O. Having trained as a visual artist, Rowe's paintings have been featured on most of his own albums. After years of obscurity, Rowe has achieved a level of relative notoriety, and since the late 1990s has kept up a busy recording and touring schedule. He is seen as a godfather of EAI (electroacoustic improvisation), with many of his recent recordings having been released by Erstwhile Records.

Kjell Bjørgeengen
Kjell Bjørgeengen is one of the pioneers in norwegian video art. Throughout his career he has also been working with a wide range of musicians. The live works feature the production of flicker videos, which have been presented in various exhibitions since 2002. The flicker image is perhaps the most simple and fundamental image we can think of, the oscillation between shades of light and darkness, given from the outside as a simple binary pairing of the visual experience. The flicker videos came about as a counteraction to an easy intellectual approach to art viewing. The flicker works can be harsh to watch, as they are perceived on a physical level. There is a threshold that needs to be overcome. The black and white works are often perceived in colors. A still image from the video reads like a minimal work; set in motion the work turns into its opposite.