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Today we release the sophomore EP from Voronoi — the ambient electronic project of the itinerant artist, writer, and electronic musician Richard B. Keys (originally from Aotearoa New Zealand). Listen here & read on below:

Voronoi synthesizes a range of influences spanning ambient music, noise, electro-acoustic, neo-classical, film music and high definition sound design. Drawing inspiration from the Voronoi tessellation — an equation that is used to both model actual landscapes and at the same time to construct virtual ones —his productions employ hybrid sampling and synthesis techniques to weave irreal ambient soundscapes. His tense and beguiling pieces function through playing off and with the genre conventions of ambient music, employing dissonance & rupture as a means to undermine moments of consonance & calming effect. 

With Mountains & Rivers, Voronoi departs from the radiated post-industrial atmospheres of his debut EP, Yucca Flat, Nevada, to conjure up a selection of more bucolic, but no less sinister soundscapes. Spectral traces of rave vocals long since consigned to digital oblivion burble up through a thicket of electro-acoustic refrains. As the title suggests, a sense of geography haunts the tracks on the EP, but the landscapes suggested here are wholly virtual or illusory. The hybrid forms of synthesis, field recording and electro-acoustic manipulation that make up much of the EP’s instrumentation evoke an irreal, synthetic ecology that mirror Keys’ own geographic dislocation. With its dynamic affective structure oscillating between melancholy, reflection, hurt, and a persistent longing for a spiritual communion that can never be fully realised, Mountains & Rivers is a de-spiritualised elegy to the absence of presence.

All tracks written and produced by Richard B. Keys
Mastering by Thomas Lambert.
Cover design by Carla Schollum and Jurgita Ratkeviciute.


Check out the Voronoi page for more info and previous releases.

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I've got a new(ish) track on this great compilation of artists from the Noise Drone Repeat noise night (held at Wellington's Valhalla) curated by the legendary Bryan Tabuteau.

Listen to the track here:

… and hear the full compilation here:

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Features / Releases

New Release: Womb Remixes

“Pōneke’s Womb have shared a new collection remixing tracks from their stunning 2018 debut album Like Splitting the Head From the Body. Inspired by DJ SNAKELEGS’ remix of ‘Blow You Away’, Like Splitting the Head From the Body: Remixes was developed during the band’s recent travels in China and coordinated by tour organiser Kiwese (Kristen Ng of Kaishandao – who also just dropped a December mix via Pōneke electronic dance facilitators MESH). With contributions from eight producers across China and Aotearoa, this pan-Pacific collaboration covers a vast expanse of musical ground from the unhinged glitch of DAO’s ‘Here We Bend’ remix, to Sugarman’s dancefloor ready take on ‘Feeling Like Helium’, through Shishi’s lush rework of ‘When the Night Breaks Up’. Meticulously chopped and edited from the original tracks without stems, Womb’s soft, bright, and airy melancholy still shines through everywhere on this collection like something familiar now glimpsed through coloured glass. Stream Womb’s reconstructed debut here…”(UTR)

Listen/download:

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Thanks to those who donated to the Boosted campaign Stella and Jason were able to travel to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival & show the fifth season of The Basement Tapes, 29 times in a single month at Summerhall!

Awards were won (Fringe First & Best Performance), shows were sold out & people had many nice things to say, including the following reviews:

“…superb use of the basement space at Summerhall, maximising its potential for claustrophobia and intimacy.”The Stage, UK

“Static builds, rattling and roaring. Thomas Lambert’s sound design adds almost imperceptible layers to the haunting – or, layers you don’t notice until it’s far too late. The lighting is subtle – until a fuse has blown, and you’re alone in the dark with a disembodied voice asking more questions than anyone could answer. As the line between reality, memory and… something else… becomes blurrier, you’ll be grateful if you’re sat with your back against the wall.”The Skinny, UK

Next up, Perth! Jan/Feb 2019

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basementtape_AK18

It’s always a pleasure putting on this show, and it’s even better getting to go on tour with the co-creators!! The Auckland season starts tonight at Basement Theatre. Attend at will!

★★★★1/2 – Melbourne Age
★★★★1/2 – Sydney Morning Herald

“Totally engaging. A must-see production” – Ewen Coleman, Stuff.co.nz

“Eerie, thrilling and totally engrossing” – Theatreview

“Winner of Director of the Year (Jane Yonge) and nominated for both Production of the Year and Outstanding Performer of the Year (Stella Reid) at the 2017 Wellington Theatre Awards, The Basement Tapes makes its way to Basement Theatre following two sell-out seasons in Wellington and a critically acclaimed stint at the 2017 Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Following her Grandmother’s death, a girl faces the overwhelming task of clearing out the basement. She discovers a series of tapes with recordings made by her Grandmother. However, as the girl hears these tapes for the first time, things start to unravel as waves of secrets and memories are confessed. But is the Grandmother a reliable narrator? Is the girl any more trustworthy?

Inspired by podcasts and Canadian theatre-maker Robert Lepage’s comment that radio is the most visual medium, this part audio work, part live performance brings the past into the present through mixed media. As the granddaughter hears these tapes for the first time, both audience and performer fight not to drown among the waves of secrets and memories in the basement.”

Winner: Outstanding Performance – Stella Reid (NZ Fringe Festival 2017)
Winner: Director of the Year – Jane Yonge (Wellington Theatre Awards 2017)
Winner: Melbourne Fringe Tour Ready Award (NZ Fringe Festival 2017)

IMG_9802.AK

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“Wellington psychedelic trio Womb (aka Charlotte ForresterHaz Forrester, and Georgette Brown) have unveiled their long-awaited debut album Like Splitting the Head From the Body, following a sterling run of powerful live shows and mind-expanding singles. The eight-song collection leads listeners on a journey from gorgeously recorded alt-folk soundscapes to the outer boundaries of dream-pop, with epic feelings of grandeur evident throughout. Swirling synthesisers intersect with tenderly plucked guitars and otherworldly singing, creating oceans of sound for minds to lose themselves inside. An accompanying essay by writer Xavier Ellah describes the record as exploring “the relational question of, what does it mean to be a body, connected to and derived from other bodies – human or not?” It’s an assured step forward from Womb, dive deep into Like Splitting the Head From the Body…” (UTR)

Listen here & head to Flying Out for a flesh-coloured vinyl thanks to Arcade Recordings!

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Events / Theatre+1

THEATRE: ‘THE HADES COMPLEX’

A play directed by Daniel Emms, with original music by i.ryoko

Friday 7 – Tuesday 11 February, 7.30pm (4pm matinee only on Sunday the 9th)
@ Te Whaea Theatre

“When something leaves our lives, how do we cope? Do we wallow in our bedrooms with ice cream and movies, party like nothing has changed, or just start running?

How do we find peace?

Contained within the monolithic architecture of Te Whaea Theatre, The Hades Complex seeks to capture the volatile forces at work within the process of losing something close to us.

Inspired by classical and ancient mythology, the piece uses visionary, sensory and visceral experiences to explore human behaviour around grief and loss. The piece invites you into a series of worlds ranging from the grotesque to the uniquely beautiful.

Populated by epic characters, surreal costumes, a transformative lighting design and joined by the musical force that is i.ryoko; The Hades Complex promises to be an un-missable theatrical event.”

(Contains strobe lighting, partial nudity & some coarse language)

the hades complex

Tickets: $20, $15 (Conc.), $15 (Groups 6+) & $10 (Toi & NZSD student)
To book click HERE

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Events / Theatre

ONEIRONAUT OPENS TONIGHT

Oneironaut:
The Dream Traveller

A play devised by Long Cloud Youth Theatre
Directed by Stella Reid
Music by Seth Frightening & i.ryoko

19th – 31st July, 7:30PM (no shows Mondays)
WHITIREIA Theatre 25-27 Vivian Street, Wellington
Tickets $18/$14

“Concerned with creating the feeling of a dreamscape journey for the audience, Long Cloud Youth Theatre’s new work transforms the Whitireia theatre, providing a promenade experience of several different performance spaces. The audience travel alongside the oneironaut through their waking dream: a fusion of the strange party that night, and the impending rehearsal that looms when they wake up…”

Tickets available here > http://thetheatre.co.nz/

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