Ancienne Belgique

8:00 pm SVARTE GREINERSvarte Greiner is the alter-ego of Erik Skodvin, crown prince of Norwegian doomscapes. Erik Skodvin is also 50% of Deaf Center, our favourite Type Records artist. He has meanwh...

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8:00 pm SVARTE GREINER
Svarte Greiner is the alter-ego of Erik Skodvin, crown prince of Norwegian doomscapes. Erik Skodvin is also 50% of Deaf Center, our favourite Type Records artist. He has meanwhile released two intriguing, immensely dark albums on Type: ‘Knive’ and his latest ‘Kappe’, the latter was with collaboration from Kjetil Moster from Ultralyd (check out their album on Load Records). That Svarte also makes music for installations should come as no surprise. So it was that he just recently did the sound design for ‘Interval II’, for British/Chinese artiest Siki Chan. Lastly, Boomkat about ‘Kappe’: "There's a real air of restraint about ‘Kappe’, and it's an album loaded with dark energy, always poised ambiguously between outright aural punishment and an impenetrably black chasm. A masterclass in organic, artful gloom."

9:00 pm XELA
Xela is the alter-ego of John Twells, ½ label-boss of the ever intriguing Type Records (see: Goldmund, Sickoakes, Midaircondo, Deaf Center…). He's a musical busy bee. His debut ‘Frosty Mornings And Summer Nights' already sounded impressive with its subtle mix of minimal clicks ‘n cuts, blown-away hip-hop beats and a dash of indie-rock. He also released ‘The Dead Sea’ - as a quickie on the City Centre Offices from Berlin (see also: Swod, etc.) - and his just recently released album is ‘In Bocca Al Lupo’, Latin for ‘In the mouth of the wolf’. Xela usually releases concept albums, so it happens that ‘In Bocca…’ is about fear and Christianity. Webzine Caleidoscoop wrote of it: "It grabs you by the throat, leaving you as devastated as just having seeing David Lynch's Eraserhead. Never before has Xela made such a heavy, compelling and dark piece. An unbelievable, indescribable aural experience." No real surprise if you know that Twells says he's influenced by the work of Italian masters-of-horror like Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci or American counterpart George A. Romero. He already made an impression at the Feeërieën with XELA and also as DJ behind the turntables during the first Type Records night at Domino in ’06. Welcome back John!

10:00 pm NICO MUHLY

What do Antony & The Johnsons, Björk and Kate Winslet all have in common (aside from the fact that two of the three adorn our laminated ‘laminated favourite one night stand list’)? Yup: it's American pianist Nico Muhly, who previously already worked with minimal composer Philip Glass (with whom he's often composed stage works & film scores). So you can hear Nico Muhly on the likes of Antony & The Johnsons' latest album ‘The Crying Light’ and the stunning EP ‘Another World’. You're a Björk fan? Then take a good look at the liner notes from ‘Medúlla’ or the score of Matthew Barney’s film ‘Drawing Restraint 9’ or ‘Volta’. Then we haven't even mentioned his work for Rufus Wainwright or Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. His albums for Iceland's Bedroom Community-label ('Speaks Volumes' and ‘Mothertongue’) are exceptionally intriguing. But they're especially filmy and have an extremely classical character. The film ‘The Reader’ is soon to be released in Belgian cinemas, has already been heaped with award nominations, is based on the novel by Bernhard Schlink, and has Kate Winslet (now we're there!) in the leading role. The soundtrack was provided by none less than Nico Muhly. Are you prepared for a particularly enchanting evening?

Nico Muhly - It Goes Without Saying