BRDCST is the outstanding indoor spring festival in which AB spotlights musical boundlessness. The name is a direct reference to the retro-futuristic, electronica-pop of the English band Broadcast, which released inspiring albums like ‘Haha Sound’ and ‘Noise Made By The People’ over the past decade. BRDCST focuses on artists who set great store by musical innovation. Our musical instinct does the rest.
BRDCST is proud to announce the final pieces of its programme. No less than 20 names were recently added. This brings the total to an impressive 50 artists. They will perform over five days. BRDCST has never looked so diverse: it will welcome artists from cities including Cairo, London, Istanbul, New York, Ljubljana, Berlin, Copenhagen, Chicago, Agadir, Lisbon and Sofia. From Danish female, black metal to London hip-hop influenced by jazz, from South African gqom to Turkish psychedelics, from hot-tempered footwork from Chicago to Bulgarian voices, from Japanese minimalism to Scottish hip-hop: BRDCST has never sounded so diverse.
A UNIQUE, EUROPEAN FIRST: LE MYSTÈRE DES VOIX BULGARES: SPECIAL GUESTS: LISA GERRARD
It seems like the world is embracing Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares once again. The reviews of their performance at Le Guess Who? at the end of last year were nothing short of ecstatic. Their brand-new single ‘Pora Sotunda’ appeared just before the end of the year with none other than LISA GERRARD (Dead Can Dance), a diehard fan. She once stated: "I saw them live and I just thought: that’s IT. That’s the top. You can’t go further." Lisa Gerrard also performed on Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares' new album, which will appear this spring, and she freed up her schedule in order to attend BRDCST. A true honour and a European first!
BRDCST GOES FOOTWORK
In the same way that techno will always be associated with Detroit, hip-hop with New York and grime with London, footwork will always be linked to its birthplace: Chicago. Footwork is a music genre and a form of extremely fast, battle-style street dance that originated in the 1990s (!) with a speed of 160 bpm. It incorporates lots of influences from house and techno. The major icons are undoubtedly pioneer R.P. Boo, the London label Hyperdub that provided the genre with international recognition via DJ Rashad, and Jlin and Jana Rush, whose superb albums grabbed a spot in many 'best of the year' lists in 2017. BRDCST proudly invited JANA RUSH, whose ‘Pariah’ was called "the best album to come out of Chicagoan footwork to date".
‘BRDCST FREE RIDE’: FREE CONCERTS IN AB SALON & BONNEFOOI
You're experiencing BRDCST agoraphobia but want to sample some of this festival of discovery? Welcome to our ‘BRDCST FREE RIDE’! AB Salon (Steenstraat 23) and music bar BONNEFOOI (Steenstraat 8) are the permanent base for discovering exciting and innovative sounds daily. In the past you may have seen Carla Dal Forno, Moor Mother, Les Filles De Illighadad, Barst or Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith at work. This year Bonnefooi will focus on the African diaspora with, amongst others, SCRAAATCH FEAT. MHYSA & LAWD KNOWS and the excellent footwork of JANA RUSH. It will also focus on the NON Worldwide collective (see: NKISI and the Congolese/Swiss BONAVENTURE who, according to The Fader, makes ‘confrontational’ music).
We keep things more intimate in AB Salon with the African minimalism of STELLA CHIWESHE, slow life music by TOMOKO SAUVAGE of Japan, who labels her own music as ‘Musique Hydromantique’, the young Belgian euphonium player NIELS VAN HEERTUM and the beautiful, pure (folksy) song writing of ERIC CHENAUX and AARON ROCHE who cannot resist injecting layers of avant-garde into their music. Aaron Roche released one of the most beautiful albums of 2017 entitled'HaHa HuHu’ (see also: Sufjan Stevens and ANOHNI). Imagine Sufjan Stevens's ‘Illinoise’ meeting electronic artist Fennesz.
You can expect wonderfully global sounds from Stella Chiweshe, the Egyptian NADAH EL SHAZLY - according to The Quietus "An Egyptian voice that will haunt your dreams for days." – and ŠIROM from Slovenia who appeals to fans of Terry Riley, Hauschka, folk and Sun Ra.
INDIE LABEL SPECIALS: BLACKEST EVER BLACK, GLITTERBEAT & NON WORLDWIDE
BRDCST has a huge weakness for headstrong, independent record labels. That's why we invite several intractable characters each year. In addition to the label in residence CONSOULING SOUNDS, this year we have included tak:til, Glitterbeat, HARBINGER SOUND (see: Sleaford Mods), Blackest Ever Black and NON Worldwide.
For years BRDCST has cherished the intriguing UK label BLACKEST EVER BLACK, a name borrowed from an album by noise terrorist Russell Hasswell & Florian Hecker from 2007. BEB has published more than 100 releases from artists like Raime, F Ingers (with Carla dal Forno), Killing Sound, Prurient, Regis and AF Ursin. The label presents a lovely cross-section of their non-existent auditory boundaries with CARLA DAL FORNO, SILVIA KASTEL, the Finnish Belgian AF URSIN and the dark jungle of PESSIMIST.
BRDCST also forged an alliance with one of the most interesting vibrant global sounds labels of the moment: GLITTERBEAT. Glitterbeat impressed us in recent years with particularly exciting ‘worldly’ albums from artists like Tamikrest, Bixiga 70, Noura Mint Seymali and Gaye Su Akyol from Turkey. The last few years we saw King Ayisoba on the programme and now we see the Turkish psychedelics of BABA ZULA, JOSHUA ABRAMS & NATURAL INFORMATION SOCIETY, ŠIROM, the Maghreb bass adventures of AMMAR 808 & THE MAGREB UNIT (Kel Assouf meets Bargou 08). In the future, the label will re-release older work from ‘the mbira queen of Zimbabwe’: STELLA CHIWESHE.
Finally, welcome in the Magical Sonic World of NON WORLDWIDE! A collective with African roots that puts electronic experimentation first. Their mission? ’A rejection of mass culture and existing political conditions.’ NON Worldwide was founded by Chino Amobi (USA), the Belgian/Congolese Nkisi (UK) and Angel-Ho (South Africa). They ‘were quickly established as a serious force, musically, politically and sonically’, according to The Wire. Those who enter the NON Worldwide universe, quickly discover intriguing and colourful figures like Faka, Farai, Mhysa, SCRAAATCH, Elysia Crampton, Rabit and the standard-bearer Chino Amobi. BRDCST was able to persuade a handful of NON-affiliated acts: CHINO AMOBI, NKISI, FAKA, SCRAAATCH and BONAVENTURE will all be there.
AN EVENING WITH/CURATED BY SLEAFORD MODS: THE LINE-UP
It's no wonder that Sleaford Mods invited lots of friends and musically radicalised artists for their curatorship. We asked Sleaford Mods to go the extra mile. Almost all the artists are linked to HARBINGER SOUND, the label founded by Sleaford Mods manager/boss (sic) Steve Underwood that mainly specialises in wonderfully brutal, underground post-punk and experimental noise. The label's most famous name? STEVE IGNORANT, founder of anarcho-punk band Crass to whom Sleaford Mods is indebted. Why? Check: their musical rawness and working class ideology. The rest of the programme is a pure voyage of discovery. How about the lo-fi synth punk of NACHTHEXEN, the hardcore noise of THE LOWEST FORM, the post-punk sounds of STRUCTURE or the DIY anti-folk with a Sleaford Mods slant of MARK WYNN, whose song ‘I Just Don’t Understand Nick Cave’ we loved instantly. Sleaford Mods delivers the final uppercut with the brutal hip-hop of JOHN PAUL. Thanks lads!
We wish you an exciting voyage of discovery full of musical revelations!
Kurt Overbergh
Artistic Director AB
