We’re back this autumn with a fresh crop of new gigs! Three evenings of improvised music at our regular haunt Hundred Years Gallery in Hoxton…
Continuing our three-set format, each month LUME founders Dee Byrne and Cath Roberts will bring a project, and the third ‘guest’ set will feature some more of our favourite artists. There will be a solo set each month; from Cath Roberts in October, Will Glaser in November and Hannah Marshall in December. Multiple ‘first meeting’ duo sets will be played: Cath will play with Ruth Goller for the first time, while Dee will collaborate with Chris Williams (October) and Elliot Galvin (November).
New releases are also a theme. Our Swiss friends Oli Kuster and Cyrill Ferrari will play a set with Dee in November as part of the trio’s UK mini-tour to celebrate the release of their new album ‘Motherboard Pinball’ (Efpi Records). And in December, LUME will host the album release concert for ‘Hold Music’ by cr-ow-tr-io (Cath Roberts, Otto Willberg and Tullis Rennie), which will be out that month on Luminous.
Out today on Luminous is a new Sloth Racket live album! Recorded by Anton Hunter last September when the band were on tour, and mixed by Alex Bonney, it’s the whole set from their date at Arco Barco in Ramsgate. Check it out over on Bandcamp:
Like a million other bands, Sloth Racket had to cancel their tour this year, and this release falls where they would have been out and about playing live. It’s a digital only release, but this doesn’t mean there isn’t any merch: there was always a plan for new t-shirts in 2020 and we’ve decided to still go ahead…
The shirts are available in a bundle with the digital album. Head over to the merch page on Bandcamp to read more about the shirts and check the size guide.
Hope you enjoy the music! We have more Luminous plans up our sleeves, so you never know there just *might* be another release before the year is out.
LUME is on hiatus this Autumn while Cath and Dee are working hard on other projects. Two of these are particularly relevant this month, so here’s the lowdown…
Entropi Moment Frozen album launch
The eagerly-anticipated second album from Entropi, Moment Frozen, is released this month on Whirlwind Recordings. To celebrate the release, Dee is taking the band on a UK tour including a special album release show at Kings Place on Friday 29th September. It promises to be a lovely evening and a great chance to hear the band playing their new album on home turf. Tickets are moving fast, so we advise getting yours as soon as you can: they’re available from the Kings Place website.
LUME regulars will know that Entropi explores a narrative of life-pondering, space-gazing and risk-taking through Dee’s striking compositions. Juggling order and chaos, composed material and improvisation, the group takes listeners on a journey with compelling group interplay, strong themes, dark grooves and interweaving melodic textures. Joining Dee in the band are four fantastic musicians, all of whom are in demand on the UK scene and beyond. It makes for a heavyweight lineup:
Dee Byrne alto saxophone Andre Canniere trumpet Rebecca Nash keyboard Matt Fisher drums Olie Brice bass
This gig will be something of a LUME social, so we’d love it if you can join us. Make sure you’re part of it by buying your tickets now!
Favourite Animals large ensemble album crowdfunder
While Dee is releasing and touring a new album this month, Cath is in the midst of the production of her own. Favourite Animals, the ten piece group originally formed for Cath’s residency at Lancaster Jazz Festival last year, went into the studio this August with Alex Bonney. They spent three days working at City, Uinversity of London – thanks to trombonist Tullis Rennie who works as a lecturer there – and recorded new versions of all the music from the Lancaster commission.
Favourite Animals is an extended version of Cath’s regular band Sloth Racket. The ten piece version adds woodwind and brass, and just generally more improvisers:
Graham South – trumpet Tullis Rennie – trombone Julie Kjær – flute/bass clarinet Tom Ward – flute/bass clarinet Dee Byrne – alto saxophone Sam Andreae – tenor saxophone Cath Roberts – baritone saxophone Anton Hunter – guitar Seth Bennett – bass Johnny Hunter – drums
With a set of great takes waiting patiently on a hard drive, the next stage is raising the money to get the album out there. Cath is running a crowdfunding campaign this month to cover the musicians and engineers’ fees, the mixing and mastering, and the production of physical CD albums. The plan is to release the album on Luminous this December, to coincide with Favourite Animals’ joint tour with Article XI. With your help, we can finish the Luminous year with our most ambitious release to date! Check out the campaign page for more info about the project, photos from the session, and lots of backer perks to get your hands on…
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading, and keep any eye on the LUME social media channels through the month for more about these projects and some extremely exciting giveaways…
A second incarnation of the LUMEkestra will emerge to play the closing set of LUME Festival 2017. This behemoth of a band will debut new compositions by Sam Andreae, Adam Fairhall, Dee Byrne and more to be announced. Check out the line-up below!
Reeds
Sam Andreae – alto saxophone
Dee Byrne – alto saxophone
Rachel Musson – tenor saxophone
Cath Roberts – baritone saxophone
Tom Ward – bass clarinet
Colin Webster – saxophone
Brass
Tullis Rennie – trombone
Keys
Adam Fairhall
Rebecca Nash
Guitar
Paulo Dias Duarte
Anton Hunter
Ed Riches
Vibes/percussion/other small instruments
Martin Pyne
Corey Mwamba
Bass
Seth Bennett
Olie Brice
Tim Fairhall
Drums/percussion
Matt Fisher
Johnny Hunter
Andrew Lisle
(Photo from the first LUMEkestra gig at London Jazz Festival 2016)
The second LUME Festival is taking place at IKLECTIK on the weekend of 24th/25th June. This year’s event will be a two-dayer, with a host of LUME’s favourite artists on the bill. Join us for two days of spontaneous musical explorations, collaborations old and new, live painting from Gina Southgate and all round good times!
Saturday: The Hat Speaks // Alex Bonney solo // Ma/ti/om // Archipelago // Sloth Racket // Corey Mwamba (LUME Lab Festival Special) // Gina Southgate
Sunday: The Hat Speaks // Tullis Rennie solo // Birchall/Cheetham/Webster/Willberg // Entropi // Metamorphic // LUMEkestra //Gina Southgate
‘A glimpse of the kind of self-generated, mutually supportive communities we’re going to need if we’re to survive the years ahead.’– Daniel Spicer, The Wire
‘Like all the best family get togethers LUME Festival should be an annual event. This debut was outstanding.’– Thomas Rees, Jazzwise
Quick post to share Dan Paton’s photo of the LUMEkestra in action last night at IKLECTIK. It was a fantastic night: the venue was packed out, good times were had and new music was made. There will be more…..see you next time!
Regular LUME gigs are on hiatus until 2017, but we’ve coaxed the LUMEfish off its sofa and put together a special one-off show as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival. Convening at IKLECTIK on Monday 14th November will be the first incarnation of the LUMEkestra, our brand new large ensemble project. Featuring:
Trumpet
Kim Macari
Saxes
Dee Byrne
Cath Roberts
Colin Webster
Julie Kjaer
Oliver Dover
Tom Ward
Trombone
Tullis Rennie
Guitars
Anton Hunter
Paulo Duarte
Keys
Adam Fairhall
Rebecca Nash
Vibes
Martin Pyne
Basses
Dave Kane
Olie Brice
Tim Fairhall
Drums
Johnny Hunter
Matt Fisher
Supporting this behemoth will be our very own Dee Byrne’s space-jazz quintet Entropi and Ripsaw Catfish, the duo of Anton Hunter and Cath Roberts (also our very own).
Doors are at 7.30pm and the music will start at 8pm sharp! Tickets are available now from the Luminous Bandcamp site.
