After a quiet couple of months preparing some new material plus a whole new live set based on using only open-source softwares, I will be taking One Man Nation back to Spain and the Basque Country.  Exciting stuff as this coming week as I will get to see Valencia for the first time with a concert at Magatzems followed by a return to the FIM festival in Bilbao, meaning a week of giving workshops and performing with some extraordinary dancers and musicians.  All this will climax on Saturday the 08th of Nov as One Man Nation will perform at the first of 3 experimental music/art/computing festivals, the noise infested MEM festival in Bilbao.  End of Nov will be the Makeart Festival 08 in Pointiers France (28/11/08) followed the week after with Piksel 08 in Bergen (05/12/08).

Links

Magatzems - http://www.magatzems.net/
L’mono/FIM - http://www.l-mono.org/
MEM - http://www.musicaexmachina.com/mem08/programa.shtml
Makeart - http://makeart.goto10.org/2008/
Piksel - http://www.piksel.no/piksel08/

Till then,
Marc

Upon arrival in Berlin, I had a few days off to relax and enjoy the summer at a secluded syrphe infested beach (pun intended) before heading to the Staalplaat to carry out the sonic destruction with another abstract noise creator Pato.   This concert was the opening for Cambriolage, an exhibition by Emilie Schalck and Stephane Despax.  The exhibition set the tone for the night, this time, the Sistiaga visuals were not alone as the backdrop also featured visuals of the exhibit.

Goodbye to good friends and made some new ones as well as we bid goodbye to Berlin and flew into the open arms of Kristaps in Riga.  Most shocking of all was upon arrival in Riga airport, we didn’t even make it further than the 10 meters from the exit of the plan before our organizer Kristaps greeted us.  Yes, we saw him even before we saw our baggage!

It was nice this time to see the sun in a city which only see less than a month of rainless days per year.  But before we embarked on tourism in yet another city, we hopped on a bus and went to the next destination expecting this troupe - Kuldiga.  It was back to the Zabadaks DIY Centre!  Having a few days off was a well needed one, and where better than the little historical town of Kuldiga to spend it under Europe’s Longest Waterfall (note: longest, doesn’t mean montrous!).  The show itself at Zabadaks was not one of the more well received ones and technical problems didn’t help of course, better you enjoy the massage under the rushing currents like ladies in middle photo below!

After almost a week of laying back and absorbing rural, we got a lift from Edgars (Spanis) back into concrete civilazation named Riga…  But again, we will not be there for long as the next leg of the tour brings us for just 2 days to Tampere Finland.

We take the cheapest flight we could find and met up with Ilmari of the dark ambient band Älymystö.  The show was in a renovated ex-Karaoke bar named Dog’s Home.  It was the hotspot for the local goths to gather.  The concert was great, full house, well all the tables were full, but strange in the sense that everyone was seated at their tables watching intensely.  I didn’t really know what they thought of the show, but for me, I felt like a crooner!

Quick and easy, left on Tuesday, back on Thursday from civilization returning into the countryside for the highlight of this tour.  Heading to the middle of nowhere, One Man Nation had the wonderful opportunity of performing for legendary Latvian industrial organization STURM.  Folklore has it that the old Soviet military bunkers were turned into Sunday afternoon concert/party places by the same people who are organizing the Kucval, which means cattle ranch in Latvian.  The name of the even was called this simply because it takes place at one, or rather the stage on top of the ranch and the bar is literally where the cattle used to feed!  Photos will tell this story better than any Rushdie book…

Ok some short little descriptions from left, (1) to give a general impression, a graveyard of what was once trees.  (2) the stage in the day, visible rubble is catered for audience.  (3) Stage at night during performance.  (4 & 5) General area around Kucval after the sun goes down…

Saying farewell to Latvia was difficult, but well, all good things they say…  You know the rest.  Back to Berlin after that, no shows this time but spent the 2 days there working with Richard Scott on our material as well as the videos of our performance for STEIM in May.  After all was said and done, it was back to the house of wagons in Cologne!

A frightening flight it was from Berlin to Cologne, turbulance throughout, funny in retrospect (if alive to be retrospective in the first place), it was a chilling flight, worse yet, the last one of the tour.  Alas, we arrived safe.  Returning to the Bauwagenplatz in Cologne was nice, this year, our friend Sebastian who organized the shows there last year as well, has since gotten himself a nice old circus wagon and joined the ranks of inhabitants (he was in a lonely apartment in suburbia the previous time we met).  The show went well, but as with most of the tour, it was meeting up with familiar faces as well as visiting new and extremely interesting places that keeps me craving for more!  So, till next time,

Links And Things

Staalplaat Record Shop - http://www.lepetitmignon.de/
Cambriolage - http://www.cambriolage.org/
Zabadaks DIY Center - http://www.nekac.lv
Älymystö - http://www.alymysto.com/
STRUM - http://www.sturm.lv/
Bauwagenplatz Cologne - http://www.bwp-koeln.de/

In the pipeline are plans for an extended tour next March which will
stretch from Hamburg through Prague to Austria. So far, many of the
shows are already confirmed, so check back on the site (or don’t since
I seem to spam subscribers to this newsletter enough!) for dates and
venues.

So last weeks gig on board the MS Stubnitz was a blast! Besides
having the opportunity to play on board this infamous party liner, I
also had the wonderful opportunity of sharing the stage with Tarek
Atoui (http://asa-djinnia.com/). Much thanks to Taku
(www.djsniff.com) from STEIM (www.steim.nl) for organizing this. I
have uploaded the videos so if your interested, follow the links below,

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Forgive some of the clicks and sound quality, something happened with
the recordings…

For now,
Marc

OUTSIDERS COLLECTIVE
Outsiders Collective, conceptualized in Porto with fellow conspirators of the Soopa collective, we’ve decided to start a mailing list for music(ians), concert organizers/go-ers, and everyone else interested in music that genres avoided like the plague to basically find each other in this (anti) social experiment.  To subscribe go here.

UPCOMING PROJECTS
A few new collaborations have been spawned over the past year which has little or no reports about.  Forced into collaborating at 2007’s FIM festival in Bilbao, Richard Scott and I have since continued working together as a duo making non-looping rhythmic music choked full of squelchy analogous synthesia…  Videos of a performance organized by STEIM in May 2008 at Mediamatic Amsterdam will be online very very soon.  For more information about Richard Scott.

IN THE PIPELINE
An upcoming collaboration with mechanical orchestra conductor Pierre Bastien as well as another collaboration with STEIM programmer DJ Sniff.  More on these once things have actually begin.

Work on a new One Man Nation release is also planned for 2009, the basic tracks and ideas are down and dirty, and Syrphe Records has already voiced intentions of releasing it.

REVIEWS
Speaking of Syrphe Records, there are 4 brand new releases coming up (if not out already), available through their website.  3 of the releases feature label head C-drik collaborating with musicians from Slovenia (Aluviana), Israel (Seventeen Migs Of Spring) and Japan (Contagious Orgasm).  The forth release, Pangaea Noise, seems somewhat a follow-up to Beyond Ignorance And Borders, the first international noise compilation to feature musicians from Africa, Middle-East and Asia on one CD.  Monk Mink Pink Punk recently wrote a review of Beyond Ignorance And Borders HERE.

Below is the flyer for next Saturdays festival in the middle of
nowhere, the wooden structure you see is the stage for the performances. Sounds exciting already!

Porto was a wonderful surprise with the “Super people at Soopa” making the stay delightfully relaxing and the city itself provided much for the lenses of my camera.  The concert at Casa Viva was also part of the whole nice surprise with more than the expected number of enthusiastic audience turning up and lending a ear.  The concert space also provided an unexpected prop, or rather instrument for the performance, a battered battery set against the battered backdrop of the decadent interiors gave me the opportunity to play the drummer I have always wanted to be.  Adding to the ear ache was Portugese dark ambient act PS of Porto’s first net label Enough Records.

After the solitary show in Portugal, I set forth North into the mystical mountains of Galicia and presented the performance in the ancient city of Santiago.  Being the conclusion for many pilgrims as they end their long march at the foot of the main cathedral, the only symbolism this brings is the marking of the second show on this tour.  Sharing the stage with synthetic noise maker Duran Vaquez, this night turned out to be a blast with the help of much coffee liquor and Galician wines.

Hitching a ride further North to A Coruna, what was intended as a tourist visit turned out to be an unplanned show to almost 50 people on a Monday night!  With the collective effort of Cesar, Conni, Lucia and Sande, a last minute concert was put on for “the traveling musician from Singapore” at a new (and only) squat in A Coruna - Casa das Atochas.  I would like to publicly wish Cesar and Conni the best for their planned move from the wilderness in Galicia to an even more remote region in Asturias attempting to forge closer towards a completely self-sufficienct life.

Next on the list was a revisit to the Xiz Bar in Gijon.  It proved to be as expected, with audiences from last year returning as audiences again.  As before, it is always nice to play in this city and I am pretty sure I will be back again, even if not to play, I will be back for the amazing beaches along the Northern Asturian coast!  Special thanks to Nacho at Green Mammoth for making it all happen, bar, beach and bananas!

Back to Bil!  Back to Bil!  The magic of Bilbao continues in 2008 with 2 shows where I did improvised performances with dancers, bringing back the memories of the FIM festival last year at L’Mono.  The first concert was not really a concert, but more like a private session for those involved to create an indescribable atmostphere where the dancers, video artist and musicians all moved as a whole.  The sets were intense, going beyond merely playing off the dancers of dancers dancing to music, it was communication at its best where one could not exist without the other.  The second night of performances was open to the public and saw the addition of local sound and video artists to the performance fray.  Turning out to be more than just an experimental dance or music night, the role call of the day epitomises the term experimental concert with its inclusion of a performance by 3 string puppet masters doing Sinatra impersonations!  Special thanks to Olaff, Inoa, Ines, Santi and all the dancers that participated.

Last stop in Spain - Barcelona.  Another repeat concert at the NIU gallery in Barcelona with support C-utter was unfortunately on the same night as Mogwai, The Sex Pistols and Bruce Sringsteen.  Not that all 90,000 of those people would have come to the NIU but maybe more than the 8 that did make it?  Still, meeting the old friends and walking around the few nights a year that Barcelona is a ghost town was nice.  And of course discovering that One Man Nation made it on to the Fuck The Bastards Vol.2 compilation was also a nice surprise.  Do check out the FTB radio show which I played and screamed for half an hour in the sweltering heat of the broadcast booth at Radio Bronka, links below!  Shout out to Kike for all would’ve been impossible if not for him!

Click here to listen to the full performance on the FTB Radio program (in Spanish, live set stars 20 minutes into the show)

Links in chronological order of discovery

The wonderful people at Soopa - www.soopa.org
Casa Viva Porto - casa-viva.blogspot.com
Enough Records - enoughrecords.scene.org
DF Arte - www.dfarte.com
Durán Vazquez - www.myspace.com/durnvzquez
Casa das Atochas - aculturapreokupa.blogaliza.org
Green Mammoth Productions - www.myspace.com/greenmammoth666
Xiz Bar - www.myspace.com/xizbar
L’mono - www.l-mono.org
C-utter - www.myspace.com/elladooscuro
Fuck The Bastards Radio Show - www.radiobronka.info/ftb

- One Man Nation tour has reached Gijon since then, a welcome return to the Xiz Bar a year after.

- Further confirmation of a show in Cologne for the 15/08/08.

Signing off.

Next OMN show will be a return to the Xiz Bar in Gijon this Saturday, followed by some improvised concerts at L’ Mono art space in Bilbao.  check back soon for constant updates, I will post regularly here anything related to OMN and the tour.

Off.