The Audio Foundation is thrilled to present Now! Here! This! – Ōtepoti.

Now! Here! This! Festival is making its way down the country, with the latest installment held in the depths of Ōtepoti from August 26 – 28. The 3 day festival is part of the re-invention of the popular Altmusic programme, which has seen regular tours by legendary artists of experimental music and sound art tour Aotearoa over the past decade. With the advent of Covid 19 and the impossibility of international visitors the Altmusic programme has been transformed to present 3 day festivals in Christchurch, Dunedin and Wellington in addition to the regular festival in Auckland.

Curated by local dastardly duo Sewage (Ro Rushton-Green & Gabriel Griffin), Ōtepoti will be blessed across 3 nights and one day with experimental sound and adventurous music by a huge roster of visiting and local artists, hosted at the New Athenaeum Theatre and Lodge Maori.

More info, including full programme, artist bios and links: http://www.audiofoundation.org.nz/programmes/altmusic/now-here-this-otepoti

Saturday 28 August– 2-6PM at Lodge Maori

– L$D Fundraiser + GRVDGGR + Jim-S
– Citacsy-D + Beth Hilton
– GRVDGGR + Crude + Paul Blanchard
– Reuben Derrick
– Bodyache

$10 at the door
 
L$D FUNDRAISER
Dene Barnes (Wolfskull, Spacewolf 2, PSI Division) has been working consistently under his solo, L$D FUNDRAISER, moniker since the mid-2000s, delivering chunks of sonic experimentation, drone, noise, ambient, and “uneasy listening” psychedelia via labels such as Heavy Space, Root Don Lonie for Cash, Pseudo Arcana, CocoMuse, Chemical Imbalance, mf/mp, Ilam Press Records, Independant Woman and  his own tape label, Long Slow Comfortable Screw Against the Wall. Based in Ōtepoti/Dunedin, his free-noise/drone agenda is rooted in tape manipulation, bricolage and noise-aesthetics.

 
GRVDGGR
Brendan Jon Philip AKA Grvdggr plays bass with Wolfskull.

 
JIM-S

Jimmy Solórzano is an electronic musician and sound artist from Guadalajara, México. He holds a Bachelor of Audio Engineering from SAE Institute in Mexico City, and has been active as a recording engineer and music producer since 2015. Throughout 2020 Jimmy has worked as the in-house technician at the Audio Foundation, as well as developing bespoke electronic musical devices and workshops for the Musical Electronics Library. His principal creative focuses are performative and generative electronic music and his recent work has explored creative means of incorporating natural sounds into installation and performance contexts, as well as the development of different forms of psychoacoustic expression.

 
CITACSY-D

Citacsy-D and Citacsy-T are the mutant twin project of Tash van Schaardenburg; on one shoulder sits a chimera of ambient journeys that spins synthesis between live sound sculpting of biographical field recordings and sonorous electronic noise ; On the other shoulder squats a gremlin sheltered under an umbrella of experimental techno, who relishes in the cathartic qualities of the club through somatic sonics, and mimicry of the percussive racket of urban life.
 
BETH HILTON

Beth Hilton is an Ōtepoti based visual and sound artist whose work explores architectural compositions, both sonic and visual.  Her sound works are quiet studies of textures and space, an extension of her visual practise, embracing the notions of impermanence and atrophy. Beth has previously worked under the name Satori since 2012, performing live expanded cinema as audio/visual collaborations with sound artists.

CRUDE
Matt Middleton (Crude) brings 25 years of sound experimentation to the
table. 25 years of increasingly abstract, increasingly minimalist
musics. 25 years of voluntary simplicity and fringe dwelling. Major
utilizer of vintage synth over the years. Famous for releases on
flying nun and ecstatic peace, Middleton’s more adventurous recordings
are now propagated via bandcamp. As an improviser Middleton engages
the audience with a direct visceral interpretation of anxiety,
dislocation or disassociation, trance and linguistic repetition.

 
PAUL BLANCHARD

Paul Blanchard plays as one half of Vow Cave.

 
REUBEN DERRICK
Reuben Derrick is a saxophonist, clarinettist and composer. His ongoing projects in New Zealand include various and eclectic creative music groups, sound design, as well as multi-disciplinary collaboration. He is a member of the Cantabrian Society of Sonic Artists for which he hosts visiting artists and facilitates experimental music events.
Recently Reuben performed in Sydney and Melbourne with Baliphonics and the Australian Art Orchestra; Vienna, Ljubljana and Zagreb with Irene Kepl (2019); The Nowhere Festival (Auckland, 2018); Radio Asia Festival with Baliphonics (Warsaw, 2018) and at the Music Matters Festival (Colombo, 2016) with Sri Lankan folk musicians and other international artists. He was awarded a fellowship to the Music Omi residency (New York, 2015), where he collaborated with 13 other musicians from around the world.
Reuben’s Doctor of Musical Arts research Acoustic illuminations: recorded space as soundscape composition (University of Canterbury 2014) draws upon field recording and improvisation. This work featured soundscapes in New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka.
 
BODYACHE
Bodyache is a noise project fronted by Russian born and Pōneke based multi instrumentalist and visual artist Olga Lapin (She/her). Bodyache was conceived in Ōtautahi during 2018 and has since released grindcore infused harsh noise EPs. Bodyache takes a more stripped down and textural approach to live sound, switching the conventional live band dynamic into a more emotional and cathartic experience.