D/B presents: THE WHALE WATCHING TOUR live in Berlin / feat. Sam Amidon, Ben Frost, Nico Muhly & Valgeir Sigurðsson
Posted on | August 7, 2010 | 3 Comments
Between them they have worked with everyone from Björk, Grizzly Bear and Bonnie Prince Billy to Coco Rosie, Múm and Philip Glass. Now THE WHALE WATCHING TOUR unites Sam Amidon, Ben Frost, Nico Muhly & Valgeir Sigurðsson on one stage and brings them to Berlin for a very special concert.
A quartet of extraordinary musicians at Admiralspalast on Sunday 15th August. Digital in Berlin highly recommended.
After three years of concerts, collaborations and acclaimed album releases, the Bedroom Community is heading out together for a trek across Europe. More than just a series of concerts, this tour is an extension of the ongoing musical exchange between these diverse artists. Disparate musical backgrounds will coexist and collide as Valgeir, Nico, Ben and Sam perform music from their catalogues, as well as introducing new and previously unreleased material.
BEN FROST / photo by mina
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“…simply awesome… Frost reminds us that minimalism was never just the polished sheen of Reich and Glass, but also the sweat and grime of Michael Gira’s Swans… A deeper, darker minimalism- menacing and claustrophobic… This is Arvo Pärt as arranged by Trent Reznor… Magnificent”
THE WIRE Magazine about BEN FROST
The program will be constructed in true Bedroom Community fashion, where all the artists will contribute to each other’s music on stage, akin to their many studio collaborations. The set will flow undivided between Nico’s twitchy modern compositions, Valgeir’s surgical acoustic-electronica, Ben’s vast noise-scapes and Sam’s traditional tunes and murder ballads.
Video by Pierre-Alain Giraud and Stuart Rogers
To aid the creation of this remarkable amalgam of genres on The Whale Watching Tour will be a quartet of extraordinary musicians; Nadia Sirota (viola), Una Sveinbjarnardóttir (violin), Borgar Magnason (double-bass), Helgi Hrafn Jónsson (trombone and vocals), all of whom have all recorded and toured with the four headliners.
Nico Muhly / photography by Dot Hong
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“Nico Muhly’s range is expansive, the relationship between the emotional seriousness of his music and its boundless sense of humor is complex and rewarding” Fader Magazine
Nico Muhly quickly made a name for himself in classical music as well as other musical genres after graduating from the Juilliard School with a degree in composition. He has amassed a highly impressive resumé including commissions from orchestras around the world and arrangements work for Antony, Björk, Grizzly Bear, Rufus Wainwright and many more. He has worked extensively for Philip Glass as conductor and has scored several major films including the Oscar winning movie The Reader.
VALGEIR SIGURÐSSON / photo by sigga sunna / edit by samantha west
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“Valgeir Sigurðsson is the most welcoming and thoughtful of hosts and, as he leads his companions through various narratives, he orchestrates one of the most exhilarating and perfect records you’ll hear this year.” The Milk Factory
Valgeir Sigurðsson made his mark as an artist with the release of his debut album Ekvílibríum in 2007. He has made a notable contribution to the music of an array of leading artists as producer and collaborator (Björk, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, CocoRosie, múm) and is the owner and founder of the Bedroom Community label and Greenhouse Recording Studios. As a producer and collaborator he has worked in various genres of music while his own style often shifts between, or combines, post-classical and electronic music.
Sam Amidon / photography by Stef Lewandowski
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“These songs inhabit their own world, closed off from the rest of humanity… Amidon doesn’t just update the old world to the new, but finds the roots of the new world in the old.” Pitchfork about SAM AMIDON
Singer-banjoist Sam Amidon’s repertoire is made up of re-arranged American folk songs, a skill on which he proves himself to be a unique talent, drawing simultaneously on his experiences growing up a child of folk musicians in Vermont, and his more recent work in New York with the experimental indie-rock bands Doveman and Stars Like Fleas. From an early age Sam learned to sing and play the fiddle, later adding the guitar and banjo to his flock of instruments.
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THE WHALE WATCHING TOUR / LIVE
with Sam Amidon, Ben Frost, Nico Muhly & Valgeir Sigurðsson
Sunday, 15. August 2010 / 21:00 CET
Admiralspalast / Friedrichstraße 101 / 10117 Berlin/Mitte
www.admiralspalast.de | http://www.bedroomcommunity.net
Tags: Admiralspalast > Bedroom Community > Ben Frost > D/B Recommended > Nico Muhly > Sam Amidon > Valgeir Sigurðsson
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3 Responses to “D/B presents: THE WHALE WATCHING TOUR live in Berlin / feat. Sam Amidon, Ben Frost, Nico Muhly & Valgeir Sigurðsson”
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D/B is the digital Guide for serious music lovers and adventures. New and quality music – away from mainstream, pop-culture and the convent- ional society; we report on the most breathtaking city in Europe. Because the destiny of Berlin is a continuous journey with out ever arriving.
March 18th, 2010 @ 3:58 pm
Amazing show! I saw them last year in Lisbon and it was definitely one of the most interesting performances I saw last year. Highly recomended!
March 18th, 2010 @ 4:02 pm
Hey, many thanks, we are really curious and looking forward to see the Performance. Kind regards, MR
April 17th, 2010 @ 1:58 pm
the gig has been postponed to august 15, 2010.
please read the statement by valgeir sigurðsson
***
Dear all.
As you know, there is a severe volcanic eruption in Iceland, my homeland and the home of the Bedroom Community label. The eruption is sending a volcanic ash cloud drifting across the skies of Europe and this is upsetting air-travellers’ plans literally everywhere. Before I get to the point of this message I want to pause for a second and remind us all that things could be worse. The devastating effects of some previous eruptions and more recent natural disasters have not hit, and hopefully will not. Hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes as water carried pieces of ice the size of small houses down the mountain, but people are safe.
For months we at Bedroom Community have been looking forward to our big adventure; The Whale Watching Tour which is due to kick off in Berlin tomorrow, Sunday 18th April. Countless hours of hard work have been put into making this ambitious tour a reality, by many many people. The touring party consists 14 people, musicians, crew, drivers, most of whom are travelling from Reykjavík and New York. According to plans were all supposed to have arrived in Berlin already by the time you will be reading this.
Ever since news about the eruption came we have all been working very hard towards not letting the volcano upset our plans. Yesterday it was looking very likely that this could work out and the tour kick off as planned. Then we started getting news about cancelled flights, airport closures, waiting lists, trouble. There is no easy way to sum up the twist this has put on our plans, every hour there has been a change, a new turn of events, an ash-cloud disrupting somewhere.
Nobody takes it lightly that a few moments ago we had to make a call on cancelling the first two shows of the tour: Berlin on Sunday the 18th, and Gent on the 19th. It is clear that we can not even get a fraction of the touring party to these places in time. We are hoping to be able to work with the local promoters on rescheduling any missed shows for later, but more on that as the news unfold.
We are now aiming for everyone to come together in London on the 20th, and play the show as planned at The Barbican. At the time of writing this looks possible.
Thank you all for your understanding.
Valgeir Sigurðsson,
on behalf of everyone at Bedroom Community.