Bitch 'n' Monk press pack 2018€¦ · traditional Latin American flutes, unconventional vocals,...
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Contact Booking [email protected] +44(0)7597 009 168 Booking Netherlands [email protected] Biography Bitch 'n' Monk is the twinning of Colombian rebel flute-player Mauricio Velasierra and anarchic soprano and guitarist Heidi Heidelberg. Bringing together an unusual set of instruments; traditional Latin American flutes, unconventional vocals, electric guitar and bespoke electronics, they create a sound that is defiantly their own. The essence of their collaboration is encapsulated in the name; dark and light, feminine and masculine, punk and Romantic, free-form and intricately composed. Exploring extremes and creating contrast are fundamental to their work and thus they tread upon the edges of genres. Celebrated in the jazz, contemporary classical and DIY underground music scenes they have played across the UK and Europe, at prestigious venues and festivals such as the Royal Festival Hall, London, Manchester and Umea Jazz Festivals and Paris' La Cigale, but also they produce avant-garde live film scores performed at communist Italian skateparks or among the thorn bushes in overgrown East London gardens. Their insatiable curiosity has led them to explore new ways of composing and playing music, making it a challenge to describe their music as a particular style. Instead they call it "Fluid Form": music that may travel through intimate acoustic passages of explorative improvisation, to intricately-composed, distorted bass flute and operatic vocals over dance beats. They have performed across Europe and UK, including the London Jazz Festival, La Cigale (Paris) Sweden's Umea Jazz Festival and live on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction. In 2014 they released 'Fulafalonga' to critical acclaim and will be releasing 'We Are Peering Over' on Lotus Arts Box Records in 2016.
Transcript of Bitch 'n' Monk press pack 2018€¦ · traditional Latin American flutes, unconventional vocals,...
Contact
Booking [email protected] +44(0)7597 009 168
Booking Netherlands [email protected]
Biography
Bitch 'n' Monk is the twinning of Colombian rebel flute-player Mauricio Velasierra and anarchic soprano and guitarist Heidi Heidelberg. Bringing together an unusual set of instruments; traditional Latin American flutes, unconventional vocals, electric guitar and bespoke electronics, they create a sound that is defiantly their own.
The essence of their collaboration is encapsulated in the name; dark and light, feminine and masculine, punk and Romantic, free-form and intricately composed. Exploring extremes and creating contrast are fundamental to their work and thus they tread upon the edges of genres. Celebrated in the jazz, contemporary classical and DIY underground music scenes they have played across the UK and Europe, at prestigious venues and festivals such as the Royal Festival Hall, London, Manchester and Umea Jazz Festivals and Paris' La Cigale, but also they produce avant-garde live film scores performed at communist Italian skateparks or among the thorn bushes in overgrown East London gardens.
Their insatiable curiosity has led them to explore new ways of composing and playing music, making it a challenge to describe their music as a particular style. Instead they call it "Fluid Form": music that may travel through intimate acoustic passages of explorative improvisation, to intricately-composed, distorted bass flute and operatic vocals over dance beats.
They have performed across Europe and UK, including the London Jazz Festival, La Cigale (Paris) Sweden's Umea Jazz Festival and live on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction. In 2014 they released 'Fulafalonga' to critical acclaim and will be releasing 'We Are Peering Over' on Lotus Arts Box Records in 2016.
Press
THE GUARDIAN
"Special mention to the intriguing Anglo-Colombian duo Bitch 'n' Monk. The two transform their sound into junkyard electronica through the ingenious use of looping pedals. You’ll spend a while pondering how to classify them – prog folk? Operatic post-punk? Gothic reggae? – but they know how to write melodies."
THE ARTS DESK ***** (5 stars)
(http://www.theartsdesk.com/new-music/cd-bitch-n-monk-we-are-peering-over)
Work of uncompromising novelty - dense but exhilarating collages...an unmistakable sound-world of their own, but in many ways, their own genre.
Andean punk opera? Existentialist hip-hop? Their musical finesse enables them to charm as well as batter an audience.
Although their literary heft requires extensive narrative passages in songs of five or six minutes, Heidelberg’s quasi- operatic vocals are entrancing, and her control of volume and tone, especially at the delicate end of her range, is breathtaking...It’s angry, and in places bitter, and musically the sound bristles as much as it seduces...the overriding impression is of wonder, and a beautiful commitment to experimentation and novelty.”
THE QUIETUS http://thequietus.com/articles/15599-complete-communion-jazz-reviews-june)
"This poison apple sound of jazz, folk and classical is in bitter proximity to West Country trip-hoppers Portishead... It vibrates with the sort of wacky, joie de vivre tUnE-yArDs is prone to - and that ain't a bad thing.
“One bite of this will send you into a lovesick coma and give you an electrifying kiss of life all at once."
"Exquisite! A kaleidosope of musical styles." - BBC Radio 3 (Late Junction)
"I love this!" - Yoko Ono
"Subversively tropical avant-garde flute & nut" - Dom Servini (Wah Wah 45s)
JAZZISM MAGAZINE ****1/2 (4.5 stars)
“De musici zijn expressief en speels, de teksten krachtig en onvoorspelbaar, elegante en grove klanken worden afgewisseld. Heidelberg heeft een heldere, deels klassiek klinkende sopraan die de stukken extra dramatisch gewicht mee kan geven. Er wordt ook
flink geëxperimenteerd met klanken, nog het meest door Velasierra die een groot arsenaal aan fluiten hanteert.”
“Bitch ’n' Monk klinkt als geen andere groep en alleen al door de muzikale kwaliteit is het duo een mooie verrijking van het muzikale landschap.”
NPO - VRIJE GELUIDEN
http://www.nposoulenjazz.nl/vrijegeluiden/uitzending/326886
“It's very different, a bizarre combination of traditional Colombian music with a typical British girl with a Fender and a loop station. Sounded a bit like folk music and like Kate Bush and like the folky stuff by Sinead O Connor. And I heard this live at the Jazzdag at North Sea Round town there are 'show cases' and this was the English submission. And
“…I was totally blown off my socks. If you have the chance to see them live, really do so”
TINA EDWARDS (Jazz Standard/EZH Magazine/Worldwide FM)
Bitch ‘n’ Monk; perplexing Music Journalists everywhere. We Are Peering Over is a collection of nine unclassifiable rhapsodies. In a pairing that’s half Colombian and half British, the influences poured into Bitch ‘n’ Monk‘s new album provide a meeting point for crunchy electric guitar riffs and gymnastic flute melodies.
The human brain likes to categorise things; it’s in our nature. But with Bitch ‘n’ Monk we’re met with a conundrum; hippy afro punk? Ven sound art? Or perhaps simply post progressive? Trying to describe their sound is an acrobatic mind game. Good to know that Guardian Music, BBC, The Arts Desk and The Quietus have all had a stab at it.
“Every now and then, an act who dances on the perimeters of experimental music has the charm to lure in new, wider audiences. That’s especially the case for Bitch ‘n’ Monk.”
“...Heidi’s soaring, sometimes predatory vocals combined with her alluring beatboxing come together to mark a singer that isn’t afraid to express herself on this record. Alongside Mauricio, a Columbian flautist with a penchant for complimentary yet memorable melodies”
“...one of the most diverse and exciting acts to come out of the UK’s experimental scene in recent years.”
ALL ABOUT JAZZ ****1/2 (4.5 stars)
“Bitch 'n' Monk is clearly willing and able to take a few risks. It's a
strategy that succeeds…Velasierra adapts his flute playing to suit the varying moods and attitudes of the songs with skill.
Heidelberg is a fine vocalist: aggressive one moment, tender the
next — attitude in spades, a Slits for the new jazz age…
“…Bitch 'n' Monk establishes its credentials: emotionally raw, heart-on-its-sleeve, music from a duo full of ideas and the talent to see them fulfilled— inspired and inspiring.”
HELSINGBORGS DAGBLAD
https://www.hd.se/2017-11-26/gransoverskridande-duo
(Swedish)
Med elgitarr och flöjter som bas och en herrans massa loopstationer framförde de en musik
som hade sin grund i jazz och rock från 70- och 80-talen. Jag hörde ekon från Robert Fripps
gitarr-riff, Ian Andersons vilda flöjtande och Urszula Dudziaks jazzvokaliser.
“…Men det fanns mycket annat spännande i upptäcka i Bitch 'n' Monks
musik. Så de många genrebeteckningarna citerade ovan ger faktiskt en
passande bild av den mångfald av stilblandningar man ägnade sig åt.
Sedan är det alltid fascinerande att iaktta skickliga musiker i aktion. Att
studera hur de använde alla loopar utan att dessa blev till
självändamål.”
Trots att det bara handlade om två instrument lyckades de också variera klangbilden i det
oändliga och lät oftast som ett mycket större band med en full rytmsektion. Sedan visste man
aldrig riktigt vart musiken skulle ta vägen. Den upptäcktsfärden hade jag inte velat vara utan.
(English)
With electric guitars and flutes as bass and a host of massive loop stations, they performed a music based on jazz and rock from the 70's and 80's. I heard echoes from Robert Fripp's guitar rifle, Ian Anderson's wild flute and Urszula Dudziak's jazz vocalist.
“…But there was much more exciting to discover in Bitch 'n' Monks music. So the many genre cited above give a true picture of the diversity of style mixes that were devoted to. Then it is always fascinating to observe skilled musicians in action. To study how they used all loops without them becoming self-sufficient.”
Although it was only about two instruments, they also managed to vary the sound image in infinity and usually sounded like a much larger band with a full rhythm section. Then you never really knew where the music would take the road. I had not wanted to be without that.
DAGBLAD NOORDEN
https://www.dvhn.nl/cultuur/Slalommen-op-ZomerJazzFietsTour-23486478.html
(Dutch)
Zo kon je onbedoeld belanden in een boerenschuur in Sauwerd bij het Brits-Colombiaanse duo Bitch ‘n’ Monk. Zij op gitaar en zang, hij op de bamboefluit. Een vreemde combinatie, die verrassend goed uitpakte. Middels allerlei pedalen, effecten en loops mixten zij strakke human beats, Zuid-Amerikaanse ritmes, funky fusion en expressieve popsongs.
“Telkens creëerden ze nieuwe sferen voor geëngageerde nummers met plotselinge, goed getimede wendingen - van breekbaar naar
brutaal, van dwingende ritmes naar zweverige poëzie.”
Een koppeltje zwaluwen dat om beurten over het publiek scheerde naar een nest tsjirpende jongen droeg alleen maar bij aan de sfeer.
(English)
This way you could inadvertently end up in a farmer's barn in Sauwerd with the British-Colombian duo Bitch 'n' Monk. She on guitar and singing, he on the bamboo flute. A strange combination that turned out surprisingly well. Through various pedals, effects and loops they mix tight human beats, South American rhythms, funky fusion and expressive pop songs.
“Each time they created new spheres for committed songs with sudden, well-timed twists - from fragile to bold, from compelling rhythms to dense poetry.”
“A couple of swallows that skimmed over the audience in turn to a nest chirping boy only added to the atmosphere.
TONY BENJAMIN (BRISTOL POST)
“Starting with tunes, words – plus a flute and guitar – the Bitch’n’Monk duo somehow manage to go off somewhere completely unexpected at the slightest provocation. Heidi Heidelberg’s remarkable voice and Mauricio Velasierra’s pedal-processed Colombian flutes are equally versatile instruments, well-
matched to Heidi’s jazz-punk guitar, but
“…it’s their imagination that rules.
LA TUNDRA MAGAZINE http://www.latundra.com/bitch-n-monk
(English) "Bitch 'n' Monk is a duo of almost unpredictable sounds that awakens a new dimension where the ethereal exists side by side with experimental music, jazz and folk. Recommended by artists such as Yoko Ono and Ray Davies, it is impossible to resist their boundless energy.”
(Español)
"Bitch 'n' Monk es un dúo de sonidos casi impredecibles que
despierta a una nueva dimensión donde lo etéreo convive con lo experimental, el jazz y lo folk. Recomendado por artistas de la talla de Yoko Ono o Ray Davies resulta imposible no sucumbir
ante su energía desbordante.”
Previous dates include
ZomerJazzFietsTour, Groningen, NL ParadoxTilburg, Tilburg, NL Smederij, Groningen, NL
Pletterij, Haarlem, NL Bimhuis, Amsterdam, NL WORM, Rotterdam, NL
Huset, Aarlborg, DK Westwerk, Hamburg, DE
Dunkers Kulturhus, Helsingborg, SE Union Chapel, London, UK
Rich Mix, London, UK Vortex Jazz Club, London, UK
Colston Hall, Bristol UK Live on BBC Radio 3, London, UK
Islington Mill, Manchester, UK Live on BBC Radio 3, UK
La Cigale, Paris, FR Theater Walhalla, Rotterdam, NL London Jazz Festival, London, UK
Jazzdag, Rotterdam, NL Umea Jazz Festival, Umea, SE
Les Femmes s'en Mêlent Festival, Paris, FR Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Edinburgh, UK
Upcoming dates 2018
Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, NL - 29.09.18 Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, NL - 30.09.18 Dave Lombardo, Berlin, DE - 18.10.18
