Jason Sharp + Failed System Test
Entry Requirements: Over 18s only
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A mainstay of Montreal’s avant-jazz, experimental and improv music community for many years, Jason Sharp is a saxophonist and electro-acoustic composer whose increasing focus on solo work since 2015 has yielded an intense and immersive corpus of music that fuses technology and the human body. Sharp blends a mastery of extended saxophone technique with customised microphones and electronics that translate his horn, breath and physical pulse into an array of triggers, samples and modular synthesis –resulting in formidable, visceral, highly evocative and unfailingly musical works of electroacoustic biofeedback. Across three albums for iconic experimental music label Constellation, Sharp has been charting a singular soundworld embedded in his unique composition al processes, which rely on a combination of exceptional instrumental performance on baritone and bass saxophones, prefiguration/configuration of bespoke technology, discipline/control of corporeal bloodflow, and responsiveness to the stochastic variability of each performative iteration.
"Mind-blowing. Cerebral music that beats the heart. Sharp reaches heights through a precise approach to structure and narrative, an obsession with keeping some unspoken atmosphere at the centre." - Norman
"Sharp’s reed tones create electro-acoustic undulations like a lonesome craft. He boils down the detritus of fragmented abstraction to its molten essence." - Jazzwise
"Sharp synthesises his array of influences into a distinctive style of electroacoustic music. Pulse plays a key role, as does artful sampling and jabs of John Carpenter-esque synth. Sharp’s saxophones appear too, while his toolbox of crystalline processed sounds does the musical heavy lifting, leading to microscopic detail and alien timbres." - The Wire
Using Saxophone, Bass and Electronics, Sonia Killmann and Aidan Lochrin create live ambient soundscapes. Most of the tunes are co-written and performed using improvisation. They have performed at various Glasgow venues, such as the Old Hairdressers and have kept up producing music during the COVID-19 lockdown. Following the release of their first album "System_Test.exe", Sonia and Aidan also released a second EP {unshift} with the independent label Dead Hound Records. Since then, they created an audiovisual set for Cryptic's Sonica festival in 2022, which was performed on the 12th of March that year. The performance can be found on YouTube, Bandcamp and Spotify. Failed System Test also features on independent Scottish radio stations, such as Clydebuilt Radio.
Access Guide and Tickets for Personal Assistants
You can view/download The Glad Cafe's Access Guide here. If you require a ticket for a Personal Assistant/Gig Buddy (at no extra cost), please contact kim@thegladcafe.co.uk.