Ben Frost’s music is about contrast. Influenced as much by classical minimalism as by rock & metal, Frost’s throbbing guitar-based textures emerge from nothing and slowly coalesce into huge, forbidding forms that often eschew conventional structures in favor of the inevitable unfoldings of vast mechanical systems.
His compositions are created with an acute awareness of the listener and their comfort thresholds, exploiting every extreme of pitch and volume. Ben is one of a handfull of artists to have been selected to take part in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative for 2011.
Ben Frost | Venter
On albums like Steel Wound, released on the Room40 label in 2003 (Pitchfork: “An exemplary ambient experience”) and Theory of Machines on Bedroom Community in 2007 (Boomkat: “The Future of electronic music…”) Frost’s music is more than a cerebral exercise and has an undeniable visceral presence, felt as much as heard.
One of Frost’s projects is a rework of Tarkovky’s Solaris which he is doing together with fellow Bedroom Community artist Daníel Bjarnason and Krakow’s 28 piece ensemble the Sinfonietta Cracovia.
Ben Frost | Aurora I
His notorious, building-shaking performances at international festivals including Montreal’s famed MUTEK combine amplified electronics with the furious thrashing of live guitars. Frost himself has been described as “one of the most interesting and groundbreaking producers in the world today.” (Boomkat).
His music’s intense physicality has filled gallery spaces and driven contemporary dance productions by Chunky Move, the Icelandic Dance Company, and coreographer Erna Ómarsdottír.
Ben Frost | Aurora II
“…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
The massive scale of Frost’s music often projects a sense of remoteness and isolation and yet he remains in demand as an artistic collaborator, having performed and worked with/for artists as diverse and acclaimed as Stars Like Fleas, Tim Hecker, Björk, Amiina, Crowpath, Wildbirds and Peacedrums and Jóhann Jóhannsson.
Circuit des Yeux | Lithonia
http://vimeo.com/84060457
At just 22 years old, Indiana’s Haley Fohr aka Circuit des Yeux has already undergone the sort of transformation that scarcely strikes musicians two or three times her age.
The release this year of Portrait, her third solo album as Circuit des Yeux (in addition to two EP releases — all on the long-running Minneapolis art-rock label De Stijl), reveals a singer-songwriter with the incredibly rare power of immediate communication.
Circuit des Yeux | Twenty and Dry
http://https://youtube.com/watch?v=SgffenvoYLI
You can compare her to others who’ve come before — even names ranging from Abbey Lincoln to Bob Dylan and (the curse of every recent singer who happens to be female) Cat Power’s Chan Marshall — but only in that Fohr shares their unmistakeable and arresting ability to connect the personal with the universal.
Like a bolt, she makes listeners understand exactly where she’s coming from, and where they stand in relation, and what it all means. Clearly, as a musician, Fohr is an artist in full, and as an artist, she is constantly in motion.
Ben Frost & Circuit des Yeux
Thursday, 22nd May 2014 | 20:00 CET
Berghain | Am Wriezener Bahnhof | 10243 Berlin/Friedrichshain
ethermachines.com | hfohr.blogspot.de | berghain.de
