Since 2007 Denovali curates and organizes an international music festival called Denovali Swingfest.
The first editions took place in Essen, Germany – since 2013 Denovali presents similar events in London and Berlin.
Focussed on various forms of experimental and adventurous music the lineup offers a wonderful opportunity to discover a wide range of international Denovali artists live and is rounded off by various renowned non-label guest artists.
Denovali Swingfest | Trailer
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=N4GOpclLOEQ
A hallmark of the festival is the renunciation of the headliner principle: all artists are receiving the same attention – the length of each artist’s concert is equal.
In addition to the musical program the festival features yearly changing specials like an experimental film cinema, installations or lectures.
Tim Hecker | Virginal II
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=oClZk2GBYTA
The 2013 lineup for saturday and sunday:
Saturday – October 5th | 23:30
Tim Hecker (can): His works have been described as “structured ambient”, “tectonic color plates” and “cathedral electronic music”. More to the point, he has focused on exploring the intersection of noise, dissonance and melody, fostering an approach to songcraft which is both physical and emotive.
Saturday – October 5th | 22:00
Omega Massif (ger): The vocaless nature of the music turns the focus on pure atmosphere, and Omega Massif deliver, layering the pulverizing repetitive metalchug with a sense of gloom and longing that becomes near-suffocating at times, but there are also lots of gorgeous ethereal melodies throughout.
Omega Massif | Ursus Arctos
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=8CKXLNL5YlA
Saturday – October 5th | 20:30
Floex (cz): His latest album “Zorya”, which was released by Denovali Records in 2011, is darker but far from being less energetic and multilayered as the preceding albums – densely arranged, partly complex, partly groovy and catchy tracks between jazz, ambient, IDM, and minimal.
Saturday – October 5th | 19:00
The Dale Cooper Quartet (fra): A hint of 50s cool jazz, a truckload of noise and melodies, again tiny references to Twin Peaks’ series soundtrack and some ghostly and deep tone voices: the Dale Cooper Quartet pushes the genre Dark Jazz towards other spaces.
The Dale Cooper Quartet | Eus Exquis Acrostole
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=f8aLETkf5L8
Saturday – October 5th | 17:30
Poppy Ackroyd (uk): Poppy Ackroyd is a performer and composer from London who is currently based in Edinburgh. Classically trained on violin and piano, she fell in love with contemporary piano music and with the piano beyond the keys, discovering the world of sound that could be made from other parts of the instrument. Realising the violin had the same potential, she has spent the last few years composing delicate, intricate and beautifully atmospheric music by manipulating and multi-tracking sounds from these two instruments.
Saturday – October 5th | 16:00
AUN (can): Walking the line between, romantic, sinister, uplifting and melancholic hazy dreams of mistuned 70’s sci-fi TV, recent album ‘Alpha Heaven’ is AUN’s most living and breathing recording to date. Mostly recorded in one take with little editing, apart from some overdubbed vocals, lounge organ and creaky acoustic piano parts. The space echoed, sometimes wobbly tape saturated tracks, evoke past and future, using a collection of electric pianos, organ, bass pedals and tapes, augmenting AUN’s otherworldly signature guitar, voice and electronics.
AUN | War Is Near
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=Pt_3LNRLJGM
Saturday – October 5th | 14:30
Witxes (fra): Roaming, roving and raving were giving birth to melodic spaces fed on colourful sound layers, shimmering textures and residual traces of sonic instants.
Sunday – October 6th | 21:30
Emika (uk): Dva (released via Ninja Tunes in summer 2013) is an exploration of self-expression and sound, taking dark dub pop, sound design inspirations and melding them with classical music of her upbringing, taking Emika’s production a giant step forward.
Emika | She Beats
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=RvMuVleBoAE
Sunday – October 6th: 20:00
The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble (nl): THE KILIMANJARO DARKJAZZ ENSEMBLE are a project which has always been tied to films. Films are luxurious because they dispose of all these boring, unimportant, and trivial parts of our lives. This allows them to fully control our sensations, to put us in a very specific mood. Joy and sadness are occasionally OK, endless joy or endless sadness are clinical. But there is one sensation which can be persistent and unconditionally bearable at the same time. In the absence of a better alternative, let’s call it “the mood”. The mood is what TKDE are aiming at. The mood.
Sunday – October 6th | 18:30
Nils Frahm (ger): Nils Frahm works as an accomplished composer and producer from his Berlin-based Durton Studio. His unconventional approach to an age-old instrument, played contemplatively and intimately, has won him many fans around the world. For a musician this early in his career, Frahm displays an incredibly developed sense of control and restraint in his work, catching the ear of many fans.
Nadja | Sandskin
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=bVetFKSS2qs
Sunday – October 6th | 17:00
Nadja (can): Nadja is a duo of Aidan Baker & Leah Buckareff alternately based in Toronto, Canada & Berlin, Germany. Nadja creates music that has been variously described as drone metal, ambient doom, and shoegazer, combining soundscapes, electronics, & atmospheric vocals & tempering the cacophony with an ethereal melodicism such that the listener is enveloped in a sublimating wall of amorphous sound.
Sunday – October 6th | 15:30
Sankt Otten (ger): By mixing the unique melancholy of SANKT OTTEN with ingredients of contemporary synth-music and the heritage of German pioneers of progressive electronic music, the band is moving KRAUTROCK into 2013.
Sankt Otten | Da Kann Selbst Gott Nur Staunen
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=wId6LaiVNcg
Sunday – October 6th | 14:00
The Alvaret Ensemble (uk): Improvisatory collective based around Greg Haines (piano), Jan Kleefstra (voice, poems), Romke Kleefstra (guitar and effects) and Sytze Pruiksma (percussion) – recommened if you like Set Fire To Flames, Rachels or Arvo Pärt.
Sunday – October 6th | 12:30
Field Rotation (ger): Experimenting with electronic and classical elements this project combines floating soundscapes with electroacoustic colours to create minimalistic soundtracks renouncing of visualisation but interacting with the listeners emotions and feelings.
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Denovali Swingfest Essen 2013 | 3rd and 4th night
w/ Tim Hecker, Omega Massif, Floex, Dale Cooper Quartet, Poppy Ackroyd, AUN, Witxes, Emika, Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, Nils Frahm, Nadja, Sankt Otten, Alvaret Ensemble, Field Rotation LIVE
presented by D/B
Saturday, 05 October & Sunday, 06 October 2013 | 14:30 CET (Saturday) & 12:30 CET (Sunday)
WeststadtHalle | Thea-Leymann-Str. 23 | 45127 Essen/Westviertel
denovali.com/swingfest/essen
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