TOULOUSE

Short, yet perfectly balanced, 100% free, outdoors, in daylight and with a single stage giving a refined and focused feel to things, the original recipe of Les Siestes Electroniques festival will allure your tastebuds with a hedonist view on contemporary forms of music.

 June 27
Compans-Caffarelli Public Park * from 19:00 * free
Marvin + Electric Electric + Papier Tigre + Pneu

 June 28
Compans-Caffarelli Public Park * from 19:00 * free
Dscrd + Polar Inertia + Bipolar

Club Night* from 23:00 * 17€
DIY Music Academy Live Jam
Redshape
The Analogue Cops
Dj Deep

 June 29
Compans-Caffarelli Public Park * from 16:00 * free
Polygorn
Sturqen
Cut Hands
Boston Bun

 June 30
Compans-Caffarelli Public Park * from 16:00 * free
Paris Suit Yourself
Andy Stott
Spectral Park
Redinho

We would be so delighted to welcome you. If you don’t know where to stay here is a list of some hotels in Toulouse.

PARIS

The original receipt at the foot of the Eiffel tower with an ethnological touch. In partnership with the Musée du quai Branly, one of the most important museums in the world dedicated to non-occidental culture, our parisian project proposes to musicians an exceptional access to the museum’s audio collection. The carefully selected musicians will thus be invited to sample a set of resources of an unsuspected wealth then to replay it during an ultimate free and open-air public event.

 June 2
Abbaye de Maubuisson * Saint-Ouen L’Aumone * from 15:00 * free
Plapla Pinky
Bambounou

 July 7
Musée du quai Branly * from 16:00 * free
Vincent Moon
Kangding Ray

 July 14
Musée du quai Branly * from 16:00 * free
Sinner DC
Pierre Bastien

 July 21
Musée du quai Branly * from 16:00 * free
Sylvain Chauveau
Low Jack

 July 28
Musée du quai Branly * from 16:00 * free
Dj Arc de Triomphe
Gangpol & Mit

With such a line-up, you wanna stay the whole month of July in Paris, right. In that case you should have a look to what hotels in Paris are the best.

MONTREAL

In partnership with our beloved Piknic Electronik’s buddies, we’ll be back in Montréal to celebrate the Bastille day :)

 July 14
Parc Jean Drapeau * from 14:00 * 14$
Guru stage: Boréalis, Mondkopf
Moog stage: Nany Leven, Arandel, Pilooski

VIETNAM

In cooperation with the French Embassy in Vietnam, l’Institut Français and le Musée du quai Branly, we’re thrilled to invite Vincent Moon, Laurent Jeanneau and Jean Nipon to our yearly and cherished journey.

 October, 12 & 13
Reunification Park in Hanoi * from 15:00 * free

 October, 19 & 20
Tao Dan Park in Ho Chi Minh City * from 15:00 * free

Concept

You present an idea you like, your experiences, projects of your own.
You can also come for open talks and assist to demos.

What?

Demo/Presentation
One presenter show to the audience a particular tool, instrument, concept. Practice is preferred to theory, with an important time for Q&A.

Workshop/Master Class
A group of people focusing on a product or rather on a global solution/concept. Attendees interact, share their knowledges and so progress.

Sharing Experience
Feedback from artists, partners, users on creative experiences.

Open Talk
Focused on a specific and important purpose or task but beginning without any formal agenda, beyond the overall purpose or theme.

Lightning Talk
Unlike other presentations, lightning talks last only a few minutes and several will usually be delivered in a single period by different speakers.

How long?
Between 5 and 60 minutes each.

When?
These events will be held during the time of the festival, 27th to 30th June 2013.

Where?
Taking place outdoor, in the city park "Jardin Compans-Caffarelli".

How to participate?
Please register here.

Conditions
Based on people experience and self-interacting, no financial retribution could be given to the candidates.

To be honest, we would have whished to have done more, but let’s say it’s a beginning, our first step in the South America and that will be follow by some more :)

April 5
from 06:00 pm // Free Entrance
@ the garden of The National Museum of Visual Art
With Débruit, Selectorchico & Lechuga Zafiro

+ After show at Paulier y Guana from midnight till the end of the night...
With Débruit & Club Subtropical

Facebook Event

April 6
Starts at 01:00 am // 40$
@ Niceto Club
With Débruit, Villa Diamante & Daleduro

Facebook Event

Ever since 2007, Les Siestes Electroniques have developed an international programme which allows them to put up temporary event at external sites, so as to test the festival on foreign audiences and explore other ways of perceiving music and of getting it through to the public, outside of the festival’s familiar environment; a manner of preserving a certain alertness that matches the adventurous spirit of Les Siestes Electroniques. Thus, whether we settle down in Berlin, Riga, La Haye, Cairo, Kyoto, Montreal, Abu Dhabi or Brazzaville, each time we endeavor to risk ourselves in undocumented practices, experiment with new approaches, and open up new esthetic vistas.

Now we have to admit that our first edition of the Siestes in Congo was for us the most poignant experience of all, and that it truly set a standard: we had gone unprepared, anticipating a frontal cultural encounter, but we did not expect it to play out the way it did. We had planned for the young French musicians we had invited to confront their second-hand africanism to the local realities of the place. But we did not fully appreciate the fact that electronic music, as we knew it, could not be readily apprehended by the Congolese, this because it simply did not exist on any Congolese scene. Indeed, the development of Angolese Kuduro, of South-African Kwaito and Shaghaan, and of the Ivoirian Coupé-Décalé had led us to contemplate the possibility of an electronic subculture in Africa. Yet, the effect of a TB303 on a Bakongo youth who was hearing that radically synthetic sound for the first time reminded us the sense of ecstasy and awe that electronic music can procure, ushering one into another realm.

After taking some time to ponder on that experience, to collect funds and means, and define a more comprehensive programme, we have scheduled the second edition of the Congolese festival in November 2012. At the risk of sounding like partonizing socio-cultural experts, let us say that the main addition to the Siestes Electroniques this year will be a programme of training seminars and meetings meant for the local musicians, which will make it possible for their first amazed response to mature into a learning process. We are still mostly acting upon intuition and groping our way towards a satisfactory formula, yet, let us confess that we would be extremely gratified if we could observe in 2014 that a local practice of Techno and House has caught on.

 The French musicians invited: Douster & Jay Weed
Douster and Jay Weed are the epitome of the globalized beatmaker. Highly connected to the blogosphere they access new sounds daily, with hints of kuduro, kwaito, dancehall, cumbia and other dance music dripping off of newer songs and with an obvious reverence for roots music as a base. Over the past year, Douster and Jay Weed has been steadily growing into their own sound; playful, confident, fresh, with a swagger.
Douster tracks hit hard. He might be young, but, as a producer and DJ, Douster has serious knowledge of game. In Douster tracks Timbaland beats are replaced by Argentine indigenous percussion. Chilean pan flutes pull together a dancehall hit. Wild samples, raw beats and infinite dance characterize this European DJ who knows no geographical limits, taking risks and carving out his own fluid borders.
Jay Weed’s music might be house tempo, but the sub and space comes from a much darker place. He takes the tempo and intuitive percussion of modern UK house (you can see that Hessle’s a big reference point), but makes all the emphasis on the space and atmosphere, resulting in a desolate but moving evolution of dubstep.

 Other guests: Fabrice Fortner & Pierre Teulières
Fabrice Fortner will be in charge of the educational program held during this second edition.
As a filmmaker Pierre Teulières will catch all the glorious and awkward moments of the journey.

 The program:
November 22 - 26: Brazzaville
November 27 - 28: Kinshasa (tbc)
November 29 - December 2: Pointe Noire

 Partners :
Institut Français Paris, Institut Français Brazzaville, Institut Français Pointe-Noire, Ville de Toulouse, Ableton, Heineken

Over the past years labels or blogs such as Finders Keepers, Cartilage Consortium and Awesome Tapes From Africa have been on a relentless mission to unearth largely unheard gems from across the musical spectrum. Expertly curated, conceived and executed by diggers, those structures have methodically sunk their teeth into disparate cultural and historical strands. An oddball selection wandering through past and present independent music, exotic oddities, creepy disco, bizarre soundtracks, deviant crossovers, primitive electronics, amateur incidents, nowadays outsiders... and even forgotten euro composers. Coming from all over the world, the sense of freedom and creativity is there often utterly endearing, placing familiar western concepts in a whole other context to leave us floored at every turn. The event designed by Les Siestes Electroniques for the ICAS Suite will try to explore those new sonic as cultural "frontiers".

Line-up

► PART 1 @ Prinzessinnengarten (Prinzen Strasse 35-38)
18h – 20h
Free!

A selection of rarities from the audio collection of the Quai Branly museum chopped and edited by Plapla Pinky and Doug Shipton. (in case of rain, the party will start a little bit earlier at the Monarch)

► PART 2 @ Monarch (Skalitzer Strasse 134)
21h – 6h
7€

A fancy night for those who appreciate to dance on Tamil disco, African coupé-décalé, psychedelic soundtracks ... with:

Jean Safran (Chez Jacki)
Brian Shimkovitz (Awesome Tapes From Africa)
Doug Shipton & Booty Carrell (Finders Keepers / B-Music)
Dj Arc de Triomphe (Cartilage Consortium)

The ICAS SUITE BERLIN is a unique, collaborative music festival that evolved from the collaboration of more than 35 festivals and music initiatives around the globe. Four days brimming with concerts, club nights, and workshops at venues around the Kotbusser Tor open up a colorful panorma of leftfield pop music holding out on the fringes of forced marketability. Starring Nguzunguzu, Pantha du Prince, Dj Maxximus, Morphosis, Cupp Cave, Sculpture ...

Full program on http://www.ctm-festival.de/icas-sui...

TOULOUSE

PARIS

you could also listen to our audio archives since 2004 here

Les Siestes Electroniques and the famous Quai Branly Museum in Paris join to propose an original carbon copy of the Toulousian festival. Born of a triple reflection around the themes of the cultural diversity, the nomadism and the slowness, the project proposes to 10 musicians an exceptional access to the audio collection of the museum. These musicians will thus be invited to sample a set of resources of an unsuspected wealth, and then to replay it during an ultimate public event which will take place in the garden of the museum.

 Line-up:

July 1st
Plapla Pinky & Keith Fullerton Whitman

July 8
Hicham Chadly & Alan Bishop from Sublime Frenquencies

July 15
Sam Tiba & Jean Nipon

July 22
Marc Teissier du Cros from Record Makers & Doug Shipton from Finders Keepers Records

July 29
NLF3 & Arandel

 Infos:
All thoses concerts are free!
They will start at 4:00 pm
And they will be held at the théâtre de verdure of the museum (see below)

Right in the heart of the city, in a public park, music lovers and familly gather to enjoy in a peaceful environment an eclectic selection of concerts. Creative musics - whether it be the most sensual electronic monotonous chants or a pop beat of the most cheerful kind, Les Siestes Electroniques invites the city-dwellers to relax and easily became the champion of the scaled-down festival experience.

JUNE 30 :
Saaad, Morphosis, Matthew Friedberger, James Blackshaw et Kassem Mosse

JULY 1st :
Tom Terrien, Tanya Tagaq & Aymeric Hainaux, Bruce Lamont, Rhosyn et Luke Abbott

@ Jardin Compans Caffarelli // Boulevard Lascrosses - Toulouse
16h30 x 21h
Free!

 Opening Night

JUNE 28
10€ - 20h30 x 22h - Private mansion (rue Perchepinte)

With Nils Frahm
These days there are countless pianists and contemporary composers out there specialising in pretty instrumentals that enjoy a crossover appeal with fans of electronica and alternative pop music in general, but of all these indie-classical (if you will) artists Nils Frahm is proving to be something genuinely special. He’s really starting to break free from the ranks of his contemporaries. From Reich-a-like layered arpeggios, to wistful, jazz-tinted Glassisms, there are plenty of grand harmonic gestures. Looking beyond merely making aesthetic comparisons you’ll find an enormously impressive compositional quality at the root of Frahm’s music. His style of writing especially transcends the often too-pastoral-for-its-own good genre.

WARNING: the concert is already sold-out ... sorry

 Club Night

JUNE 29
15€ - 23h x 5h - Déodat de Séverac gymnasium (Boulevard Déodat de Séverac)

With Elektro Guzzi, Hypnolove, Funkineven, Pional & John Talabot
Our unique club night will be inspired by the prom night theme. Held in a high school gymnasium, at the beginning of the summer, we’ll infuse a certain sense of youth, spontaneity and freedom into a proper rave spirit. We wanna dance. We wanna kiss girls and boys. We wanna have fun. Without caring about the next day.

♥ Get your ticket

Within the frame of the British Museum "Treasures of the World’s Cultures" exhibition and in partnership with Institut Français, Alliance Française & TDIC, Mo Laudi and Etienne Tron will respectively open and close this special night of live events.

Featuring a mix of keynotes, panels, case studies and presentations, the Tools for an Unknown Future symposium is a 3-day conference aimed at elaborating a cohesive view of the current trends within groundbreaking artistic mediums, and proposing a vision for the future.

 Schedule Overview

Monday May 28th
Theme I: Cultural Festivals and Events as Laboratories
Theme II: Bridging Cultural Sectors and Different Media and Enabling Citizen Innovation

Tuesday May 29th
Theme III: Ubiquitous Art & Music
Theme IV: The Future of Culture

Wednesday May 30th
Theme V: The Rise of Creative Cities
Theme VI: Connecting Cities – Visions of an Urban Identity

Please note that this event is presented free of charge, with RSVP.

More information : http://www.mutek.org/en/festival/20...
Confirm your presence: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?re...

These works should relate to the current ECAS theme Networks of Advanced Sound and Related Arts – Bridging cultural sectors and different media, and enabling citizen innovation. This theme explores innovative ways to connect heterogeneous artistic and audience communities; possibilities to scale up without losing diversity; ways to bridge different spheres of experimental music production; the impact of advanced sound on other fields of artistic production; and how to expose marginal sounds to bigger audiences.

We are interested in works that make connections between geographic points and artistic interest groups; music/sound and the world of science and technology; specific community or minority groups; types of musicians who do not usually link, such as classical and non-classical musicians, noise and club artists, etc. Imagine projects that connect with unexpected audiences via the use of unusual content/spaces, or bridge sound into cities in innovative ways.

The central axis of the work should always relate to sound/music, and reach out to other disciplines.

Each commission carries with it a fee of 5.000 € and realization costs of a maximum of 5.000€ (in total 2x 10.000€), and will be presented in 2012-2013 by the ECAS organizations involved in this call for entries, namely: CTM (Berlin), Musikprotokoll (Graz), Skanu Mezs (Riga) and Unsound (Krakow). There is also the possibility of presenting the works at other festivals within the ECAS/ICAS networks.

The final date for application is 31.03.2012. The two works will be selected by a jury appointed by the participating organizations, with winners announced in May 2012.

Eligibility

Submissions must be new works and must respond directly to the theme. To be eligible the project must be new and never before realised. Applications are welcome from any part of the world, from 12.01.2012.

Submit your project here.

Dust by Herman Kolgen : Inspired by 1920 Marcel Duchamp + Man Ray’s photograph “ Élevage de poussière “, Dust explores changes in the state of matter. At the edge of the imperceptible, pigments are suspended around a magnetic field. Random fibrous networks take shape and then form composite objects, hypnotic in their complexity. Sound particles paired with luminous aggregates exist on a scale that cancels out all points of reference. Thus, at the turning point between the invisible and the visible, dust becomes intoxicating and the video surface a veritable accumulation of x-rays.

Saturday, October 22nd
Herman Kolgen @ La Novela
with Soguru Goto and Ryoji Ikeda
Musée des Abattoirs // 76 Allée Charles de Fitte - Toulouse
23h // 0€

http://novela.toulouse.fr

Following the small but splendid ICAS KITCHEN, which cooked up the goods during Club Transmediale.11 for several days in the Palomabar, Club Transmediale is preparing to cater for a wide array of tastes and foreign tongues during the second Berlin Music Week (7. – 10. September): in the four-day ICAS SUITE, ICAS-member festivals from Europe and North and South America will present a selection of their work and the most exciting artists in their networks at Festsaal Kreuzberg, Monarch, West-Germany, the Paloma and the new Blumenbar club.

Our Siestes electroniques event will be held at Monerch on September, 10 and will be starring Dj Zhao, Secousse Sound System + Jess & Crabbe.

Others artists invited: 2562, Robert Lippock, Islaja, Midaircondo, Antilles, Jac Bérrocal / Vincent Epplay / David Fennec, Deadbeat, The Mole, Mokira, Dirk Dresselhaus ...

Program preview

 Sound documents of the museum

This collection favours digital media for the conservation and consultation of documents. It includes more than 3500 CDs and 1500 DVDs acquired commercially and a collection of analogical published documents and unpublished archives, in the process of being digitized (200 LP records, EPs and 700 tapes as well as audio and video cassettes). The discographic collection includes music recordings in the oral tradition as well as spoken sound documents – stories, poems, speeches – from on-site recordings, concerts or institutional archives.

 Dj sets

you will find below a small part of what has been done at Quai Branly museum, but a representative one. 2 approaches: one basically musical (the audio archives have been seen as a source of multiple "treasures"), one more geographically based (and the audio archives was thus a source of precise informations).
For Brian Shimkovitz from Awesome Tapes From Africa and Laurent Jeanneau to have access to those archives was an opportunity to focus attention on specific groups, ethno-minorities and region of the world (South-East of Asia for Laurent and sub-Sahara for Brian). For Romain Bno and Bimbo Tower, we are more into a global journey through all the beauty of the world.

For tracklisting, click on the player!

© musée du quai Branly, photo Pomme Célarié

© musée du quai Branly, photo Pomme Célarié

© musée du quai Branly, photo Cyril Zannettacci

Live at Robert Johnson back to back can be listened here: Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

And don’t forget you could also listen to our audio archives from 2004 to 2010 here.

ROBERT JOHNSON LIVE
The Robert Johnson club near Frankfurt has never shied away from issuing a healthy dose of electronic pioneering. Here, DJ listings were not made publicly known until two years ago, with the intent that there may be no cherry-picking of venues. Here, Matthew Herbert did his “One Club” recordings a while before the Berghain ventured on a similar project. You may even regard their “Live At Robert Johnson” mix series as a high-brow concept, but in the end it comes down to just one thing: great music.

ATA
Robert Johnson, Playhouse and Klang Elektronik CEO, Ata, curates each of his mixs with an expert selection of synthpop and ’80s Italo club grooves. A DJ of over 25 years experience, Atanasios Christos Macias has helmed the infamous Frankfurt club since its inception in 1999, so there’s no doubt he knows what works on the dancefloor.

OLIVER HAFENBAUER
Label manager and resident DJ Oliver Hafenbauer is known for his subtly-building house sets.

ARTO MWAMBE
Arto Mwambe aka Philip Lauer and Christian Beisswenger actually play live! And when they say live, it’s hands-on drum machines, keys and FX, not just pressing a spacebar and mincing behind the laptop. The pair masterfully weave music full of Roland beats, playful keys and sweetened synthlines with a delightful gait and spontaneous vibe that’ll bring a smile to the mugs of even the deepest house chin strokers. Vibes a-live!

PRINS THOMAS
The breadth and scope of Prins Thomas’ mix is nothing short of stunning, as the man manages to slot in reference points from many corners of the dancefloor into a very cohesive whole that ultimately serves the perfect dancefloor function. His vision takes in elements of classic cosmic disco, European kosmiche synth music and a steady thread of American disco and minimalism for a refined dancefloor. A tremendous DJ, and of epic proportions too.

Friday, June 24th * Espaces Vanel – topfloor of the media library J. Cabanis * 23:00 > 6:00 * 10€

Thursday, June 23 * Prairie des Filtres * 18:00 > 22:00 * Free!

DJ TRON
Etienne Tron is a parisian born musician who has reached international fame under the name Radioclit with his partner Johan Hugo. As a music producer he has launched the afro pop band The Very Best with Malawi star Esau Mwamwaya, has worked with numerous pop bands and singers (M.I.A, Santigold, Architecture In Helsinki, Brodinski, Amadou & Mariam, Metronomy, Diplo, Yeasayer, Bonde Do Role...). As a Dj he has established himself as a pioneer of new globalised pop music.

SHANGAAN ELECTRO Ask us about Shangaan Electro a year ago and we’d ask you to speak slower. Ask us now and we’ll rave about one of the most astounding music we’ve heard this year. We almost couldn’t believe our ears on first listen, or the tenth. It was perhaps only when we witnessed the accompanying videos on youtube that it started to settle into place, watching liquid hipped Shangaan dancers scuttle and stomp like folk possessed by something untold but completely comprehendible. Essentially this is a continuation of traditional styles, only plugged in at the studio of Nozinja Music Productions to become utterly electrified and electrifying. But these aren’t simply instrumental rhythms, they’re also songs with passionate, soul wrenching vocals and head-rushingly sweet synth melodies.

Friday, June 24 * Prairie des Filtres * 18:00 > 22:00 * Free!

AYMERIC HAINAUX & TANYA TAGAQ
Aymeric Hainaux is a traveller, visual artist, musician and extraordinary vocal performer. For his intense corporeal performances, he uses a kind of beatboxing style, but ends up with sound signatures that relate much more to abstract electronic music, drone, glitch and noise then to hiphop. Besides his own body, breath and voice, the only extras he uses are a microphone, some harmonicas, bells and delay pedal. No loop, live action only! His music comes literally from the within, with a demanding brut emergency, that is at the same time fragile and extremely attentive – voice, breath, muscle tension, movements, heartbeats and sudden outbursts of sound are celebrating the living and the immediacy of the present moment.

Startlingly innovative vocal explorations from Inuit throat-singer, who has collaborated with Bjork, Kronos Quartet, Mike Patton … Tanya Tagaq is genuinely one of those rare artists whose sounds and styles are truly groundbreaking. ‘Inuit throat singer’ is one part of her sonic quotient, so are descriptions like ‘orchestral’ and ‘primal’. Since the release of her debut CD in 2005, the Nunavut-born singer has brought an ancient Inuit vocal game into fertile new sonic pastures but the music/performance is sublime. Tagaq’s unique sound is imbued with the melodies of modern pop and the breathless musical manipulations of maverick music makers, this is a combination that’s almost transcendent when channeled through her powerful voice.

Breakingnews: gig is canceled because of Tanya’s pregnancy

ARNAUD FLEURENT-DIDIER
rnaud Fleurent-Didier has followed in the footsteps of great songwriters such as Baccarach, Michel Legrand and Polnareff, whilst being more than a little indebted to Gainsbourg. Whatever the references, the voice here is singular – Fleurent-Didier is rooted in a tradition and unafraid of revealing it. Unlike many French artists, he chooses to sing in his native language. “I compose French songs. Air, Daft Punk, Phoenix, Sebastian Tellier – in this group of bands I’m this silly guy who sings in French. I’m in love with the meaning of songs, the meaning of the album. It’s very old fashioned.”

Saturday, June 25 * Prairie des Filtres * 16:00 > 22:00 * Free!

CADIK TRAVEL AGENCY
You will find them on the bill at every single dubstep/UK bass music gig in Budapest. You will meet them at every single art fair in Budapest. You will find their name on a lot tracks coming from Budapest ... and still unknown here? what a shame! It’s time to open our mind to Hungarian underground scene.

LUCRECIA DALT
Lucrecia Dalt creates a whimsical, star spangled electronic indie experience that blurs old fashioned distinctions between studio and stage, performing and recording. Cooking up late night lullabies with a finely tuned setup of guitar, laptop, bass, voice and percussion that ranges from floor toms to kitchen chairs and programmed beats, she’s not content with just hitting play on a bunch of loops. As a result, her songs keep evolving over time, gained experiences as well as changing moods and surroundings finding their way into the music. Having moved to Barcelona from Medellin, Colombia, she has kept refining her approach.

VILLA NAH
Super-cooled electro-pop and synth soul music from Finland’s pretty excellent Villa Nah duo is made of distinguished male vocal lead pop tunes with strong hints of classic Skanfrom and a lot of emphasis on the "Pop" element. Some may say like Junior Boys produced by Johan Agebjorn, we would rather ride the crest of a purified bassline arpeggiation, holding hands with Juho Paalosmaa’s classic vocals (putting years of personal pop studies to the test, and passing with a distinction) and floating off into a midnight sunlit sky without caring the "looks like" heritage.

LONE
Lone blends Boards Of Canada styled electronic nostalgia and Flying Lotus style funk-impressions, causing folks like Warp’s Bibio to swoon ...he has a personality in his music that’s vivid. Matt Cutler has delivered impeccably produced beat music for a couple of years now, but its really in the last few months that he’s found his feet drawn to a heavy, smudged style of House music. Infusing the warehouse rave heritage of his adopted home city Manchester with the same classic Chicago and NYC memes as his London counterparts, his signature feel for synaesthetically evocative melody has really started to pay dividends. Nad his last album ’Emerald Fantasy Tracks’ is one of the most unapologetically ecstatic dancefloor albums we’ve heard this year!

Sunday, June 26 * Prairie des Filtres * 16:00 > 22:00 * Free!

UMBERTO
Umberto is the side project of Expo ’70s bass/synth player, Matt Hill. It’s a shlocky tribute to the tense scores of countless Italian horror films and cop movies from the likes of Fabio Frizzi and his Goblin ensemble, except maybe minus some of the proggier elements. This brings him up to keep the emphasis on slow and throbbing disco-horror basslines with arpeggiated synthlines to go-go. Many have tried this sound - step forward Zombi, Gatekeeper, Francesco Clemente, Anton Maiovvi - but far fewer have achieved it with as much grain and VHS-warped eeriness as this. It feels more like James Ferraro has locked onto a killer Giallo collection in his dream dungeon and authentically immersed himself in their soundtracks, recreating their mood, tension and gothic mise-en-scene with scary accuracy.

CONNAN MOCKASIN
Released on Erol Alkan’s Phantasy Sound label, this fourth album from Connan Mockasin is finally getting the London-dwelling musician some attention after a good five years or so in the wilderness. ’Please Turn Me Into The Snat’ is a dreamlike psychedelic opus that’s quite unlike anything else out there that gets branded with the ’psych’ tag. Don’t expect any protracted krautrocking jams here though, there’s something about Mockasin’s music that’s refreshingly concise and clearly laid out. The production arrives coated in a suitably hazy, Guthrie-esque dream-pop gauze, but beneath that there’s always something ear-catchingly weird going on somewhere.

JAMES PANTS
James Pants is one of Stones Throw’s most distinguished and uncategorisable artists hails. His usual, inimitable fusion of scuffed electronic soul and pop romance largely influenced by his infamous record collection make him a rising star. Mr Pants ’touch’ is about a psychedelic slab of hip hop weirdness, infused with fuzzy Broadcast-like retro electronics, faintly silly vocals (that do actually sound as though they’ve been delivered whilst wearing a robe) and an inexplicable over-enthusiasm for sleigh bells. There’s much fun to be had here, and Pants’ use of big, bassy reverb chamber drum production combines evocatively, in a Silver Apples sort of way, with scorching synth lines. Ace!

JESS & CRABBE
Jess & Crabbe… hard to put into words how influential they were on us. Those guys were putting out some of the best tunes out of France on Fiat Lux back in the 90’s. But their sound always reached beyond the frontiers of house music. Inspired by hip-hop, reggae, Chicago house, with a punk attitude.

Les Siestes Electroniques and the famous Quai Branly Museum in Paris join to propose an original carbon copy of the Toulousian festival. Born of a triple reflection around the themes of the cultural diversity, the nomadism and the slowness, the project proposes to 8 musicians an exceptional access to the audio collection of the museum. These musicians will thus be invited to sample a set of resources of an unsuspected wealth, and then to replay it during an ultimate public event which will take place in the gardens of the museum, fitted out specially for the occasion, by the architect Leopold Banchini.

Line-up:

 On Friday, June 03rd drom 7 pm till 9 pm > Débruit - Musique Large
 On Saturday, June 04th from 3 pm till 7 pm > Etienne Tron and guests (Mo Laudi & Mo Dj) - Secousse
 On Sunday, June 05th from 3 pm till 5 pm > Franq de Quengo - Bimbo Tower
 On Sunday, June 12th from 3 pm till 5 pm > Shane Aspegren and Lory Sean Berg - The Berg Sans Nipple
 On Sunday, June 19th from 3 pm till 5 pm > Romain BNO - Respect is Burning
 On Sunday, June 26th from 3 pm till 5 pm > Laurent Jeanneau - Sublime Frequencies / Kink Gong
 On Sunday, July 03rd from 3 pm till 5 pm > Cédric Marszewski - Pilooski
 On Sunday, July 10th from 3 pm till 5 pm > Brian Shimkovitz - Awesome Tapes from Africa

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As a curator of a "advanced sound festival", I might be one the most western-minded guys you’ll ever know ... I can get seriously panicked when my Internet connection turns off. As an event dedicated to electronic music, new media, cutting-edge art, forward thinking culture, whatever "future things" you want, Les Siestes Electroniques also represent the quintessence of the technological, scientifical, rational culture. So that was a pretty big deal to try to root down a Siestes Electroniques event in Brazzaville (Congo). We basically had to reset our whole mindset. And it was damn refreshing!

You’ll find below the story of these few days in Brazzaville (in French, sorry, no english version yet ... but feel free if you want to translate!)
Words by Etienne Menu, pictures by Romain Bernardie James.

Une fois installés dans nos pénates, nous ne tardons pas à tomber de sommeil. Je suis réveillé de ma sieste en fin d’après-midi par la chaleur et le son des gens sur la place. C’est un réveil plutôt doux, et j’éprouve une sensation d’hospitalité diffuse et d’improbable familiarité. Je m’attendais bêtement à me « prendre une claque » en posant le pied au Congo. Comme je voyage très peu, je m’imaginais une expérience proche de l’hallucination ou de l’hébétement, mais en fait, non, pas du tout. La claque ressemble davantage à une sorte d’éveil progressif, comme lorsqu’on se rend compte après coup qu’un bateau a quitté le port alors qu’on le croyait encore amarré. C’est une lente locomotion, presque fluviale, flottante.

Bref, ces premières heures passent comme un sirocco gentiment abrutissant, et en terminant de dîner dans un restaurant près du fleuve, je me rends compte qu’il est à peine 20h. Le temps se dilatera souvent comme ça lors de la semaine. C’est un peu troublant, mais parfois très grisant de voir qu’on a oublié ses réflexes et ses repères, surtout quand on est un jeune aussi impatient comme moi. Nous allons ensuite boire un verre dans une sorte de resto/bar/boîte avec la clim à fond et une sélection de rumba, R&B, rap, ndombolo et gros tubes européens electro/dance plus ou moins récents, et pas forcément du meilleur goût. La sono est bourrin sans être atroce non plus, les gens sont chauds, l’ambiance relax, et on danse – comme tout le monde ici – face au grand miroir qui couvre tout un mur de l’endroit.

La journée suivante s’organise – plus ou moins – autour du concert que Paul (Mondkopf) doit donner le soir au Centre Culturel Français (CCF). L’ambiance est charmante, les gens tous ravis de nous voir, Romain shoote dans tous les sens et déjà les premiers musiciens, DJ ou simples amateurs de musique viennent jeter un œil sur l’installation de la scène dans la cafétéria du CCF, l’Awalé. Nous allons alors tous visiter le centre Sony Labou Tansi, dans le proche quartier de Bakongo, où aura lieu la soirée du samedi, et où répète pour le moment le groupe Musée d’Art, sorte de troupe musicale « tradi-moderne » composée d’une dizaine de percussionnistes, d’un clavier, d’un bassiste et d’un guitariste, dirigé par l’intense Akramo.

Le soir, le public du concert qui commence à s’installer est composé pour moitié de Français et autres blancs expatriés (l’ambassadeur italien nous fait notamment l’honneur de sa venue), et pour moitié de Brazzavillois curieux et/ou mélomanes. Paul entame son live par une longue plage ambient sombre qui prend progressivement du corps, avant de lancer des rythmiques plus soutenues qui font bouger quelques nuques. Vers la fin du live, on sent que quelque chose se passe, et qu’il serait dommage de s’arrêter là, et très vite Akramo nous fait profiter de ses talents de percussionniste en improvisant sur les beats de Paul. Le résultat galvanise rapidement le public jusqu’ici assez sage, surtout qu’Akramo fait le show, danse, bondit tout autour de la scène, scande des paroles en lari (la langue de la minorité qui vit à Bakongo) et se laisse posséder par ce qu’on ne peut appeler autrement que de la transe. Pour ne pas frustrer un public désormais dans tous ses états, Paul et Akramo décident d’enchaîner cette séquence live par un mix house du meilleur effet, toujours accompagné de percussions. La fête dure plusieurs heures et on se couche grisés.

Le lendemain, il y a un grand défilé de mode au CCF, et on a proposé à Paul et Charlie (Qoso) de s’occuper de la musique. Pendant près de deux heures, nos deux compères vont imposer un groove puissant, en crescendo, fait de classiques d’Italo ou de Chicago et de tracks plus récents, si bien qu’au bout d’un moment le public – constitué, cette fois-ci, presque exclusivement de Brazzavillois – danse carrément et saute de joie sur certains breaks et certaines montées de clavier – même si, en l’occurrence, la musique fonctionne plus comme un stimulant du défilé que comme une expérience autonome, vécue à part entière par les spectateurs. Soyons honnêtes, les mannequins, les vêtements, l’événement en soi comptaient clairement pour beaucoup dans cette ambiance, mais quand même, c’était vraiment beau de voir cette jeunesse congolaise en délire sur du Frankie Knuckles ou du Kano.

La troisième soirée, organisée au cercle Sony Labou Tansi, restera certainement la plus grisante du séjour. D’abord par son affiche, puisqu’y jouent à la fois Mondkopf et Qoso, des DJ locaux, Musée d’Art et une troupe de danse hip-hop du nom de I-Dance, mais aussi par le cadre en plein air et l’ambiance à la fois festive et familiale qui y règne – les gens sont venus en nombre, et un stand a été monté où une mère et ses filles vendaient brochettes, cuisses de poulet, salades et bières. Le public, en partie assis, met dans l’ensemble un peu de temps à se mettre en route, mais les meilleurs danseurs, eux, montent vite sur scène pour passer un par un, en séquence, comme les concurrents d’une compétition de danse. Les DJ congolais servent leur habituel panaché de tubes généralistes avec animation vocale, les gens semblent contents, et Musée d’Art réalise une véritable performance, quasiment une heure de percus / chants / danse interrompue, accompagnée par une boîte à rythmes. Une sorte de flux tantôt hypnotique, tantôt presque cubiste par son goût de la saccade et de la rupture.

Pour clore la soirée, l’effet produit par les premières minutes acid du live de Paul et Charlie est particulièrement foudroyant sur une partie de l’assistance du « Sony ». Deux garçons d’une dizaine d’années, notamment, me regardent comme si j’allais leur dévoiler le secret de la techno : « Comment il fait là ? ». Entendre un son à la fois physique et abrasif sortir comme ça d’un simple laptop soufflait leurs réflexes perceptifs. Sans jouer sur des clichés post-colonialistes nauséabonds, les deux gamins avaient l’air d’y voir une forme de sorcellerie technologique, et leur réaction hésitait entre possession rythmique et fascination trouble. Un des instants les plus intenses du séjour, pour moi.

L’histoire de notre venue à la Main Bleue, le dimanche soir, est tout autre. Ce dancing de Bakongo (un des quartiers de la minorité Lari) revêtu de dalles en mosaïque bleue, d’où son nom, est à ciel ouvert, et sa piste entourée de nombreuses tables, d’une cabine de DJ fermée et vitrée (sans clim), d’un petit bar et d’un espace peint tout en blanc, visiblement destiné aux séances photo. Il est fréquenté ce soir-là par des couples venus danser la rumba, et par un petit nombre de sapeurs, pas tous très jeunes, et pas tous forcément impeccables par rapport à certaines images qu’on peut avoir de cette intriguante sous-culture. Guillaume, notre "fixeur" sur place et ancien administrateur des Siestes Electroniques, avait eu l’idée de solliciter les gens qui gèrent l’endroit pour essayer d’y faire se rencontrer la culture club européenne et celle, locale, des sapeurs et des traditions de danse populaires. Quelques jours avant, nous avions donc rencontré Fredo, aka DJ Sarkozy (sic, évidemment), qui nous avait répondu qu’il était d’accord pour nous faire partager ses platines, mais que le public de la Main Bleue était tout de même habitué à sa sélection, à sa façon de la séquencer, et exigeait de lui qu’il joue forcément quelques morceaux « gold » de la musique congolaise... L’expérience s’annonçait donc assez casse-gueule… et l’a effectivement été. Autant le démarrage à la vieille rumba a été poliment reçu, autant la suite (une séquence funk puis une séquence coupé) a quasiment créé un incident diplomatique (concrètement : un client vient se plaindre directement dans la cabine, et Fredo me regarde d’un un œil crispé en me voyant sélectionner « Ça va chauffer » des Ivoiriens de Grand Maquis All-Stars, pour finalement me congédier en douceur…). Mais l’ambiance qui règne sur place, le charme du lieu et le défilé des sapeurs et d’autres hautes figures de Brazza ont suffi à nous faire oublier cette tentative un peu malheureuse.

La journée du lendemain sera marquée par un peu de pur tourisme, conclue par une escapade au marché de nuit, réputé pour ses singes fumés et autres alligators à la coupe. L’expérience est à peu près aussi éprouvante que celle vécue au marché Total (car situé près du siège du géant pétrolier) de Bakongo, que nous avons traversé quelques jours plus tôt, et qui pourrait d’ailleurs s’appeler « total » sans majuscules, comme on parle d’ « art total » ou de « football total ». Tout est vendu là-bas, sous toutes les formes, partout, et on dirait bien que tout Bakongo est ici rassemblé. On nous y hèle sans cesse et certains nous appellent par les noms des footballeurs de l’équipe de France – « Gourcuff », « Ribéry », mais aussi, plus étonnant, « Alou Diarra » ou « Bakary Sagna ». Une fois passé le stand des sauterelles grillées et celui des chauve-souris vivantes tuées à la demande, je passe chez un minuscule disquaire plein de vieux vinyles, malheureusement tous dans un état déplorable et probablement injouables sur une platine. La circulation est lente et malaisée, les odeurs de nourriture, de boue et d’essence se mêlent en vagues tièdes et âcres, et l’immensité du marché a quelque chose d’à la fois vertigineux et enivrant. Le périple dans le marché Total aura probablement été l’expérience la plus proche de cette fameuse claque africaine.

Le reste du temps, on ne se « prend » pas forcément grand-chose à la figure : c’est plus ce qu’on ne se prend justement pas, ce qui ne résonne pas, qui ne passe pas qui fait la vraie différence entre nos habitudes et celles de Congolais. Les serveurs qui n’apportent pas ce vous avez commandé, les taxis qui ne vous rendent pas la monnaie, les sapeurs qui ne vous parlent pas de l’argent qu’ils voudraient pourtant que vous leur donniez pour passer à la Main Bleue, les passants qui ne répondent pas aux questions que vous leur posez, les gens en boîte qui viennent vous parler sans avoir quoi que ce soit de particulier à vous dire, ou qui vous prennent pour quelqu’un d’autre mais ne se démontent pas quand ils réalisent qu’ils se trompent : c’est tout un spectre de l’univers rationnel névrotique occidental, de la logique oui/non, question/réponse, problème/résolution, tout ce fastidieux système à somme nulle qui est rayé de la carte psychologique – là encore, je ne dis rien de neuf et j’imagine bien que des dizaines de livres doivent parler de ça. Il reste que ça rafraîchit les méninges de voir que le modèle de pensée en vigueur ici est presque totalement ignoré là-bas – pas méprisé, juste ignoré.

Dans l’avion du retour, le mercredi matin, le spectacle congolais offre un dernier rappel avec une délégation interministérielle qui a l’air de partir en Chine via Addis. Séance photo improvisée en cabine (une heure, montre en main) pour donner des preuves qu’on a bien pris l’avion, discussions à bâtons rompus et volume vocal supérieur sur des sujets on ne peut plus flous : une indiscipline généralisée qui a l’air d’exaspérer les sages hôtesses éthiopiennes du vol. Pas de doute, même à 10 000 mètres d’altitude, l’esprit congolais reste toujours aussi vif. Et une chose est sûre : quoiqu’il arrive, on reviendra à Brazza.

The ECAS 2011 theme of Festival As Lab turns the idea of a festival on its head. More than just showcasing cool art and music, here festivals are places where we can experiment and play with future art, music and ideas.

Following a fantastic response from candidates, the jury awarded the prize equally between two winning projects that address the Festival as Lab theme in different ways:

 OurCity by Adam Nieman with Lancaster University and Manchester Communication Academy.
OurCity uses Manchester’s FutureEverything Festival to enable thousands of people to have their voice heard and to shape the future of their city. Beginning with a series of questions or ‘provocations’ devised by pupils of the Manchester Communications Academy, the Festival audiences and the inhabitants of Manchester will have their say via web, SMS or mobile app. Their crowdsourced data will be shaped into a creative visualisation and presented to policymakers as a collective action toward developing the city.

 CHET (Collective Hedonistic Environment Toolkit) by Intolight.
CHET is a software toolkit for the easy collaborative creation of body-reactive environments at festivals and public events. Interactive sounds and graphics combine with motion-sensing interfaces, allowing club music, soundscapes, real-time 3D graphics and visual effects to respond and react to the movement of festival audiences.

 JAN JELINEK
November, 19th
@ Goethe Institut Toulouse / 4 bis rue Clémence Isaure
20h30 / 3€

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 November, 25th @ Centre Culturel Français
Gig : Mondkopf

 November, 27th @ Cercle Sony Labou Tansi
Musée d’Art, Qoso, Mondkopf, Dj Mbo, Dj Nestor, Dj James & I Dance

 November, 28th @ La Main Bleue
Qoso & Etienne Menu

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This call for proposals seeks projects that take the form of an experiment, a prototype or a trial of a new type of art object, technology or form of participation, and that make use of the setting of the festival in an inventive way.

The theme Festival as Lab is inspired by the FutureEverything festival, which is conceived and designed as a ’living lab’ for prototyping the future. The ECAS festivals are experimental spaces or laboratories where we can experiment and play with future art, music and ideas. We are looking for projects that engage the festival audience and artists in a participatory experiment in creating a new kind of artwork, a new form of participation, new understanding on art or technology, or a new and innovative way of presenting inspirational art. Proposals should experiment with the festival format, transforming the festival environment into a lab or experimental space.

The successful project will be shown at the festivals Club Transmediale (Berlin, February 2011), FutureEverything (Manchester, May 2011) and CYNETART (Dresden, November 2011).

The deadline for submissions is 24th October 2010.

For the full text of the call, information on the ECAS network, and the online submission form, please go here.

Some all-time summer hits according to us compiled on Spotify ! That playlist is collaborative, so feel free to add your favorite summer beats :)

Starring Minnie Riperton, Talking Heads, Os Mutantes, The Kinks, Supergrass, Amii Stewart, Chic, Stevie Wonder, Deee-Lite, The Notorious B.I.G., Sebastien Tellier ...