Saturday 4th August sees Down & Out take-over the stunning surroundings of London’s Loft Studios. Spanning two floors and the open-air courtyard, the Items & Things division will showcase fine new talents Danny Benedettini, Madato and Tim Paris as well as sets from the three head honchos Magda, Marc Houle and Troy Pierce – set to make feet, bodies and minds move together.
From the first days of their careers, Items & Things label owners Magda, Troy Pierce & Marc Houle have always had a deep love and appreciation for the intimate. The dark and dirty. The underground. As a means to showcase talent on the Items & Things label, they have put together their own version of a special night – Down & Out. Bringing their heaviest artillery in tracks, a stash of smaller-room sounds, and a vibe that feels more ‘family’ than club-land, with the three on the line-up and inviting friends to play with them.
Magda has established a fierce reputation as a leading authority in forward thinking music. Her drive to find a meeting of oppositions is clear from her electrifying sets, emotion-led yet clinical, otherworldly but visceral, dark with a warm sense of beauty and grace, sparse yet wondrously full-bodied with density, often reaching extremes before re-tuning to a balance. She has enthralled audiences the world over, appearing at influential venues on every continent and has played at festivals such as Movement, Ultra Festival and Tomorrowland, and recording the highly acclaimed ‘fabric 49’ mix in 2009.
With nearly 1,000 tracks to his credit, Marc Houle is a prolific music-making machinist. Inspired by obscure new wave and analog synths of a mid-90’s Detroit, he held up a residency at Richie Hawtin’s club “13 Below” and was quickly signed to Minus where he gained notoriety for quality techno. Most recently he released ‘Undercover’ on ‘Items & Things’ which marked the imprints first full-length album. It fully demonstrated his continuing expanding sound, toying with less club-friendly tempos and the occasional non-4/4 rhythm. None of his sets are ever the same, except perhaps, their ability to impress the crowd.
Joining his label allies, Troy Pierce fuses techno with minimalism, darkness with light and heaviness with rhythm and is never afraid to experiment. “I like making and playing weird music for weird people – those WTF tracks that stick in your head as a sound from another dimension” says the man who has earned a deserved and revered reputation for himself, as well as his much-lauded Louderbach alias.
Flexing fresh talent is Italian born Danny Benedettini who’s first release for Items & Things ‘Tell Me Quietly’, sent ripples through the electronic music underground and with Miami Winter Music Conference, Fabric, Rex Club and Nuits Sonores on his tour circuit and more EPs about to drop, is certainly one to watch in 2012.
It was Magda who first picked up Madato in 2009 when she included ‘The Night’s Rumours’ in her fabric 49 mix, and went on to debut in Watergate alongside Magda, Chloé, Marc Houle, Troy Pierce and Jimmy Edgar. His debut album ‘Speak Of The Devil’ was described as ‘incredibly strange and refreshing’ by I-Voice, awarding it 7.5/10. Madato prides himself on a body of work, which is whole-heartedly characterized by twisted visions and surreal dreams.
Special guest and good friend Tim Paris completes the line-up. Hailing from London, Tim released “Various Items 2” back in March this year on a shared EP, also featuring Darabi. Tim has his own label Marketing Music which is dedicated to his music crushes and wide ranging inspirations.
Down & Out nights are about music you can reach out and touch. Big music for sweatier spaces. With a program of such diverse talent, characteristic for Down & Out, prepare for a surprising adventure of sonic exploration.
Items & Things presents Down & Out
Saturday 4th August
Magda | Marc Houle | Troy Pierce
Danny Benedettini | Madato | Tim Paris
Tickets: £10-£15 RA & R$N