Press Info / Background for Performers with BCO on the SONIC UTOPIA 2012 TOUR: *********** BIG CITY ORCHESTRA http://ubuibi.org/ Even before the Internet, artists were communicating worldwide developing an international Mail Art and Cassette Culture scene. Big City Orchestra was among the first to exchange self produced music with others through tapes, which were later sold in limited editions, often in lovingly designed packaging. Founded in 1979, BCO has by now produced hundreds of tapes as well as dozens of CD's and LP's. Core members are the artists Ninah Pixie and dAS, complemented by various musicians, such as Dan Burke from Illusion of Safety,   Edward Ka-Spel, singer of The Legendary Pink Dots, Daevid Allen of Gong, and noise pioneer GX Jupitter-Larsen from The Haters. The music of BCO differs widely: Cold Wave, Ambient and Noise, with elements from audio drama, Folk and Pop. Their concerts often include acting, dance and video projection and additionally they produce collage and video art, strongly influenced by Dadaism. BCO is always playing with genres as if the world is a yo-yo. On a regular basis BCO is producing radio broadcasts and webcasts with live music and guests from all over the world. Hundreds of these recordings can be found on www.archive.org (search 'ubradio'). *********** REDZONE http://redzone.phasechange.info/ Redzone is a multi-genre band from London, England. They were pioneering in their use of real instruments that are then sampled and processed, and of the Internet to distribute music and video. After recording demos in 1997, they released two MP3 web singles in 1998, "Torrid/Crime of Passion" and "Layer6/Body Craves". Their debut CD "Modified" came out in 1999 on their 'Phasechange Recordings' label, and was followed by "[digital flesh]" in 2005, containing an interactive, multi-threaded CD-ROM video. Redzone were credited by Wired and Reuters as being the first band to tour in Second Life in February 2007. They co-promoted and performed at The Scorched Earth Festival, which took place on May 1, 2007. The third Redzone studio album, 'Abstract Revolution' was released on June 20, 2008, and a track was played on BBC Radio 4 on March 15, 2009. *********** FEINE TRINKERS BEI PINKELS DAHEIM http://www.pinkelsdaheim.com/ Feine Trinkers bei Pinkels Daheim are from Bremen and Lörrach on the German coasts, and have toured everything from The Netherlands to Switzerland, Russia and Great Britain extensively over the last 2 decades. In the last 2 decades, they released unique vinyl CD and cassettes in multiple editions , usually personalised and with personalised hand-painted artwork. Every show of Feine Trinkers bei Pinkels is an experience for itself - it's timeless, it's a feast for the ears, and it's such a pleasure to see them doing all the work on stage when you just lean back staring at them, with their aural earbuds tickling your eardrums. Now, Yesterday or Tomorrow, and why do they have such an attention to detail - that's the question you will ask yourself. *********** NOTSTANDSKOMITEE http://www.block4.com/index.php?id=10 http://notstandskomitee.bandcamp.com/ http://soundcloud.com/notstandskomitee Malte Steiner began Notstandskomitee as a side project to his work with Das Kombinat in 1991, developing his own style of postindustrial electronic minimal music, and working with all kinds of electronics, from analogue via digital to software-based systems. Malte began with electronic music in 1983 with projects Nebelhorn and Moderne Fabrikanten. He continues to this day with audio-visual performances and exhibitions as a member of the projects: Elektronengehirn, Das Kombinat, Akustikkoppler, Restlichtverstärker and Konform. Currently working as media artist, sound designer and software developer in Berlin, and has created the Linux software synth Minicomputer http://minicomputer.sourceforge.net and is involved in the Alsa Modular Synthesizer project. Collaborations and remixes with and for Plastic Noise Experience, Serpents, Ionic Vision, De Fabriek, :Wumpscut:, Geisterfahrer, Telepherique, TBC, Cancer, Trike, Cyberthreat and [de:ad:cibel]