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Robert Barry Opens Future Soundscapes
The Quietus , October 7th, 2019 13:24

Quietus Reviews/Culture Editor and half of the group Far Rainbow on speaking and performing tour of Europe

This Thursday (October 10), tQ Reviews Editor Robert Barry will be delivering the keynote speech opening Berlin's Future Soundscapes Festival at Silent Green.

The Festival, billing itself as "an audiovisual trip through time, exploring the past and present of science fiction sound in pop culture, music and cinema", will also feature live performances from Forest Swords, Takashi Makino and sound artist Peter Cusack. Barry's talk will look at a history of utopian sonics from the nineteenth century to the present day, drawing on his 2017 book for Repeater, The Music of the Future.

Following his festival appearance in Berlin – and to break up the long train journey home – Barry will be playing a series of live concerts, bringing his unique blend of solo improvised live electronics to venues in Dortmund, Brussels and Brighton. Using quotidian household objects like an electric toothbrush, a shaver, and a hairbrush, Barry will create lush textures and rich slowly evolving harmonies.

The gigs will take place at Mex in Dortmund on October 11, Brussels' AB Salon on October 13 and Phoenix Gallery in Brighton on October 16. Barry's latest solo album, Through Acheron, was released by WIAIWYA Records in July.

Full details as follows:

10 October – delivering keynote speech at Future Soundscapes Festival, Berlin

11 October – playing live, solo improvised electronics set at Mex, Dortmund

13 October – playing live, solo improvised electronics at AB Salon, Brussels

16 October – playing live, solo improvised electronics at Phoenix Gallery, Brighton