You may recall that Supersonic, the Birmingham festival of which the Quietus are both regular attendees and media partners, took a year’s break during 2013, instead hosting the pared-back Bring To Light festival at the city’s recently-opened new library. Well, Capsule have today announced that Supersonic will return for 2014, this time for a two-day version of the festival taking place on 30th-31st May. Named Supersonic Ltd Edt, it will take place at the festival’s usual venue, The Custard Factory, and the names announced so far suggest that it will be a customarily heavy-yet-broad-minded affair.
Headlining proceedings will be the mighty Swans, one of the most apocalyptically intense and euphoric live bands currently in action; the show follows on from both Michael Gira’s upcoming solo tour of the UK and the band’s eagerly awaited new album To Be Kind, released in early May.
The rest of the bill contains a similarly heavy weighting of Quietus favourites. Electronic collagists Matmos are playing, following last year’s fantastic The Marriage Of True Minds, as are Wolf Eyes, who are on particularly good live form right now. Elsewhere the line-up features Liverpool’s hypnotic guitar strikers Ex-Easter Island Head, Sleaford Mods, Opal Tapes label boss Basic House, Agathe Max and Jenny Hval.
As is traditional for Supersonic there will also be plenty of extra gig events. Worcestershire’s If Wet, an event usually based in a village hall, hosted by MortonUnderwood and centred around all kinds of sonic exploration, will be relocating to Birmingham for the weekend. There will also be a film programme, workshops and cake.
More names will be announced in the time between now and the festival. It’s a stripped-back affair, so there are only 400 tickets available in total for the weekend; they will cost £45 each, and will be available from this Friday at the Supersonic website.
