Blur will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the 2012 BRIT Awards on 21st February 2012, 21 years since the release of debut album Leisure.

“It's great to have recognition for all the work and all the heartache and all the joy that’s gone into this band. ”
Damon Albarn

“Being in a band this long is like a kind of time travel. We’re the same gang we ever were, we’ve just landed in a different era. Or possibly we’re a totally different blur still playing the old tunes in 1991… forever. I haven’t decided. But it’s always nice to get a Brit Award.”
Graham Coxon

On sale from: http://www.atpfestival.com/events/tennishoxton.php

BOTW presents Tim Hecker : Organ Concert in London

Tickets available from https://birdonthewire.ticketabc.com/events/tim-hecker2/

Montréal based sound artist Tim Hecker will play a rarely-performed set utilizing St. Giles-in-the-fields pipe organ. This hybrid performance relies on a feedback system between pipe organ and computer, as organ tones are fed into a Max/MSP patch, run through guitar distortion pedals and out through bass amplifiers and the PA system. Sounds slowly stack, overlap, interweave and eventually dissolve into the air. This approach was developed while recording Hecker’s latest release, Ravedeath, 1972 in Reykjavik, Iceland with producer Ben Frost. The result is a strange hybrid that lives somewhere between the digital and material realms, and it's remarkable how seamlessly the two are combined. But while there is harmony between the source material, Ravedeath, 1972 is by no means about prettiness or tranquility. Hecker pits noises against one another in such a way that creates a constant push and pull between discord and beauty.
http://www.sunblind.net/

On sale to Red & Orange Members - Mon 7 Nov 10am
On sale to the general public - Fri 11 Nov 10am

A rare UK appearance from the Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist and lyricist, to celebrate the release of his much anticipated new album. With his 2005 record Mysterious Production of Eggs recently named one of the ‘100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums of All Time’ on Amazon.com, now get ready for this casual musical genius’ first studio effort in over two years.

‘Andrew Bird and his cohorts (…) decided to treat the whole past as a single body of work to draw freely from, rather than restricting themselves to an era or a style.’ Pitchfork 9/10 on The Swimming Hour

"An exceptional collaboration from perhaps the three most defining creative minds from today’s New York's inspirational music scene.

With his The Age of Adz album tour this year, Sufjan Stevens once again confirmed his status as an inimitable singer-songwriter genius; Bryce Dessner delivered sell-out performances with The National and Nico Muhly brought us the soundtrack for the Oscar-winning film The Reader as well as the recent Two Boys opera at ENO.

Presenting a unique song cycle for seven trombones and string quartet with vocals from Sufjan Stevens, the concert opens with a series of beguiling string quartets – most of them UK premieres; to continue with Stevens’ first live performance of the vocals for Bryce Dessner's brand new quartet 'Tenebrae', which he wrote for Kronos Quartet and performed at the Babrican's Reverberations weekend in May 2011.

Programme:

Nico Muhly Diacritical Marks
Sufjan Stevens Run rabbit run (selection)
Bryce Dessner Tenebrae
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Muhly/Stevens/Dessner Song cycle for voice, string quartet and trombones (UK premiere)"