Avant-Garde Update, and "Ready to Die for Xiu Xiu."
Flake's latest book is out now, plus reviews and star-spotting at the Monheim Triennale!
Sup Lovers?
Thanks for being so patient with me these last few months. I am proud to announce that my book “READY TO DIE FOR XIU XIU” is out now at fladik.net!
For those of you wondering how I made the jump from the Zorn world to the Xiu world, let me explain some of the crossover by dropping some familiar names. For a start, Ches Smith and Shayna Dunkelman are former members of the band, but there have also been collaborations with Andrea Parker, Mary Halvorson, Tim Berne, and Tony Malaby. Shahzad Ismaily produced one (brilliant) album for them and Greg Saunier of Deerhoof produced even more. Veering off into the rock/indie world, guitarist John Dietrich (Deerhoof) has been known to make the odd cameo, along with Thor Harris (Swans). Some albums feature the masterful touch of Lawrence English (Room40 Records), and even further out on the fringe you’ll find works with Liz Harris (Grouper) and Sharon Van Etten. The current drummer is David Kendrick (Devo, Sparks, and more).
I have been running an Avant-Garde night at the local indie cinema called “Avant Nacht.” It’s a series of improvised concerts featuring a high standard of international experimental performers. For the fourth installment, and through some bizarre luck of the universe, I was actually able to book Xiu Xiu members Jamie Stewart and Hyunhye “Angela” Seo to come and perform.
It’s a rare thing for the duo to put on a show outside of the context of the band, especially one of an improvisational nature. What followed was an intimate, visceral display of sound creation of upright piano and guitar with pedalboard. Both humble musicians, I don’t believe either would claim to be "virtuosic," but both are highly unique in terms of their playing. In particular, I have never seen anyone play a piano quite as violently as Angela - I wondered if her hands were hurt after the show, given how hard she was jabbing the keys! (Afterwards she told me she was fine :)). It was exciting to watch her. Jamie meandered through different effects and interesting chords, but my favourite moments were when they created layers of effects resulting in the guitar sounding like a different instrument entirely. Subtle, echoing scrapes that faded into the distance, or strange synthlike chirps. I loved it.
Since the show, the band has read the book cover to cover and given it their blessing. I am over the moon and so very proud of this release.
Monheim Triennale II
2025-07-02 – Day 1
Shahzad Ismaily had invited me to the German festival “Monheim Triennale II” as a guest, with the intention that I do some writing about some of the performances that I experienced. Naturally, I was delighted to accept his generous invitation! The festival takes place once every three years with several international artists in residence collaborating with local music groups and schools. The first day of the festival saw a showcase of motivated amateur performers teaming up with the “celebs” for a number of mini concerts. Unsurprisingly, the hall was mostly filled with excited parents, which made for a happy vibe. I sat in the front row with some jazz critics and other writers. Before one performance began, Shahzad came to the front of the stage, telling the writers: “This will be very cute!”
The first show was an ensemble piece called “Keep It In The Church” lead by Australian trombonist, Shannon Barnett, along with the brass class of the music school and the Peter Ustinov Gesamtschule. The enthusiastic conductor animatedly led the children with Shannon up front connecting with the young musicians through eye contact over her trombone- in particular with the four other trombone players. The piece evolved over a number of movements from brass instrumentals to a Shannon solo over simple drum accompaniment, to an audience clap-along anthem at the end. All in all, a special experience for the young talents to be onstage next to such an accomplished leader.
Next up was “The Band Crusher” - a school band of the Ulla Hahn Comprehensive School that featured Darian Donovan Thomas (vl), Shahzad Ismaily (g) and Joanna Mattrey (vla). This little alt/punk band was a festival highlight for many who were there. The teen all-girl group played sweet little songs with a punky attitude, lead breaks, and moments that popped with surprising authentic energy. The experienced string and bass accompaniment section brought the simple songs to life. At the conclusion, one young keyboard player let out a huge sigh of relief, grinned, and high-fived her bandmate. High pressure!
The third performance was not a local collab but a piece featuring Miriam Elhajli (voc,), Indré Jurgelevičiūtė (kankles), Joanna Mattrey (vla) and Josh Zubot (vl). I had recognised Josh’s name from his work with Darius Jones, so I was looking forward to seeing him in action. Miriam told improvised stories about her week in Monheim and the locals she met, over gentle zither and violins. (Shahzad could be spotted peering over from behind the sounddesk). She sang a Kentucky coal mine ballad as she physically rolled and slithered around the stage - her stories provided an interlude for her totally gorgeous singing. Both violins were prepared, sometimes played as a drum upside down. Joanna dragged her instrument softly over the stage to produce a scraping sound. Towards the end, Miriam shook little tiny percussive shakers, and knocked the drums with her knuckles. Awe-inspiring and bizarre, from start to finish and hauntingly beautiful.
Next up, the fourth performance was “Break On Through – das.bass plays music from Patti Smith,” featuring the exceptional drummer Ludwig Wandinger, accompanied by local muso’s Adrian Breuer (eb), Henri Halbach (eb), Jan Peter Welsch (b), and festival team-member Achim Tang (b). Four basses and a drumkit honouring Patti- interesting concept! What followed was a series of grooves with one upright solo in between, and a vocal sample triggered off an iPad of Patti saying: “We went to the moon? So what, keep breaking through to the other side.” Slight reverb and blue lighting enhanced the dramatic breakdown, where Ludwig's soft, articulate drumming supported emotional bowed uprights. Eventually a waltz evolved with heroic undertones and a gentle sway. Understated, and cool.
The final piece for the night was a heavy duet from Brìghde Chaimbeul (small pipe) and Shahzad Ismaily (Moog). Two purple spotlights shone down from above, highlighting the peaceful droning instruments. Shahzad went deep within himself, centering with closed eyes and long breaths. Brìghde set the tone on her pipes- which after several minutes, began to trick the ear into thinking that what it's hearing is another synth, or some kind of buzzing tone. After enough time, Shahzad joined in ever so subtly with his Moog. The pipes trilled occasionally and effect pedals released distant echoes into the ether, and far off into the night. Shahzad was deep in trance, still breathing deeply as he made only very minor adjustments to his Moog. The effect was an intense, Chakra-cleansing drone, gristly and pure. Shahzad created a whirring that reminded me of a faraway helicopter. This piece felt laced with anguish or grief. It was a spiritual cry, inviting one to cleanse themselves of whatever subconscious residue they felt the need to wash away. A fantastic closer to a really fun first festival day.
The following three days featured more artist-focussed programming across a series of venues. Alongside a few festival giants - Peter Evans, Tyshawn Sorey, Darius Jones, and more - there were dozens of new discoveries for me, whose careers I look very much forward to following in future. Here were two of my personal highlights:
2025-07-03 – Day 2
Darian Donovan Thomas (vl, electr., voc)
Softly affected reverberating violin layers and loops were cast up into the hot chapel's atmosphere. Darian made little bird noises on a tiny twisting instrument and occasionally tapped a little bell. He sang, "I need to know what to do" as if praying for an answer. If this is what the introspective search sounds like, there is no doubt that he will find the answers that he is looking for. The audience was silent and captivated during his sparse spoken word piece "Am I Supposed to Go Down with this Ship."
The violin had such a beautiful warm tone like unfiltered honey, and his voice was clear, soulful, and understated - I would have not been surprised if a flock of butterflies had come down from the ceiling and flooded this church, so attracted to the natural sweetness of this pretty performance. There was also a lovely cover of "Hyperballad." The essence of Björk blended effortlessly with the bowed and plucked violin, and ran through electronic effect pedals. Slay.
2025-07-04 – Day 3
“Intricate Pipes”
Anushka Chkheidze
Signature Project (World Premiere)
Anushka Chkheidze: electronics, organ
Markus Hinz: Artistic counselling
This was a performance of a church organ with robots. It wasn't easy to tell what Anushka was doing to trigger the robots, despite there being a screen up on the church altar with a live feed of the organ. She appeared to have some very retro looking equipment and the organ produced some harmonious chords in a relaxed, peaceful piece she had composed. The church was seriously warm, with some folks fanning their faces, and others standing on the bluestone without shoes. The piece was simple, repetitive, and with slight variations in effect evolving over time- warbling, windy, almost breathy, and ethereal. An arpeggiator and effect pedals added electronic, glimmering mechanics to the queen of the instruments, resulting in a glistening, pretty melody with great bassy undertones. Her dance music influence was apparent through the repetitive melody, which had some churchgoers grooving along. Her feet played the bass pedals and the camera alternated between showing this and the programmed accompaniment. The tempo gradually increased up to levels of happy hardcore, and it was grand. Some people gave a standing ovation when the energetic piece reached its conclusion. It was a refreshing, exciting, and a cool juxtaposition of mechanical and organic, traditional and modern, in this antique space.
Of course, no festival would be complete for Flake without a healthy round of glowing bracelets… here were a few of the lucky recipients this time around:
The festival season is upon us and I have a very busy August lined up visiting a huge amount of shows! Now that my book has been released you can rest assured that the Fladik news is BACK to our regularly scheduled monthly mail!
Stay tuned for more avant-garde and experimental madness – it’s good to be back!
XOXOXO
Flake
CEO Fladik
Good to see you!