Feeling Supersonic in OUTSIDELEFT

Birmingham hosts two major music festivals this forthcoming weekend. At one, mainstream household names will meander throughout the afternoon and evening in a beautiful park in B13 behind the Estate Agent. By way of contrast, the other, the redoubtable Supersonic Festival will feature some of the greatest, uncompromising outsider talent left on earth, all gathering in the Digbeth environs. At Supersonic, the sound will pose a threat. Even the delicate moments will scratch and gnaw with understated opprobrium surmounting the tenets of the appropriate. Ha! Pompous ass way to say this will be uncompromising and true. Check the list of artists below! While the bill of stars is diverse and deep, we’re highlighting a few of the names here that provoked an immediate response from our writers…

FRIDAY
Alan Rider, Contributing Editor

MELT BANANA

Formed in Tokyo in 1991 out of the ashes of Yasuko Onuki’s band Mizu, Melt Banana featured the core of Onuki (‘Yako’) and Mizu guitarist Ichiro Agata. Drums and bass provided by a laptop controlled by a midi controller, brandished by Yako live like a video game controller, orchestrating their set from up front. Yako’s frenetic and high-pitched vocals and mask wearing Agata’s equally frenetic and frantically brutalistic and FX laden guitar style pummels you relentlessly, pulling no punches. They are the now veteran archetypal noise punk band (although they eschew genre comparisons and tags), releasing material through their own A-Zap label. John Peel described their 1999 Peel Session as "simply one of the most extraordinary performances I have ever seen and ever heard ... just mesmerizing, absolutely astonishing."

After an 11 year gap, they’ve just released their 8th studio album, ’3+5 Influences are many, but New York No Wave and Lydia Lunch stand out as primary ones.

From Supersonic... If you fancy having your face peeled off by some speed-of-light grindcore – Melt-Banana will be firing up our stage with their inferno of noise rock. They continually stun live audiences around the world with their raucous energy.

FRIDAY
Alan Rider, Contributing Editor

GAZELLE TWIN

Composer, producer, and visual artist Elizabeth Bernholz – aka Gazelle Twin – is a force to be reckoned with, and performs with an excoriating intensity that is rare. Her album, Black Dog, rated five hearts in our Week in Music. If you are yet to witness Gazelle Twin live, the performance at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Brighton, in November last year, released as an EP showcases her astounding performance. Opening with the spine chilling 'Two Worlds', the downward spiral into wrenching pain and suspense continues with the jittery 'Fear Keeps Us Alive' before 'A Door Opens' sees Elizabeth in torch singer mode, restrained, yet tightly wound. The EP closes with the aptly named 'Unstoppable Force'; stomping, nightmarishly pulsating, an eerie synth grinding away like an infernal machine as she intones over the backing, twitching and lunging until its abrupt end. More performance art than gig, Gazelle Twin certainly has a dark vision.

FRIDAY
DJ Fuzzyfelt

TRISTWCH Y FENWOD
Best Welsh Language Queercore trio ever to emerge from Bradford and Leeds.Like Mogwai with Zithers. Astonishing!

SATURDAY
Brandon From New Jersey, contributor

EMMA RUTH RUNDLE

Emma Ruth Rundle’s career already spans multiple genres and mediums, including metal, experimental, ambient, painting, visual art, and filmmaking. She’s one of those incredibly frustrating people who seems to be good at everything. Of course, you couldn’t stay frustrated with her for very long because all of that work is so good… visceral, powerful, and honest. You also can’t be annoyed by her apparently endless amounts of talent because she is just such a lovely person.

Working as a freelance video editor, I work with A LOT of people. It’s hard to remember everyone, but not Emma. I edited three music videos from of her beautiful and devastating 2021 album “Engine of Hell”. Emma also directed or co-directed these amazing videos (because of course she did), so I worked with her directly.

The songs on “Engine of Hell” are seriously bleak, so I wasn’t sure exactly what type of person I was going to be working with. Would she be quiet and withdrawn? Would she be a bit over-sensitive about her work? Emma was anything but. Despite the bleak music (or maybe because of??) Emma is an absolute joy of a person, with endless curiosity and a smile that legitimately makes a room brighter.

I was really struck by her combination of mental flexibility and self-assured artistic instinct. She knew when something worked or didn’t right away and was very happy to try something else even if the idea she was throwing out was her own. Those two instincts are rare, and it’s even rarer when someone with those instincts is so kind and easy to work with.

Oh, and OF COURSE she is an amazing live performer as well… great voice, great player, with charisma to spare. Do yourself a favour and go see her.

From Supersonic... Emma Ruth Rundle will be performing her first official album ‘Some Heavy Ocean’ in full, 10 years since the album was released. Some Heavy Ocean, presents a collection of impassioned, cathartic songs, exorcising the ghosts of one of life’s dark detours. Melancholic, but equally hopeful and accessible, the album wears its emotions on its sleeve.

SUNDAY
Ogglypoogly

BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY

If you’re looking for a way to end your weekend at Supersonic, it would be remiss to not treat your ears to the gentle sounds of Bonnie "Prince" Billy. The alter ego of prolific singer-songwriter Will Oldham, remains a mysterious and captivating presence in the indie folk and Americana scenes. With a career as prolific as it is long, there is a wealth of material to be dipped into, music from the sirens that will draw you in and hold you captivated, this isn’t by any means by the numbers folk-americana written for mass consumption, rather these are melodies and lyrics that will haunt you long after you’ve slipped away into the night to sleep off a weekend of aural delights.

From Supersonic... One of singer/songwriter Will Oldham’s many aliases, Bonnie “Prince” Billy is his most prolific, with Oldham releasing nearly all his material under the moniker since 1999’s breakthrough album ‘I See a Darkness’. As long-term fans of Will Oldhams profound output, it’s an absolute dream come true to have him perform for the Supersonic audience.

Essential Information
Main image Emma Ruth Rundle video screengrab from YouTube

SUPERSONIC FESTIVAL website is here

Thanks to Lauren from rarelyunable pr at for last minute help with the details here. Because regular readers will know how we can be with the details...