Otto Amon and Solomon Kirchner, The Raagnagrok Twins, will be stepping out into the Light Fandango, with their own brand of Heterosexual Galactic Grokmusik, for two mid February entertainments:
A Music Club: the Others, Thursday 12th Feb, From 7pm until midnight, 6-8, Manor Rd, London N16 5SA, £4. The line-up will include: The Man From Uranus and Now. This set will mark Solomon Kirchner's ejection from the N16 Parish Arts Club.
Club Integral: Sunday 15th Feb, 4-11pm at The Grosvenor Arms, 17 Sidney Road, Stockwell, London, SW9 0TP.
Tickets a mere £5. Line up includes: Jowe Head (Swell Maps), Tetine, Proxy Music, Oscillatorial Binnage, The Temperatures, Superstrings, Steve Greekshire, No Frills Band, Frank Bangay and The Topsy Turvy Band.
'Club Integral presents an all-day (4.00 PM - 11.00 PM) Resonance Radio Benefit Gala, featuring music from an dazzling array of musical talent including. Come and support the legendary community/arts radio station, and catch some of the best music in town. Global filmic magic from Jaime Rory Lucy of Rucksack Cinema and music from the ineffable DJ Chris Cornetto. Vegan food will be available.'
19.12.08
2008: the score
23.12.08 - Krishna & Cabbagehead - (forthcoming) Klinker, Maggie's Bar, N16
17.12.08 - AngkorGrok (Alaric Pether & Krishna) - Map Music, Kentish Town.
03.12.08 - Ed Ommm, Anshu, Krishna & various poets - Map Music, Kentish Town.
01.11.08 - Raagnagrok - Day of the Dead, Horse Hospital, London - with Alison Brice.
28.10.08 - Oort - Seducing Spiders, Art Workers Guild, London - with Ellen McGee.
26.09.08 - Raagnagrok - Cavendish Arms, Brixton - with Frances Morgan.
19.08.08 - Krishna - Klinker, Maggie's Bar, N16.
31.07.08 - Raga Yuthanmi - Hendon Campus, Middlesex University.
20.06.08 - Platform Five(5) - Off N On, Industry, EC2.
09.06.08 - Oort - New Babylon, ICA.
06.05.08 - Oort - Unnatural Histories, Bethnal Green Working Men's Club - with Bruce Woolley.
30.05.08 - Raga Jalfrezi - Enfield Campus, Middlesex University.
14.03.08 - Krishna - Elevator Gallery, E9.
07.03.08 - Krishna - Klinker, The Salisbury, Green Lanes.
15.02.08 - Raagnagrok - Bar Abbey, Sheffield.
26.01.08 - Platform Five(5) - Checkpoint, The Others, N16.
11.09.08
the media's darling
As well as the shows rumoured below. Oort will be playing another date at the end of October, as will Raagnagrok II in early November and again in February with Now and Man from Uranus. More details as they arrive.
19/08/08 - KLINKER
Krishna will be playing a solo show at the N16 Klinker (Maggie's Bar, 98-100 Stoke Newington Church Street, N16) on 19th August from about 9pm. On the same evening there will also be poetry from F Crazy Cloud and music from Portia Winters and Arnold Lane. The Krishna set will include songs from The Entropy Circus, The Benelux and The Royal Free Electric and will be accompanied by The Automatic Hoogestra System. £5/£3 concs.
26/09/08 - THE CAVENDISH ARMS
Morgen, Pilkington and Krishna will be playing at an evening of chaos magickery with antipodean thaumaturge Orryelle Defenestrate. The duo will be unveiling their new musical direction, Raagnagrok II, as well as their new gallic noms de guerre. Further entertainment for the evening will be provided by London's This Too Shall Pass and Arktau Eos from Finland. Chaos will kick of at 8pm and tickets are available in advance from www.theatreofophidia.co.uk for £12, or £14 on the door.
FURTHERMORE
Hamilton, Guest, Pilkington and Krishna, aka Oort, will be playing a couple of shows in the following months. More details as they arrive.
13.03.08
krishna at zero de conduit and more
Krishna will be flying solo once more at the Zero De Conduit evening at Elevator Gallery in Hackney Wick:
Friday 14th March, 7pm > very late, £3 on the door.
Elevator Gallery, Mother Studio, Queens Yard, White Post Lane, Hackney Wick, E9 5EN
Entertainments include: film screenings, singing dalek, dog boxing, live art, VJs, DJs and much more. Other sonic experimenters on the night will include Siemi Di, Debug and the fantastic Temperatures.
Also: Platform Five(5) will be playing at the Schiphorst Avant Garde Festival in July, and May should see the return of Oort. Not necessarily in that order
12.02.08
platform five(5), raagnagrok & krishna in 2008
In all of the excitement of the new year we have neglected a few updates at iotacism. As some of you will know December's solo gig was cancelled and has been scheduled for next month. You may also know that Platform Five(5) played a heroic motorik electronic set at Checkpoint last month. Furthermore, those of you who are really in tune will know that Raagnagrok are playing in Sheffield at the end of this week.
For all of you who are not acquainted with these facts here is the news:
07.03.08: Krishna plays a live soundtrack to train films by Hugh Metcalfe. Klinker Harringay. Salisbury Hotel, Green Lanes, Harringay, London. £5/£3. 10pm onwards
14.12.07
krishna plays the klinker at kristmas
As a last gig of the year I will be playing a live improvised soundtrack to Super 8 films by Hugh Metcalfe on the subject of railways.
Also at The Klinker that night:
* Long John & Sons of the Y-Fronts
* Saddam & the Lookalikes
December 27, 2007, Ivy House Pub, 40 Stuart Rd, SE15
23.10.07
mount vernon & raagnagrok in glasgow
photo by Al Robertson
Raagnagrok will be playing at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow supporting Drew Mulholland's legendary Mount Vernon Arts Lab at their first gig in five years.
Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
Tuesday 30 October 8pm-12pm £1.50/£3.
Also, phantastic photos phrom Dan Sumption of last week's Sheffield gig HERE!
05.10.07
raagnagroking sheffield and the stella massive in green lanes
Following The Raagnagrok's chakra-expanding set at the Horse Hospital last week, Europe's favourite electric sitar and synth duo will be kicking it in Sheffield at a Freenoise night at Bar Abbey (Abbeydale Road,Sheffield) on 18th October:
Pat Thomas Quartet w/ Mick Beck, John Jasnoch and Rob Dainton. Pianist since age 8rs, Thomas has played with Fred Frith, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Phil Minton and many more. His conspirators for this occasion are all renowned and accomplished musicians in their own right.+ Raagnagrok (London electronic mystical raga rock team) + Glynn Heppenstall (The Anti Group / The Tajalli Vortex solo debut) + DJ Kosmische!
£5 / 4 Tickets
And furthermore: on the following night the Stellamarisdroneorchestra will be returning to the Klinker at The Salisbury, Green Lanes, London. We hope you will attend at least one of these events.
02.09.07
return of platform five(5)
The Drones Club is proud to join the merry eccentrics at The Klinker for an extra-special night of oddity and wild romance.
Tuesday 11 September
Stage B
98 Stoke Newington Church Street
8.30pm-11pm
£5/£3 concessions
We join forces with London's oddest improv night to present:
The return of a legend in the shape of Platform Five(5), with a set of electronic improvisations. http://www.iotacism.com
A site-specific happening from the downright peculiar Le Couteau Jaune live art/noise performance collective. http://www.lecouteaujaune.com
Tones, drones and hypnotic electronica from This Too Shall Pass.
Piratical poetry and spoken word by Luc Owll. http://www.myspace.com/owlls
31.07.07
grokking summer
photo by Al Robertson
Thanks to all who came to see us playing the Drones Club on Saturday, and at the Resonance FM Month of Sundays on Sunday. And thanks to our special guests M John Harrison and Erik Davis.
More Raagnagrok action on 18th August at the Green Man Festival where Raagnagrok will be playing in the Strange Attractor Salon. And then in September occult reverberations with Oryelle Defenestrate and in October we'll be visiting the people of Sheffield with cosmic drones. More on these soon!
11.06.07
krishna on church street
photo by KJW
Krishna will be playing a solo set at the new Stoke Newington Klinker at Stage B, 98-100 Stoke Newington Church Street on 26th June.
16.05.07
raagnagrok june microminitour
photo by al robertson
Raagnagrok will be playing two consecutive dates down south:
7th JUNE - KLINKER NUNHEAD - with The Tajalli Vortex.
8th JUNE - WINDMILL BRIXTON - Resonance FM benefit gig with, amongst others, the very fine Man From Uranus!
More details soon!
04.05.07
krishna plays klinker vortex
photo by KJW
14TH MAY @ THE VORTEX JAZZ BAR, DALSTON, LONDON
BICYCLE CLIP SEX - duo philm projections
ZALI KRISHNA - gnostic modalities from the entropy circus
SIBYL MADRIGAL & ALEX WARD - poetry & clarinet
LEMON SQUEEZER - klinker pop
ZOLAN QUOBBLE - poetry
doors 8pm starts 8.30pm
£7/4 concs
23.04.07
raagnagrok at the windmill
Pictures of Raagnagrok at the Windmill on Al Robertson's Flickr account.
29.03.07
raagnaglue
Pictures of Raagnagrok at the Gluerooms last night on Pete Knight's Flickr account.
08.03.07
raagnagrok in march (update)
Raagnagrok will now only be playing one engagement in March as part of our Frühlingserwachen, as the Green Man Rite of Spring has been cancelled: 28 March - Gluerooms, Amersham Arms, 388 New Cross Rd, £3 entry. Doors 8pm, bar until 12am.
Rumour suggests that the Green Man Festival organisers had to cancel after a St Paul-ish conversion experience brought them back to the Catholic faith. This rumour's origin is almost exclusively from this site.
Alyssa Joye, Mark Pilkington and Krishna played an impromptu set as Grok at The Canterbury Arms last Friday in the
very good company of The 7 Hertz Band, I Am Kamura and Miasma. An unexpected start to 2007
The final score in 2006 was: 22 gigs. 12 with Raagnagrok, 5 with The Entropy Circus, 3 with Triplanetary, 1 with Oort and the solo set in November. Thanks to everyone who played with us, put us on, put us up, or put up with us.
Upcoming gigs include Raagnagrok at the Gluerooms and the return of the Stella Maris Drone Orchestra at Corsica Studios in March, a fake saxophone duo at The Ivy House next month, and a solo set at The Vortex Jazz Club in May. More news on all of these soon.
Oh, and it seems that my track Raga Jalfrezi is on the dinner time playlist in the Sub Rosa restaurant in Oregon!
A prosperous new year to all our readers!
01.11.06
krishna solo at klinker nunhead
Krishna will be playing a solo set at Klinker Nunhead on Thursday 30 November. The set will include material from the Entropy Circus repetoire, classic Casio sonorities, major pentatonic fuzz and more. Also at the Klinker on that night: Rabbit (Dave Aylward) and Paul Clarvis & Chris Biscoe.
Wednesday 18th October at the great new underground venue of PASSING CLOUDS situated just off the Kingsland Rd in a Victorian warehouse on 2 floors.
A whole night of live music, DJs, films and poets.
Music inc: Raagnagrok, Sculpture, Lepke B, Temperatures, Ninki V, Beat Frequency and Bilkes.
Film from Diana Mavroleon, Agnes Hay, Ben Polhil, James Dunn.
Photos by Salim Fadhley of Ken Hollings & Oort (Rich Guest, Mark Pilk, Ninki V and Krishna) and others at the Resonance FM's We're All Going to Die evening at the Roundhouse last night here!
12.09.06
entropy circus leaves myspace
Well, it's all bollocks, isn't it? Thanks to all the good people who supported us while we were on there.
31.08.06
entropy circus at cwm 2006
Well, the four piece Entropy Circus had a fabulous time at Diana Mavroleon & Utrophia's Cwm to the Valley festival in Cromer last week. Raagnagrok also played with Alastair of Hamilton Yarns. Photo by Gyrus - edit by iotar.
22.07.06
entropy circus at songbird
09.07.06
raagnagrok at the courtyard theatre
01.06.06
photo by mark pilkington
28.03.06
may songbird with raagnagrok
05/05/06: Raagnagrok play at the Songbird night @ The Bomonti Club, 340 Kingsland Road, E8. featuring:
Grace & Delete (James Dunn & Chris Cundy duo) Raagnagrok Naomi Foyle (poet) Nancy Cunliffe (harp/keyboard/song) Petronella (Egyptian belly dance) Diana Mavroleon (film cave) an Arkhos (two guitars) BPM- (DJ)
8pm>2am, £7/£5.
21.03.06
march & april with raagnagrok and more!
I am appearing quite a lot in the next few months, so here's a complete rundown of the events that you'll be wanting to attend:
24/03/06: Raagnagrok will be doing a live session in the studio on The Scaledown programme on Resonance FM at 16:30 (GMT) - 104.4FM in the Central London area or on streaming audio from http://www.resonancefm.com
and then we'll be dashing back North to play...
Dalston Klinker on a fun filled bill including Draper's Fowl, John Waterhouse and a new Hugh film. As ever the Klinker is at the Sussex pub, 107a Culford Rd, N1, starts 9pm - £5/£3 concessions.
30/03/06: I will be playing electric sitar with Triplanetary at The Bear (154 Deptford High St London SE8 9PQ ) - Triplanetary will feature Anshu, Dan Hayhurst (Sculpture), Rachel Hamilton (Ninki V) and "a drummer" - also playing on this bill: Coy Carp Burger (Chris Irish (Now), Steve Molyneux (The Naciente Quartet) and friends) - the action kicks off at 7:45pm, £3 voluntary contribution.
11/04/06: Raagnagrok are supporting cosmic jam veterans The Green Ray at The Plough Inn, E17. (Wood Street Station, Bus 230 (from Wood Green) and W16 (from Leytonstone underground) stop outside the venue. Bus 56, 257, 357, W12, W15.) An evening of new and classic psychedelic music for discerning psychonauts. And if that's not enough, The Plough serves a very palatable selection of European beers. Starts 8pm - £5 on the door.
15/04/06: We will be playing at Concussion, the 2006 Eastercon - 57th British National Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow. We are playing the Saturday night, probably about 10pm - so if you happen to be attending, drop in and see us levitating an SF audience.
We have also rebuilt the Raagnagrok website, with all of this information and much, much more, and it's HERE!
28.02.06
backcatalogue on archive.org
Slowly gathering my backcatalogue of recordings on Archive.org, under the tag "entropy circus" just here
Currently on the archive:
The Goats & The Peacock, Paddington Hardstare, Hoog (requires editing), Royal Free Electric and Raga Jalfrezi.
More soon!
17.02.06
entropy circus at drones x
Next weekend I will be launching a new solo set at The Drones Club under the nom de guerreThe Original Entropy Circus:
Sat 25 Feb: Drones Club X - featuring Charles Hayward, (as in This Heat. Yes, *that* Charles Hayward!) the irrepressible Man From Uranus, The Original Entropy Circus and the mysterious "many more". There will also be Drones Club and guest DJs and Lightning Rod's ever brilliant lightshow.
The Others, 6-8 Manor Road, Stoke Newington, London N16 5SA (above the Manor Snooker Club). 8pm-late, only £5 on the door.
14.02.06
raagnagrok double whammy
Raagnagrok will be playing twice this weekend:
At the launch of Silkmilk magazine, number 3, put together by Antipodean occultist Orryelle Defenestrate. Expect music, film, performance and intrigue from RGK, Southwark shaman John Crow, Orgonautic, Axtya & Ilaktra Drugvant and others.
The Venue is the George Tavern, 373 Commercial Rd London (Map Here), 7pm Sat 18th Feb '06. Entry is £10/£8conc. Or £20/£18 with Magizain and CD (special launch price)...
And then we will be playing on Sunday at our mate Ninki V's birthday bash at the Sussex:
***bring a mix CD (non-refundable)*** ***free improvisation jam*** ***weirdo electronica*** ***pass the parcel*** ***bring a banjo*** ***portraiture*** ***dancing*** ***beer***
*********LIVE BANDS********** @@@Triplanetary@@@ &&&&Raagnagrok&&&& >>>>>Sculpture<<<<< ±±±±±±Ninki V±±±±±± ........and more tbc.........
The Sussex Pub (backroom), 107a Culford Road Dalston Kingsland N1 7pm - 12 am It will rock
11.01.06
raagnagroking & klinker building
Just rebuilt the site for Hugh Metcalfe's infamous Klinker club. It's pretty basic, but it works.
Also: Raagnagrok are back in 2006 at the Klinker in sunny Nunhead!
26th Jan - Raagnagrok, Ian Hinchcliffe, Late Night Venture - Klinker @ The Ivy House, 40 Stuart Rd, SE15, London. 8.30pm - £5/£3.
03.01.06
new forum
I've installed a new KRMB/Empty Space Forum on the site. The last one was hacked and vandalised by some shit-for-brains who deserves to have his lungs pulled out through his face.
Anyway, so there's a fresh new forum for the new year. I've ferretted away the old one and hopefully at some point I'll be able to restore the archive or significant parts of it.
02.01.06
new year at iotacism
2005 was a busy year here at iotacism Towers, with all sorts of developments on the live music front. We met people, played music with people, fell out with people, fell into people. It was a messy, complex and hugely productive year. So, before we move on with 2006, perhaps it's worth reviewing the year gig-by-gig.
To understand the events of 2005, we really need to rewind about a month or so to the end of 2004. At this point I had called a halt to the activities of the Stella Maris Drone Orchestra, and declared that I was intending to launch a solo project entitled Zali plays Raga Jalfrezi, which was coincidentally also the title of the first piece I recorded using the Jerry Jones Baby Sitar that I had acquired earlier in the year. This piece, in a similar way to the previous year's Stella Maris was based around a repeating tabla loop over which two electric sitar lines converge and diverge aided and abetted by synth gurgles produced with a Red Sound Dark Star.
The first gig in this series was on 29th Nov 2004, at the 23rd Birthday of the Klinker. I had simplified the piece down to a single electric sitar line, which was tuned as DADAAD rather than the standard tuning I used for the original to allow the most possibilities for droning off the other strings and hoped to rely upon the Dark Star to provide the back-up. Tabla loops were recorded onto my trusty blue minidisk player. All very straightforward. Except for the fact that some anomaly in the Klinker's electrics made the Dark Star switch itself on and off in rapid succession so that it couldn't actually upload its operating system. After announcing that, "we seem to be having some technical difficulties", I forged on with sitar and tabla loops in a somewhat shambolic manner that nonetheless seemed to go down well with the audience. Significantly, Richard F presented me with a T-shirt printed with the humourous slogan, "I quit the band - now I just play with myself!"
I played my second Raga Jalfrezi gig about a month later, on 19th Dec at the Sangam Yoga Studio. An evening called Clapham Conjunction, organised by Al R. I had replaced the Dark Star with a MicroKorg, a synth which would become a key musical element in the next year, and in the absence of a PA, played through a small bass amplifier. Musically the set was a significant improvement, but due to a slight misjudgement in volume levels I successfully blew away the front row of the audience sending them into an immediate state of nirvana.
And this was how I arrived in 2005. Two solo gigs under my belt and ready for further sitar action.
The action arrived almost immediately on the 4th January. Richard F phoned me at work asking if I'd be interested in playing a live session on the Resonance FM Kosmische programme later that same day. I was already booked for The Drones Club on the 8th so it seemed like a good opportunity to do some cheap publicity. Grabbed my gear, played the set, packed up again and left. Seemed like a good session.
But it was The Drones Club later that week that was to push the envelope. This was, not only the last Drones at The Eye in Stoke Newington, it was also the last gig of any sort at The Eye. The staff had been just been told that this was the end, so the mood was somewhat apocalyptic. As I had imagined, I had been given the shoddy first slot where I had seen such luminaries as Lee Moonus play to an audience of two, so my hopes for the evening were modest at best. Still, there seemed to be a lively atmosphere - Shari, the engineer was almost overcome with emotion when I presented her with the simplicity of a single jack cable to plug into the desk, and Lightning Rod's liquid lights were melting the walls in a very unhealthy manner.
So when the time came I took to the stage, or rather the area immediately in front of the stage to alleviate monitoring issues I had experienced before at The Eye. On with the MicroKorg harmonic drone, test out few initial volleys of the alap opening section in something approximating raag bihag, and eyes firmly in shoegaze position, or concentrating on the knobs and switches of the various boxes. Feeling a little nervous, I roll in the first tabla loop slightly earlier than I might otherwise and look up for the first time, to find the room totally packed, the audience right out in front of me. I didn't look at them again.
It went down a storm. As the set went on I became more aggressive and left them with some really ugly saturated drones at the end. I was probably more celebratory than was entirely necessary and remember little of the end of the evening.
Played two more solo sets in February and March, in the Nunhead Klinker and at Barden's Boudoir in Dalston where I was on the same bill as Alex Tucker and Little Wet Horse. The Jalfrezi set-up had been augmented by a Korg sampling drum machine, which allowed for greater rhythmic flexibility. Both of these gigs were accompanied by snowy weather. Leaving the Nunhead Klinker with Hugh Metcalfe we ventured out into falling snow searching for buses which would take us back up North. After the Barden's I went back with Mark P and Alyssa, and slept in the basement of Alyssa's flat, waking to discover a winter wonderland outside. Heading out with Mark to find a greasy spoon to get some breakfast it felt like we had strayed into the Heat Death of the Universe. I think that was the first time we discussed expanding the Jalfrezi set to include a separate synth player.
During the rest of February and March, Mark P and I practised with two MicroKorgs, some MIDI cables and a lot of pistachio nuts working on our "heterosexual synth duo" Grok. The Stella Maris Drone Orchestra rebanded after a shorter break than anticipated, and played our first gig of the year at Kosmische on 5th March, again at Bardens, supporting Chrome Hoof amongst others. The line-up was: Richard F, Richard G, Al R, Tim O, Mark P, Seth A and myself - we were also joined for the first time by Phil, The Man From Uranus, on theremin and electronics. The Stellas played an expansive wide-open set, our best gig for a long time.
After this, Mark and me played as Grok at The Cube Cinema in Bristol as part of The Theatre of the Eternal Drone. We played a live electronic soundtrack to Werner Herzog's "Fata Morgana", Amal Gamal played to another Herzog film later that evening.
April saw the Stellas playing their gruelling two-day Dalston Tour 2005, where we played again at Barden's on 28th supporting Cul De Sac and at the Klinker on 29th. Again, Phil joined us on theremin for these two gigs becoming a regular member of the band. The Barden's gig was similar to our Kosmische show there, big and droney but not perhaps quite as well paced as the previous gig, while the Klinker gig was one of our stand out gigs of 2005. We played two sets - the first being surprisingly colourful and melodic, but it was the second that will go down in the annals of drone history. A perfect arc of ever ascending noise, reaching a deafening fever pitch. One of the other bands commented that they'd never heard anything so loud at the Klinker before. Left the venue in a state of great excitement and caught a taxi home with a feeling of reckless abandon. Half way up Lea Bridge Road saw a police car stopped across the road - behind it was a broken motorcycle and a pool of blood. A sobering image.
My relationship with Barden's was becoming ridiculous by May, when I played there twice; once solo and once with the Stellas. The solo set on 17th, supporting Jackie O Motherfucker, this time as Raga Dhoop was to be my last in 2005. Raga Dhoop was less rhythmically based than Jalfrezi, with longer passages of arpeggiated MicroKorg derived from the Grok sound, as well as found sounds and envelope filtering. A good gig. Which is more than can be said for the Stellas gig on 20th.
We had been asked along to a night called Psykick Dancehall by Alex Monk of The Faculty. There were moments of improvisational colour, but essentially we felt out of place - this was basically an indie night. With small-minded bitchiness from some of the other acts, "we're going to play some real songs instead!" Having said that, The Faculty were very welcoming and entertaining, and it was fun asking Sonic Boom, who was DJing, if he had any Amon Duul.
Our run of celebrity support continued into June, with a support slot with Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno at the Spitz. Seth was unable to make this gig, so we got my old Plaform Five(5) comrade in arms, Alaric Pether, to join us on Nord synth. A good solid gig, with really good quality sound. I was in a phase of using an effects loop of Vox autowah and Crybaby wah, as well as two distortions on different stages of my set-up - and the sound quality allowed some of the *dirty* filtered filth to really kick in. Stayed about to enjoy the beer in the VIP area, where Acid Mothers were lying about on the floor like aliens in suspended animation.
In July, Mark and me finally tried to get the sitar and synth idea that we had been talking about in March into action. By unfortunate coincidence the day we had chosen for our first practice was better known to the rest of the country for the London bombings. We decided to do the session anyway and recorded what was to become the 0707 Ragapax (Rainbow) EP between news updates. It was an immediate success and we vowed to take Raagnagrok, as we named the band, into the public arena as soon as possible.
And so on the 16th we played two gigs in one day: at Carina Thoren's garden party in Clerkenwell and at The Owls eviction party in Clapton. The first gig was fantastic, quite apart from the laidback atmosphere at the party and the birthday girl's intoxicated enthusiasm, everything was timed just right. It was just getting dark as we took to the stage, candles had been lit and a big projector was shining across the garden at us. Slowly we wrapped the audience in big thick washes of drone and built into multiple raga freakouts. With the sense of a job well done we packed up and rushed back across the city to Hackney, bumping into Phil and Rachel as well as Justin from Now on buses along the way. And then we arrived at the party in Clapton - the place reeked of bad vibes and heavy atmospheres. The PA was set up in a damp basement with various Stoke Newington lumaries collapsed in their own vomit on the filthy floor. We negotiated our way between bands onto the "stage", plugged in, and blew up my mixer. No mixer mean't no effects, no drum machine and no subtleties of tone. We decided to go ahead and with a little help from Richard G we created such a wall of sound that we all but cleared the basement. It was awful, but quite in keeping with the mood of the place. We cleared up and made a run for it.
Since we liked Clerkenwell so much we took the Stellas to Echo Chamber at the Funky Monkey. This being 21st July we coincided with another attempted terrorist attack on London. Transport was difficult and there wasn't a fantastic turn out in terms of audience or band. We were reduced to a four piece of Richard G, Mark P, Al R and me. Not a great gig, but not a terrible one either, but it seemed like an interesting night so we booked up as Raagnagrok to play there the following month.
Two days later we played at a squatted ex-masonic lodge in Marble Arch. The night was being organised by Volunteer and Phil, who was also doing a Man From Uranus set that night. Very weird building and atmosphere. I wasn't very well at the time, so I wasn't drinking and I was wandering around in a bit of a daze. Phil had asked me to DJ, for the first time, and Tim and me did a food run at one of the local arab supermarkets. Time went on, soundchecks came and went. Phil was on the point of playing a fantastic set when equipment troubles kicked in and he had to cut it short. The Stellas se up behind him and all I remember after that was a huge noise like a jet engine. Absolute chaos. Strange drugged-up people in the audience were dancing even though there was no rhythm or descernable articulation. I left the stage confused. Was it a brilliant gig, or was it sheer noise, or are such questions inappropriate?
August started with Raagnagrok playing a Resonance FM session for Jim Backhaus and Magz Hall's You Are Hear programme. Which was great fun. Mark also had the opportunity to discuss Rennes le Chateau and the Holy Grail on air with Chris Dawes and Rat Scabies who was touting his new book Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail. We returned to the Clerkenwell Echo Chamber to play a scorching Raagnagrok set on the 18th, where we assumed our full dualistic garb for the first time, and the next day the Stellas took to the Stage of The Drones Club for a rather happily cosmic set, joined by Jiva Haran who danced in a bizarre and disturbing way to scare the local chaos magicians. Now also played that night, far more happily than when we had last seen them at The Drones.
It was September that things started to get complicated. Bridget and I had sorted out our moving date for our new flat, and of course this was our *big* move: we were buying our first home. We were moving on the 12th, the Monday, and I was going to Germany on 15th with the Stellas for Jean-Herve Peron's Schiphorst Fiestaval. So I let clients know what was happening and arranged to cushion as much chaos as possible, but what with a number of issues being revealed which hadn't come out in the survey and BT failing to connect our telephone or broadband, things became difficult. What was more: we discovered that our baggage allowance was inadequate for the purpose of transporting such things as guitars. So in a last minute mercy dash, Richard F took my guitar to Lightning Rod, who was travelling by van, and Cinderella did go to the ball.
The Schiphorst Fiestaval was a three day festival of avant garde music and culture overseen by Faust's Jean Herve Peron with a hugely enthusiastic and hard working set of followers. As well as the reformed Faust, with Jean Herve, Zappi Diermaier, and Ulan Bator's Olivier Manchion and Amaury Cambauzat, the festival featured such leading lights as Chris Cutler, Charles Hayward, Uli Trepte, Ectogram, Geoff Leigh and of course The Stella Maris Drone Orchestra. We ended up headlining the first night, totally by accident because Chris Karrer didn't turn up. It was spectacular. The Stellas were arranged on three different stages around a huge triangular barn rippling with Rod's lightshow. We also joined Faust for the finale on the Saturday night and contributed to the Sunday night jam session. We met so many fantastic people there and tried on some of their clothes.
But coming back to London, things weren't all good. My communications at the flat were finally restored to discover that Leon from Kosmische had been trying hard to use the wrong password in the wrong part of the website and became so insensed that he felt that he should appoint a new webmaster. But it was more trouble than it was worth anyway - I get more respect from my paying clients.
Unperturbed by such nonsense Raagnagrok forged on into October playing the Drones Club along with Ectogram, Burning Idiot Noise and S/T. The Others, where The Drones has moved were having a gallery viewing in the space on the same night, and as ever managed to supply us with the most atrocious PA. The PA at Barden's was always bad, but this one really took the biscuit. Steve did his level best with the available resources, and we didn't do a bad set - although my jack cable gave up at the opening of the first rhythm section. Far more satisfying was Scaledown on the 28th where we gave a very respectable 15 minutes through two guitar amps. Although Mike Cooper's slide guitar genius very properly stole the show.
Which brings us on to the Faust tour. We had been asked, before Schiphorst to play on the Faust tour along with Ectogram. Which seemed like a good idea. But as we started to see the tour schedule - Bangor, Aberdeen, Cardiff - and when it became apparent that we weren't going to get paid for this, the practicalities of getting eight musicians and their equipment around the country made the whole thing seem considerably less attractive. So we looked at what we could do: Mark and me could take Raagnagrok to Cardiff relatively cheaply and the Stellas would cover gigs in the South East when they came up.
And Raagnagrok in Cardiff on 31st October, Halloween Night, was indeed fantastic. The Coal Exchange in Swansea bay is exactly what it sounds like - a huge Victorian hall where the first million pound business deal was struck. Now it's a highly prestiguous venue in the new dockland development with a proper sized PA and the words "Tempus Fugit" above the stage. It was great to catch up with friends from the Schiphorst weekend: Olivier and Amaury, now playing regularly with Faust, Geoff Leigh and Lucianne Lasalle who joined them for their set, and of course our hosts Ectogram and Ankst records impresario Emyr.
The stage was packed. One of Jean Herve's rules for the tour was that once Faust's equipment was set-up it didn't move. So with the Faust equipment, which included a cement mixer, and Ectogram's drumkit and amps, it was fortunate that Raagnagrok are such a portable outfit. It was great fun playing with such a big sound, which also showed off Ectogram at their best. We'd last heard them at The Drones Club with the diabolical PA at The Others. And the four piece Faust, augmented by Geoff and Lucianne were a revelation. The audience were enjoying themselves, the bands were having fun - it was the Schiphorst party all over again. We were put up for the night by Kevs and John of Llwybr Llaethog, who were wonderfully generous and we left Cardiff the next day full of enthusiasm.
Now, if you consider what a great venue and evening Cardiff was, the Metro was quite a comedown. The Metro in Oxford Street can be charitable described as a fleapit. Tiny stage, ugly little West End ambience, awful sound. The packed stage problems at Cardiff were no less here, and on top of this Charles Hayward had to fit his gear on the stage and we weren't bringing the compact Raagnagrok to town today, we were bringing the eight-piece Stella Maris Drone Orchestra. Early plans to set up in front of the stage were banned by the health and safety man, and when we did finally somehow squeeze onto the stage there was no time for a soundcheck.
It sounded as good as you'd imagine. Lacklustre, confused, lacking in communication and direction. Phil's monitor blew up. Ectogram had very kindly given us part of their set by joining in at the end of ours and we jammed along for one song, but it was beyond redemption. The other acts were damned by similar sound problems, although their sheer energy maintained their sets to some extent. The word on the Stellas camp was to give up while we were ahead and drop out of the Brighton show in two days time on the 4th.
I'm not sure if this is a matter of chicken or egg, but my mood was pretty sour at the time because I had just discovered that my debit card had been cloned for the second time in a month and I had had a lot of money stolen from my account. I had spent most of the time around the time of these gigs chasing up paperwork at banks and police stations. So when the Stellas performed an unsteady U-turn and decided to go ahead with the Brighton gig I didn't accept this news with the best of grace. My reply was that I would play the gig but I'd leave immediately afterwards. I would just wash and go.
Brighton was as bad as I'd imagined. To avoid space problems we were set up on the other side of the hall from the main stage. Again, the health and safety man reared his ugly head and started setting up ridiculous crash barriers around the band. Phil, probably wisely, bowed out for this gig, and Richard G was stuck at the airport on his way back from Milan. To say that we sounded vague and incoherent is probably an understatement. I packed my equipment and got out of there: "I just want to get the fuck out of Brighton! Is that too much to ask?"
As it turns out it sounds like there were other bad vibes at play that night. A disagreement between the British Sea Power camp and the Faust camp led to personal violence. But since I was on the train home by this time, that's not really my story!
Two bad gigs with the Stellas left me less than happy with the band as an entity. A council of war was called and we shut the gates on further live gigs in 2005, with a view to recording material during the winter. So far there has been one session, which wasn't entirely satisfactory - hopefully we can do better.
Mark and me played one more gig at the opening of Poulomi Desai's Red Thread exhibition at the FOVEA Gallery in Harrow. This was a fun one. Polo and Joe Banks had set up a brillant installation room at the front of the gallery with throbbing lights, big photographic blow-ups and pictures of celebrities nostrils. We set up in one corner, and with Alyssa accompanying us on melodica, gave a punkish wine-fuelled set. An aunt of Polo's, who was a classically trained singer in the Indian tradition when she was younger commented that, "you play raag bihag beautifully, young man! You must play some more, but first you must eat!"
The food was very good indeed!
So we played some more, drank some more wine, and headed back East.
So that was 2005 in music here at iotacism Towers. What have I missed out? Plenty. Throughout the year I have been working on a new album called Tlentilfini Marhaysu, which shd be finished early 2006. Mark and I have recorded about three hours of material which will be compiled into the first Raagnagrok album, and we more inroads into a "heterosexual post-shoegaze" project called The Gaze. And then there was a fantastic jam session with Rachel and Anshu as part of his Lost Children Assembly Point, and all of the other things I forgot about.
Thanks to everyone who came to see us play, shared a stage with us, put us on a stage, sorted out our sound, bought us drinks, got us home, put us up and put up with us in 2006.
Entropy Circus back catalogue on Internet
Archive:
Royal Free Electric
Raga Jalfrezi
...presents Stella Maris
Stella Maris EP
Paddington Hardstare
The Goats & The Peacock
Raagnagrok website:
Online home for London's favourite synth & electric sitar
duo. Mp3s, gig dates, pictures & more...
Stella Maris Drone Orchestra website: Stella Central with gig dates, pictures and mp3s,
including a session with Jean-Herve Peron of Faust, from the
currently resting drone orchestra.
Slowly gathering my backcatalogue of recordings on Archive.org, under the tag "entropy circus" 
