LIVE PERFORMANCES
14:00 AATMA. Ian Pepper (Creatures of Habit)
Haling from Leeds, this mask-wearing troubadour sings songs which touch on the playful and the melancholic. Known for hallucinatory, nightmare performances.
14:30 The Peer Hat. Bethlehem Casuals.
Bethlehem Casuals are a 7 piece DIY world music collective from Manchester featuring Welsh folk cello, Bulgarian percussion, and jazz saxophone. Their EP ‘Criossant Macabre’ (2017), dabbles in spaced-out jazz, celebration funk and creepy folk, all the while describing a Manchester parallel universe occupied by river rats, fat cats, coffins and fortune tellers.
15:00 AATMA. Inland Taipan
Taking the name from what is considered the most venomous snake in the world, Inland Taipan’s performance has parallels to the fierce reptile. Reminiscent of Frank Zappa and PJ Harvey, the performance is often angry, and at times disarming in its tenderness. Authentic and touched with brilliance.
15:30 The Peer Hat. The Moss Troopers
From the wild borders between England and Scotland, The Moss Troopers are a roving trio of storytellers, historians, educators, entertainers and fools. With their extensive knowledge of the natural world, literature, history and folklore, The Moss Troopers bring stories to life with a sense of humour and a flair for the bizarre and dramatic. They can entertain and inform in equal measure – some of their tales are true, some are ancient myths, and some cross the line between truth, fiction and outright lies!
16:00 AATMA. Tom Hollingworth
Tom Hollingworth has recorded and produced a number of albums (also under the name The Running Chelsea). An upcoming project involves interpreting each card from the Tarot as an audio snippet. A tarot card reading would then form a collection of pieces of music Whatever Tom brings to the stage, will prove to be utterly compelling…a musician of truly rare talent.
16:30 The Peer Hat. Me Lost Me I Lost My
Me Lost Me I Lost My is the folk-electronic project of artist Jayne Dent. Jayne’s art creates an atmosphere saturated with an eerie familiarity… the almost-human monsters featured in horror films. As well as original material, Me Lost Me I Lost My takes the darker kinds of traditional folk songs, often murder ballads, and arranges them for voice and electronically manipulated vocal sounds.
17:00 AATMA. Jacob Nico
Jacob will be presenting a piece of music entitled ‘The Rainy Season’ – a psychogeographical track about trauma, repression and both the sickness of the landscape and society around us, and how this then in turn makes us ill as well. It is inspired by folk horror (particularly ‘A Field in England’, ‘Penda’s Fen’, hauntology and the books of Benjamin Myers), as well as the landscapes of the Peak District, the Welsh coast and the forests in Denmark.
17:30 The Peer Hat. Chanting Plants
The North of England’s very own plant chanters bring a stringed drone set, further aiding the banishment (or summoning?) of our demons. The Black Stage serves as the perfect altar.
18:00 AATMA. OVA
Ova blends glistening synths and piano with the fragility of her voice to create atmospheric alternative music with dark undertones. She draws on a range of influences including Mint Julep and Agnes Obel. In truth, it is the thick atmosphere of aching sorrow she creates, which proves so compulsive.
19:00 AATMA. Rusts
Professional optician and amateur balladeer Edward Darbyshire published a collection of ‘Ballads, Poems and Recitations’ in Sheffield 1885. Rusts will be performing a selection of Mr Darbyshire’s songs.
20:00 AATMA. The Jungfraus
The Jungfraus’ journey continues. Mick Kenyon’s troubled searching, creates startling vignettes of the ordinary, rendered terrifying.
20:45 The Peer Hat, David Carden
David will be performing a 10 minute acoustic-zombie musical-poem called “Pea Soup Of The Dead”
21:00 AATMA. Politburo
Politburo perform a skeletal set of their latest Saturn influenced works. Culture creation continues for Nick Alexander and Dominic James’ long running excursion. The next point on the map remains unknown.
22:00 The Peer Hat. The Fates
Back in the early 1980s when Nico was living in squats in Manchester’s yet to be named Northern Quarter, Una Baines had already left The Fall’s first line-up and co-formed The Blue Orchids (who were to become Nico’s backing band). Parting ways with The Blue Orchids, Baines took direction from Robert Graves’ 1948 book The White Goddess and formed the all-female The Fates (the name also describing in Roman, Greek and Norse mythology three women who control and ‘weave the threads’ of fate in the world.) The Fates’ only record, Furia, was recorded in 1985. (A detailed history of The Fates can be found at http://thequietus.com/articles/15787-the-fates-furia-reissue-review)
23:00 The Peer Hat. Primative Knot
Dark masters of ‘Ur Sound’ and ritual invocateurs of countervailing forces. Pieces from their latest album ‘Decanting The Dream-Gore’ will correctly orient your etheric other. Primitive Knot wield an uncommon power.
00:00 The Peer Hat. Earthling Society
Earthling Society are a prolific recording band, having released 11 albums over the last 12 or so years. Julion Cope described them as “21st century guitar/bass/drums trio .. that multi-tracks itself in such a manner that its debut album ALBION comes on more like your typical Krautrock commune ensemble (Amon Duul 2, Agitation Free especially) than the Blue Cheer, Grand Funk and High Rise heart attack that the power trio line-up would suggest.”, The Black Stage awaits!
02:30 The Peer Hat. The Re-enchantment of Britain.
FILMS
All films will be screened in The Peer Hat
18:30 A Town Of Cats, 9m 30, Steve Manford
18:45 The Hunt, 5m, Noel J. Rainford, Danielle Jameson
18:50 The Stay, 8m 30, Frazer Lee
19:00 Madder Isle, 7m 40, Laura Spark
19:10 Holes In Their Soles, 14min, Andrew Smith
19:30 Bella In The Wych Elm, 36 m, Tom Lee Rutter
20:00 Dogged, 1hr 55m, Richard Rowntree
INSTALLATIONS
Elyssa Iona
Elyssa Iona is an Australian born, Manchester based photographer and mixed media artist. She uses her background in Scientific Photography and interest in analogue/alternative processes and techniques to explore the temporal nature of life, to capture a moment in time and the space between. Her atmospheric contribution to the festival will be a number of lo-fi light based installations and projections.
www.elyssaiona.com”
Becca Smith
Becca Smith paints, draws and makes prints of uncanny architecture, dystopian games, dreams of witchcraft and enigmatic places. Her life-long obsession with the Gothic, the paranormal and the occult has lead her to experiment with horror through writing, performance, music and to create Stranger-Than-Life Drawing, an art session which uses this vast, dark ocean of weirdness to create scenes which are playful and disturbing for participants to draw and paint. She is currently artist-in-residence in a haunted Victorian house in Macclesfield. facebook @beccasmithartwork
Fruschian Void
Experimental visual artist Fruschian Void’s work includes hidden figures found within a wide spectrum of blended colours. She recently exhibited at Aatma with ’10 Years in The Witching Hour’. This celebrated a decade of creative output mostly undertaken between 3am and 4am, when the veil between the real and unreal is at its thinnest.