TWEE DEATH / DDS ticket give-away

I recently had a conversation with the main Mr. Man behind TWEE DEATH, to get a little bit more informed about the what/when/where/why/how of who's bringing such interesting shows to Vancouver. There's also a ticket give-away at the end for the Demdike Stare show coming up quick..

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Who are you?

Kris Charlton

Tell me a little bit about Twee Death.

Twee Death is a Vancouver-based concert production company that was started four years ago to fill in some gaps in the city's musical terrain, namely putting on shows for foreign artists that no one else was bringing in to town; somewhat indulgent, as the driving force was to see these shows without having to head down the West Coast to catch them. We've produced over 30 events since, with a focus on experimental electronic music, drone music, and psychedelic rock/pop. We're very much into non-conventional spaces, with events taking place in an array of venues ranging from art galleries to sushi shops to cathedrals. We're really, truly excited to be working with the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre (probably better known to most folks as the Planetarium) for the upcoming Demdike Stare concert taking place on May 3rd; I've loved the HRMSC Star Theatre since I was a kid + when Twee Death began, they were near the top of the list of dream venues.

Past Highlights?

Past highlights? Well, Grouper playing at St. Andrew's-Wesley cathedral definitely comes to mind; in terms of both architecture and acoustics, STAW is possibly the most stunning venue in Vancouver... Oneohtrix Point Never's recent show at W2 Media Cafe was killer, definitely going to be thinking about that one for a long time... Little Mountain Studios played such a huge role in our early days: Gregg Kowalsky's Tape Chants performance immediately comes to mind, as does the ultra-intense Psychic Ills/Indian Jewelry show that took place there, with a ridiculous amount of people jammed into that little space... and Barn Owl shows are always fantastic, but one that was really special took place outdoors and underneath the watchful eyes of the grand totems on the grounds of UBC's Museum of Anthropology; truly an amazing night.

Furture plans?

Coming up? Well, that'd be the aforementioned Demdike Stare and The Sight Below show at the HRMSC Planetarium, can't wait for that to happen! Really, I think that this is going to be the best show to grace our shores in ages + they're coming in from Berlin/Manchester to do this show, so you're not likely to get another chance for a long time; absolutely no excuse for missing this if you're in Vancouver. By the way, Demdike Stare's visuals are amazing (look up the "Forest of Evil" or "Violetta" videos for an idea of what they'll be showing) + we'll have those running in conjunction with the stars projected on the dome, should look and sound spectacular in there. They'll be joined by local No UFO's, who's been getting a lot of attention/praise in the UK and US for his recent LP on Editions Mego/Spectrum Spools, truly stoked to have him in our city. That's this coming Thursday, May 3rd + Red Cat, Zulu, Dandelion, Beat Street & Neptoon still have a few advance tickets left.

After that, we're putting on a show with Sacred Bones recording artist Amen Dunes (from New York) and PDX's Ilyas Ahmed in conjunction with the folks at the Waldorf; really nice double-bill of psychedelic haze there + that's taking place on Thursday, May 10th. 

Further on down the line, we'll be doing shows with Brooklyn's The Men, possibly the best "rock" band anywhere at this moment in time; as well as the UK-based Cut Hands, which is William Bennett's solo project. Most of you will probably recognize that name in connection with the punishing extremes of his pioneering power-electronics group Whitehouse, who have consistently dropped some of the most challenging, controversial, and ultimately rewarding experimental music out there, period + there's been no drop-off in quality over the three decades of output; the opportunity to work with an absolutely iconic figure such as WB is an honour. Cut Hands put out a couple of records called 'Afro Noise I (Volumes I & II)' not too long ago; killer noise/percussion, unrelenting + surprisingly accessible. anyway, there's few things that have received more time on the turntable around here. 

Wow. Lucky Vancouver. What's on the Twee Death playlist these days?

Aside from the artists mentioned above, we've been obsessed with Andy Stott, anything by Actress, Dean Blunt & Inga Copeland's 'Black is Beautiful', the Container LP on Spectrum Spools, Pop. 1280's 'The Horror', White Car's 'Everyday Grace', Vex Ruffin's 'Crash Course', Air's 'Le voyage dans la lune', Peaking Lights' 'Lucifer', Julia Holter's 'Ekstasis', the Pinch & Shackleton LP, Pye Corner Audio Transcription Services, Main Attractionz, Clams Casino anything by Leyland Kirby/The Caretaker, and on the not-quite-so-recent tip: lots of Chrisma, Suicide, Broadcast, Gravediggaz, Throbbing Gristle + many spins of Manuel Göttsching's 'E2-E4'.

And you're were wanting to do a ticket give away for the upcoming show?

Yes. Wrapping up, we wanted to give away some tickets for the Demdike Stare show at the Planetarium, so if you'd like to get in for free, drop a line to Low Indigo with the answer to this question: Miles Whittaker and Andy Stott perform as a duo under what gender-bending aliases?

Cheers Kris! ..So, the first 3 people to respond to Kris's question, either on the blog or the Low Indigo facebook group, can claim a free ticket to see Demdike Stare this Thursday.