Thank you to everyone who came and listened to Manchester’s queer sonic geographies at the sold out Intangible Sounds event as part of Manchester Histories at HOME in collaboration with the School of Digital Arts (SODA with other performances from Katie Chatburn, The Wyrding Module, Susan O’Shea and Bon Holloway who also took this photograph.
Electric Sandwich
Goëtia Quick Drop PHIA SKY Industries Electric Sandwich
Thank you Gary Fisher for organising Electric Sandwich at The Carlton Club as part of Chorlton Arts Festival and shout out to Goëtia, Quick Drop and PHIA SKY for their exciting and inspiring performances. The whole evening felt quite punk, from helping each other set up and improvising when things go wrong to the energy that was in the room.
Factory Sounds
Thank you Factory International for funding Norrisette and me to continue FLUFF.
Norrisette is an art-pop artist whose work encompasses composition, classical piano, music production, DJing, performance and visual design. She has recently formed her own band to explore new creative and collaborative landscapes, with Ashley Garrod on bass and Matthew Hill on drums, and has also performed as a featured vocalist across Europe.
Industries is an electronic music project by Markus Hetheier. His music explores and subverts musical structures ranging from field recordings and distorted sounds to harmonic melodies and large beats. He is an electronic music producer, DJ, sound artist, workshop facilitator and practice-based PhD researcher at the School of Digital Arts (SODA).
Together, Norrisette and Industries set up FLUFF – a regular queer electronica night in Manchester. FLUFF aims to provide a platform for queer electronic music producers to perform and test out original music to a live audience, as opposed to being a club night, and has kickstarted the careers of many!
‘We are so happy to be a part of this recent artistic venture for Manchester. It will be amazing to meet local innovators and to receive mentorship for our work promoting and supporting the music of upcoming LGBTQ+ artists through FLUFF. We hope that being part of this year’s Factory Sounds cohort will provide us with a platform for our work as performers, music producers and promoters and that we will be able to connect with like-minded musicians for future collaborations both in the studio and on stage.’
FLUFF #11
Sacoya x Jade Voxish Nøelle Kaoti Norrisette x Industries Audience
Thank you Sacoya x Jade, Voxish, Nøelle and Kaoti for your wonderful perfomances. Thanks to Norrisette for curating this iteration of FLUFF, Jake for taking care of the sound and Fuel Cafe Bar for providing the space and of course thank you to the audience for turning up and celebrating with us.
DJ set at SOUP
Thank you Kiss Me Again for inviting FLUFF to play SOUP — it was a dream! Shout out to PHIA SKY who was up for representing FLUFF with me and to Norrisette who brought FLUFF to life with me.
If you don’t know about FLUFF, here’s how Kiss Me Again described us: “Our friends at FLUFF have been putting on groundbreaking queer electronica events in the legendary Withington space FUEL for a couple of years now, providing a more live performance focussed platform for electronic musicians from Manchester and beyond. If you haven’t managed to make it down before, you really should! Industries and Phia Sky will be representing them at KMA and we’re overjoyed to have them in the basement”.
Live set at The Peer Hat
It was a pleasure to support the great Mary Ocher at The Peer Hat with GC Holmes — thank you Siân Williams and Susan O’ Shea for the pictures. I did more live mixing of my stems than usual and used the wobbulator by Delia Derbyshire Day to be more playful with music when playing live and it was a lot of fun.
Highlights of 2023
Music, art and research
I released Wales, a collaboration with Indigo Jung and Northworks and did a mix themed around German electronic music for Transcen:dance. My music video for A Walk 1 featuring Nevsky Perspective was exhibited at the MSARC PGR showcase at Oxford 70. I continued my participatory practice-based research project on queer sonic geographies of Manchester at the School of Digital Arts.
FLUFF and Sounds from the Other City festival
Norrisette and I continued to run FLUFF, our queer electronica night, at Fuel Café Bar. I curated and promoted FLUFF #8 and #10 with 4xi, Mikey P, Cynthia’s Periscope, Knowing the Oak Tree, Danny H, Snuggle Ninja, Renee Stormz and The Silver Field as artists.
Norrisette and I were also invited to curate and promote a stage at Sounds from the Other City festival together with Tales From Other Worlds, a Manchester-based promotion company run by Lavender Rodriguez.The artists included Is33n, Dayzee Chain, Nøelle, Caitlin LM, Rosé Gold and Phia Sky. Norrisette, Lavender and I deejayed in between the live sets and prior to the festival. Norrisette and I also did a DJ takeover at Feel Good Club.
Live and DJ sets
I played live at FLUFF #7 premiering new material and was the opener for System Exclusive at The Castle Hotel promoted by Hey! Manchester. Besides deejaying at Feel Good Club and Sounds from the Other City festival, I also deejayed at The WRD event at Contact.
See you in 2024 with new music, collaborations and events!
FLUFF #10
Danny H Snuggle Ninja Renee Stormz The Silver Field
Thank you Danny H., Snuggle Ninja, Renee Stormz and The Silver Field for bringing so much joy and inspiration. Special thanks to Alex Booth and Fuel Cafe Bar and of course thank you to the audience.
Wales out now!
I am very pleased to finally release my newest project called Wales into the world.
Wales is a collaboration between me and Indigo Jung. We played with different samples, like my field recordings of Wales, and mixed them with synthetic and other acoustic samples, such as acoustic drum samples. The result is a chill, experimental electronica track inspired by Wales’ beautiful nature. The flowing water running through the mountains is expressed in organic sounding synth loops that merge with the recordings of streams, mixed with hints of electromagnetic waves.
The remix of Wales by Northworks is inspired by Manchester’s Acid House legacy, taking the track from a more chill, relaxed emotional place inspired by hiking trips in Wales to the more danceable, bouncy realm of Manchester’s electronic music heritage.
Purchase it here and let us know what you think.
Written and produced by Markus Hetheier and Arif Michael True.
Mixed by Markus Hetheier.
Remixed by Michael Gallagher.
Mastered by Julian Holloway (High Peak Recordings).
Artwork by Markus Hetheier.
Industries Mix for Transcen:dance
In this mix for Transcen:dance I am presenting a selection of German electronic music that I consider relevant for my musical journey. It contains both music of friends of mine and music of more known historic musicians, some of whom have been recommended to me while preparing this mix.
Expect a blend of orchestral music, ambient sounds, noise, sound art, left field electronica, a chiptune choir, dirty synthesizers, electro, techno and some classic German electronic music.
Photograph by Norrisette and tracklist below.
Peter Thomas: Raumpatrouille Orion (Theme)
Tangerine Dream: Origin Of Supernatural Probabilities
Funkstörung: Mush
Yann Tiersen: Summer 78 (instrumental)
Hainbach: A Quiet Adieu
OSCESTRA: dolphins
Karl-Heinz Stockhausen: Kontakte
Einstürzende Neubauten: Tagesschau-Dub
raaz: somebody’s out there?
Oil Thief: Cologne
Bodenständig2000: Schöne Die Du Mein Leben
Angst4: In Gefahr (Industries Remix)
DAF: Ich und die Wirklichkeit
Conrad Schnitzler and Wolf Sequenza: Fata Morgana
Das Muster: Bedürfnisse Erwecken
Circonstances A.: Likkle Man Run
Hardfloor: Double Steal
Anthony Rother: Maschinenwelt
Kraftwerk: Computerliebe
Wolfgang Riechmann: Wunderbar