For the first time Paradox will be an official stage during the Roadburn festival. For four days Paradox and Roadburn present heavy music with a great variety of musical approaches. On Thursday you'll see artist-in-residence Dirk Serries from Belgium, the Dutch group Autarkh III, and ZAÄR from Belgium.
Artist-in-residence Dirk Serries: Dirk Serries & Kristoffer Lo (BE/NO) Roadburn goes way back with Dirk Serries; this multi-faceted musician has performed at Roadburn in various formations over the past 15 years. The first performance of his four day residency in Paradox will see Dirk team up with fellow YODOK III member, Kristoffer Lo. Dirk will play the electric guitar, whilst Kristoffer will perform with an amplified tuba and flugabone, turning their instinctive passion for melancholic, cycling harmonies into an ambient drone requiem that will mesmerise with its utter beauty.
Autarkh III Stymied by the pandemic in terms of live performances, Tilburg-based band, Autarkh, haven’t idled creatively. Almost a year ago their ambient alter ego, Autarkh III, made its live debut at Roadburn Redux, performing a reimagining of Autarkh’s Form In Motion album through a lens of improv and drone. And now we’re thrilled to welcome them back to Roadburn for a reprise, this time in front of a live audience. The trio consists of Autarkh-members David Luiten (vocals / guitars), Michel Nienhuis (vocals / guitars) and Tijnn Verbruggen (live electronics), and their performances centre around an ambitious reinterpreting the themes and sonic palette of Autarkh’s material - which is sure to delight the fans of avant garde and experimental sounds among us.
Michel Nienhuis comments: "Another winter of lockdowns and no shows has made all of us eager to play on stage and finally share music with a live audience. We feel honoured to continue our collaboration with Roadburn and Paradox, and start a new one with Roadburn Records, who will be releasing our Roadburn Redux 2021 registration. Let 2022 be filled with live music!” So, as well as witnessing Autarkh III in action at Roadburn you can pick up an album to take home with you too!
If you want to find out what an extraterrestrial ecosystem sounds like when it's converted to music, well, look no further than ZAÄAR. Born as an offshoot of neo-psychedelic cosmos-dwellers Neptunian Maximalism, this bunch is no less ambitious, forward thinking and awe-inspiring in its sheer vision and scope.
ZAÄAR’s latest Magická Džungl’a opens a rainbow bridge laced with pounding percussive tribal marches, free jazz, chants, prog rock, minimal music and space ambient that feels almost too baffling to fathom even being performed in the same room. Their music plays out like some kind of lost cinematic masterpiece full of vivid backdrops: caverns of torches and intricate murals, immense oceanic panoramas, overgrown landscapes rife with scurrying animal and plant life.
Whatever well the Belgian outfit get their creative sustenance from, it’s likely the same one artists such as Miles Davis and Sun Ra have once visited before. Logically, they themselves see it as more than just as a band performing on stage, describing their craft as (brace yourself) “reconquest of our savage side; the terrifying and primeval roar of a mind ravaged by magic drugs; the lush sounds of a soul swimming in the primordial broth, savoring again an existence full of marvels and hazards.” I mean, come on!
Check the Roadburn website for the full programme and timetables.
17.30-18.30 h: Artist In Residence Dirk Serries & Kristoffer Lo (BE)
20.00-21.00 h: Autarkh III
22.30-23.45 h: ZAÄR (BE)
