rhythmic electronic | techno | noise rock | black metal | rave | digital drone hardcore Since 2009 Ren Schoefield have boggled brains around the globe, cementing Container as a distinctive and off-kilter figure in modern electronic music. Characterized by propulsive beats and liberal doses of distortion, Container’s deranged sonic meld has been welcomed at club nights, noise basements, electronic festivals, and punk shows alike. He's back with his new album "Yacker" (5.4.24).
VMO aka Violent Magic Orchestra on tour with their 2nd album "Death Rave" (13.4.24) are creating an visual art music project that harmoniously integrates techno, black metal, industrial, noise and gabber. It's like black metal meets Kraftwerk, or Aphex Twin with corpse paint, or 100 gecs snuggle with Cradle of Filth.
Das Konzert wird unterstützt vom Verband für aktuelle Musik Hamburg und der Behörde für Kultur und Medien Hamburg.
Gefördert von der Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien („BKM“) und der Initiative Musik.
Container is the solo project of American-born, London-based musician Ren Schofield, who since 2009 has been honing a signature sound combining his background in noise-rock and tape music with techno and rhythmic electronics. Characterized by propulsive beats and liberal doses of distortion, Container’s deranged sonic meld has been welcomed at club nights, noise basements, electronic festivals, and punk shows alike. His 6 LP’s and 4 EP’s (for labels like Alter and Editions Mego offshoot Spectrum Spools) have boggled brains around the globe, cementing Container as a distinctive and off-kilter figure in modern electronic music.
New album "Yacker" (5.4.2024): Ren Schofield’s long running electronic project Container returns with his first release since the Creamer EP in 2021. Rolling straight out of the pandemic Schofield has since played a large number of live shows all over the planet, rilling up audiences with a heady mix of method and mania. Now is the time to unleash a new studio offering. "Yacker" presents what is undoubtedly an electronic record but one imbued with a spirit more aligned with rock music. Always hijacking the electronic music scene for his own unique and twisted path here we see a further extrapolation on his original blueprint for DIY noise techno adding a more physical and muscular edge to the standard hysterical proceedings. The drums retain an almost human, somewhat muscular feel with a sweaty and suggestive ‘real drums’ feeling. Schofield cites inspiration on "Yacker" as the Nirvana song ‘Oh, The Guilt’, the Mindflayer album ‘It’s Always 1999’, and the Rah Bras song ‘Sooop Toe Pump Girls’. Container has always danced the absurd space between serious and stupid, with "Yacker" all elements are turned up to eleven as he delivers a pristine field guide to furious frenzied fun. "Yacker" strikes an even balance between heavy, relentless, joyful, silly, and sloppy. Think Lollapalooza 1996 held at Berghain 2006 and you are somewhere on the way to formulating this fresh new insanity from one of the contemporary electronic music scene's more playful pioneers
Container - Links:
“Osaka based six piece fuses black metal aesthetics with the endorphin rush of peak time hard trance and gabber” - The Wire “Black metal supergroup” - FACT Mag
VMO aka Violent Magic Orchestra break through the darkness and herald a spectacular mould-melting sound on their forthcoming album DEATH RAVE (13.3.2024). After touring the globe showcasing their A/V moshpit-inducing live show, they are revealing their new musical creations to an unsuspecting public. Never Sleep are proud to present a landmark moment in the Japanese hardcore new rave scene. The blinding lights of DEATH RAVE point to an untraveled journey, a sci-fi fusion of black metal, gabber, cyberpunk, performance art and techno. It’s their first for the Berlin label (founded by Gabber Eleganza) following 2021’s EP Principle of Light Speed Variance.
Ahead of the release VMO have brought their digital hardcore to festivals around the globe, including Roadburn Festival, BANG FACE Weekender, Brutal Assault extreme music festival, Le Guess Who?, CTM Berlin and Dark Mofo. Their performance is the ultimate extreme visual music project in which techno, black metal, and industrial unite to create a ritual from the near future, 2099. All visual art and stage setting is provided by non-touring member, artist and programmer Kezzardrix (who has been visual director for millennium parade and BABYMETAL previously). The power consumption of a VMO show is equivalent to 56 guitar amplifiers, 5000W, a mind-expanding supreme noise and light experience.
The band members all go by the names of classic black metal bands rendered in the Japanese katakana script; “ダークスローン (Darkthrone)”; “メイヘム (Mayhem)”, and “エンペラー(Emperor)”. Their new LP is the first to feature lead vocalist ザスタ ー (Xasthur).
The record also features guest vocalist from extreme metal icon Attila Csihar, known for singing with Mayhem and Sunn O))). The result is a leap forward from their 2016 debut, where they have found a singularity where death metal meets Kraftwerk, or Rephlex goes black. Dressed in corpse paint and other hell-raising looks, onstage they are like “Shinigami (death gods) from the Death Note manga”. Singles Venom, Supergaze and Martello Mosh Pit featuring Gabber Eleganza have been released in the lead up to the record and have been shocking techno dance floors too with their hi-NRG-symphonic doom-gaze.
They have shared their video for Planet Helvetech, created by Berlin-based Patrick Defasten. Helvetech combines the Norwegian word for hell (hevlete) with techno and is a reference to the infamous black metal shop founded by Mayhem’s Euronymous. It’s a song that imagines time travel from 2099 on the planet Helvetech (where VMO comes from) to 1990s Oslo.
In 2023, they performed at the CTM festival in Berlin, as well as at Berghain, receiving rave reviews. At Sydney’s leading multi-sensory SOFT CENTER festival they drove the crowd into a frenzy on the 17 metre X 30 metre jumbo screen. They have also collaborated with artists, performing at the two day installation by the trailblazing Tianzhuo Chen - The Shepherd - at the Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival in 2021 here. At Sónar 2023, VMO provided the music for Taiwanese visual artist Yuen Hsieh’s work about virtual life after death DIGITAL AFTERLIFE AGENCY here.
VMO will tour the world again for the new record, with appearances at ROSKILDE and media art and music fest Sónar 2024 announced so far and the DEATH RAVE experience getting bigger and bigger.
VMO - Links:
- Bandcamp
- Spotify
- Youtube
- "Death Rave live footage vol.1" - YouTube
- "Death Rave live footage vol.2" - YouTube
* Ermäßigter Eintritt an der Abendkasse für Schüler*innen, Student*innen, Sozialhilfeempfänger*innen.
* Reduced admission at the box office for students and welfare recipients.
