(le) poisson rouge

Ed Handley and Andy Turner have been friends since they met at school in the early 80’s. In 1984 they formed a mighty breakdancing crew called the Def Squad but after several years battling in the east of England and with the arrival of acid house and Detroit techno in the UK they decided to hang up their tracksuits and start writing the music they had been dancing to. They produced their first cassette release on the short lived APT Recordings imprint in 1988. An abbreviated discography of their other musical outings is listed below.

Spokes marks a return in mood, if not production, to some of their earlier work in the 90’s as The Black Dog, but retains the characteristic harmonic warmth and rhythmical sensibility they have developed as Plaid. Although unashamedly optimistic in parts, it reaches more melancholic and darker spaces than their recent outings on Warp.

The seeds of the album were sown as they toured America and Europe during 2002 and many of the venues they played now have small Spokes trees growing in their dressing rooms and toilets. However, some of these initial ideas went terribly wrong and Plaid would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any distress they may have caused during the course of their experimentation. We can only pray for Carston Banister.

After returning home with the basic working structures of the album in place, five months were spent in the studio editing, enhancing, mixing and removing some of the more extreme emotional content until one night in May, when covert Warp agents were finally able to extract these ten finished tracks.

Elena Kopenkova painted the cover image and Matt at Designers Republic designed the font and layout for the sleeve.

In addition to this new album Ed and Andy have been working over the past six months on a full length DVD with the video artist Bob. This project is being recorded in surround sound and is due for completion in 2004. They will also be touring material from Spokes with a full video show produced by Bob in the US in November and in Europe in the New Year. Details can be found at warprecords.com.

Gamelan Dharma Swara is dedicated to the study, performance and creation of traditional and new works for Balinese gamelan. Through performance and education, we bring Balinese gamelan to the widest audience and participant base possible, and we endeavor to perform with spirit, dedication and gratitude. We are a coalition of master Balinese artists and leading American composers, musicians and dancers. In residence at the Indonesian Consulate in New York, Dharma Swara regularly performs for a wide and multicultural audience in the greater New York City area. We have collaborated with Indonesiaʼs leading artists and have performed in the areaʼs top venues including: Lincoln Center, Asia Society, Japan Society, New York Philharmonic, the Met, Brooklyn Museum, Symphony Space, LaMama, and Columbia, Princeton, NYU and Yale universities. In 2010 the ensemble was invited to perform as the first non-Balinese group in the annual gong kebyar competitions at the Bali Arts Festival.

Click here to see an article on Gamelan Dharma Swara from the NYTimes