Jonny Mugwump's (Exotic Pylon) Residency 13-17 Nov

Jonny Mugwump's whirlwind residency at Centrum finished over a week ago, so a chance to catch breath and look back.

Landing in Berlin (that morning) Jonny started on Sunday 13^th November with his Sonic Lecture (the second in our series), using the opportunity to discuss and play the music that has influenced his various music projects, plus some of his favourite moments on his Exotic Pylon and Weird Tales radio project. The lecture, which will soon be broadcast on NTS Radio and available to download (link here soon), allowed Jonny to pull together some of the themes that cement his music interests and how they have led to the ethos behind his radio, nights and label projects.

Then, for the next four evenings, Jonny hosted City Symphony - a live radio event broadcast on Ustream and soon to be on radio (and available to download). Each night offered a very different experience.

Infinite Livez, live with video installation by Jade Boyd, Jonny Mugwump's Exotic City Symphony at Centrum Berlin from Jade Boyd on Vimeo.

Monday night based around two stunning live performances from Infinite Livez and Wermoster (who was interrupted by Berliner Polizei mid set).

Tuesday included an interview with Tapeworm, discussing his various music projects and playing some of his music choices, and an audio/visual performance from Jans Martin and Jade Boyd.

Wednesday night developed into chat-show format as Jonny and Leyland James Kirby shared their favourite Youtube moments, preceded by an interview with Sohrab and followed DJ set from Dalglish.

On Thursday, the show was given over to singer Billie Ray Martin and video artist Ceven Knowles to launch their collaboration ‘The Opiates’ (some footage here). DJ Zhao's DJ set brought things to a close.

video lyd VHS installation/ live manipulation by Jade Boyd, Jonny Mugwump's Exotic Pylon: City Symphony at Centrum Berlin from Jade Boyd on Vimeo.

Each night also had Jonny's exemplary DJing and Jade Boyd's awesome video splicing visuals and the 'studio audience' who came each night, were also an important part of proceedings. Overall it was a great week and fantastic residency from Mugwump, who (I'm sure, though it sounds like he has this kind of schedule every week) went home quite exhausted, particularly evening ended in its own impromptu after party.

Sonic Lectures at Centrum

Centrum is inviting submissions from music aficionados interested in leading an event at Centrum over the coming year. Called Sonic Lectures, they will take place on Sundays (most likely monthly). The idea is that we listen to a selection of music that broadens our understanding of music and its context.

We are looking for contributions from individuals who are interested in telling the story of a particular area of music. The ‘lecture’ would be in the form of a collection of music played (DJed if you will) but the theme of each event will be set in advance (through our promotion) and at the event through hand-outs or projected information about the theme and each track.

For those interested please email david at centrumberlin dot com and I'll send further details together with a template for a short submission. Events are planned from September 2011 till August 2012 and all will be represented as part of the SL podcast series.

Steve Williams & David Moynihan 'Wolpertinger' (November 2010)

WOLPERTINGER - hauntological music and spectral delights - found sounds and the works of experimental musicians were used to compose “sound paintings”. These were played with projections of eerie moving images taken from Berlin and cinema. The night also included two performance pieces – a séance and a swansong, and an attempted séance to rid Centrum, a former brothel, of the spell of sex.