This is the first in a weekend of events curated by Nat Sharp, Fka Lone Taxidermist to celebrate black and queer voices bringing intersectional dream utopias and experimental culture right to the front. Expect DIY dancehall, clattering jungle, fanny bass to extreme-pop, slipknot samples, 250bpm gabba Donk and way more besides. 

A relentless and brave experimental artist, Sharp makes textured, immersive and starkly original works; mashing up performance, theatre, film, music, makeup, costume and video; there are no limits. Enmeshed in underground & overground networks of some of the most original and cutting edge artists in the UK & beyond, she knows what going on in  D.I.Y culture. Which is why we invited her to do a weekend takeover of artists that she has sniffed out, a kind of dream curated line up. Here is what she chose.

Friday Live // Shine your light and rise up in celebration of Black and queer voices for a night of sensual but hard, industrial yet romantic divine sounds from chizu nnamdi, laconic industrial bondage & real sexiness from Current Mood Girl concluding with Grove who spits out sensuous vibrations and fierce rap into the queer stratosphere. There will be Pole Dancers, flora and Fauna. Don’t miss this. 

GROVE 

Meddling together elements of punk-infused dancehall, jungle, bass and pop, Grove is an autodidactic Bristol-based producer and vocalist whose sound is undefined and constantly morphing. Grove's noise concoctions come from the ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ energies that reside within, filtering them through a sensuous & rave-a-licious sound. Lyrical subject matters range from the euphoria of queer rave spaces, to the toppling of the Edward Colston statue.

As sharp new voice for 2021, Grove released their new EP ‘Queer + Black’ in February of this year. ‘Queer + Black’ is an exploration of identity, both personal and political, and a deft combination of sharp hooks and splintering beats beamed in from a club in 3021 AD. ‘Queer + Black’ achieved plaudits including from Resident Advisor, Them, The Times,, Bandcamp Daily and was named one of Mixmag’s ‘Best EPs of the Year’. Singles ‘Sticky’ and ‘Ur Boyfriend’s Wack’ and ‘Black (ft. Griz-O)’ have been championed by Radio 1, Jamz Supernova (Radio 1Xtra), KEXP, NTS, & BBC 6 Music (Mary Anne Hobbs/Steve Lamacq)’

“A heady mixture of spacey 90s rave, clattering jungle breaks” - Mixmag

“Going hard with the drum and bass beats and the blunt aggression of the icy end of hyperpop, Grove’s music is unforgiving and confrontational” - Gal-Dem

“An ode to Black, queer nightlife” - Them

“A display of the transformative power club culture can have” - Clash

CURRENTMOODGIRl

Leads us down the primrose path in her study of the emotional life’s mercurial swings and the female self. Is this come-hither trickery or seduction through art?. Inspired by her surroundings the sound of the machinery from Manchester’s industrial past weave together with her love of film scores and the local GASH rave scene.

All self-produced and played including instrumentation from flute, steel pan and Theremin. The music floats by the window in a landscape that is as genuinely heartfelt as it is alluring & hypersexual.

chizu nnamdi 

Chizu Anucha is a multidisciplinary artist, musician and filmmaker who lives and works in Glasgow. In Summer 2020 he launched the project, chizu nnamdi, meandering in an interplay between the picturesque and the uncanny in a way which reflects means of escapism, self-comfort and healing. Exhibitions of his music and moving image work have been presented at Edinburgh Art Festival (2021); V&A Dundee (2021); Tramway, Glasgow (2020); The Royal Glasgow Institute (2020); McLellan Galleries, Glasgow (2019).

Listen to Grove

Listen to CURRENTMOODGIRl

Listen to chizu nnamdi

On Saturday afternoon Natalie will give an (un) masterclass in Ableton, introducing the tools and methodologies she uses, explaining how she weaves her ideas into pieces. This will be followed by a Q & A with fellow Geordie Jimmy Martin, Co-director of Supernormal and axe yielder with Teeth of the Sea & Angel Witch. 

Saturday night promises a facefull of full frontal animal magic with spectral bpms from Gabba to soul via R&B to dancehall. DJ sets form Nat# herself and Katie Hesska who is equally comfortable crafting atmospheric ambient openers and relentless, thumping closers, bringing us forward-thinking club sounds and intense rave tracks. Her sets are a masterclass in gelling seemingly disparate genres through fast, innovative mixing. There will be a donkey. Don’t miss this.