The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music - Number 11 Coming to the UK, October 2023

A brief history of The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music

video upload by The Seventh Wave

Wolfgang Flür (Ex-Kraftwerk) + Banco de Gaia + Nathan Fake + Pye Corner Audio + GLOK [Andy Bell - Oasis/Ride]

The Seventh Wave
Festival of Electronic Music: Number Eleven

A member of Kraftwerk during the group’s golden era, Wolfgang Flür was the band’s electronic percussionist from 1973 to 1987.

The Seventh Wave’s Eleventh Electronic Music Festival starts its journey at the iconic The Water Rats venue in London before setting sail to The Castle & Falcon (one of the most exciting venues in Birmingham) where it will be delivering a plethora of electronic delights over three nights.

In October of 2023 the eleventh ‘The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music’ takes place across four days. For a relatively small festival The Seventh Wave continues to get some of the biggest names in electronic music.

This time around you can feast your eyes (and ears!) on some of the most cutting edge artists in electronic music today.

On Thursday’s and Friday’s events Wolfgang Flür will be the main attraction, with sterling support coming from Peter Duggal (who collaborates with Wolfgang in addition to being an outstanding performer in his own right). Birmingham also has Graham Chapman-Fox who brings his post-utopian electronic music project (Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan) to the second city for the first time.

Born in Frankfurt, Germany, Wolfgang Flür became the third member of Kraftwerk in 1973. He was a member of the group from their international breakthrough with the album Autobahn (1974) and remained as they experimented with proto techno on albums such as Trans-Europe Express (1977) and Computer World (1981). This is a very rare opportunity to see Wolfgang Flür live. Even better still, the Birmingham show has the added bonus of a talk/Q&A with the opportunity for 50 lucky people to be given the chance to listen to tales of Kraftwerk in an intimate bar room setting before the gig starts in earnest.

On Saturday evening, it is in effect a double headlining performance. Banco de Gaia’s debut LP 'Maya' received a Mercury Music Prize nomination and Nathan Fake’s interest in electronic music came from acts like Aphex Twin & Orbital but he takes those influences as a starting point and has moved them on and added to them exponentially.

Last but not least, the Sunday evening is another double headlining show. Pye Corner Audio (a highly respected and regarded British electronic music project by Martin Jenkins) performs after Andy Bell of RIDE and OASIS who is taking his electronic project (GLOK) for a spin this October.

All artists will be accompanied by ‘visuals’ and a special mention goes to Innerstrings (who works with Ulrich Schnauss among other) and he will be providing ‘live visuals’ for GLOK.

Tickets can be purchased for the individual paid events from Skiddle at

https://www.skiddle.com/groups/theseventhwave/

Also see eBook published by the The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music

eBook published by the The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music

"In November of 2016 the inaugural ‘The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music’ took place across four days and across three venues. A numbering system was used as a statement of intent - there is the intention that this will continue. It will grow, it will develop.. this is the start of something.

The stellar ‘live’ line-up included highly influential ambient industrialists :zoviet*france:, revered ‘Kraut-rock’ and electronica collective Gnod, Ex-Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flür (responsible for inventing the group's electric drums used throughout the 1970’s), DJ Rusty Egan of Visage fame (put simply, without Rusty Egan there would be no Steve Strange) and Richard Barbieri (currently with Porcupine Tree but he cut his teeth as the highly respected synth player for new wave pioneers Japan in the 1980’s).

One of the highlights of the 'first' festival was an all-day conference with keynote speeches from Wolfgang Flür (Ex-Kraftwerk), Andy McCluskey (of multi-million selling synth pop exponents OMD) and DJ Rusty Egan (whose Blitz Club started the New Romantic movement).

Between 2016 and 2022, The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music has worked with Thomas Dolby, Martyn Ware, Fiat Lux, Tim Bowness, Ulrich Schnauss, Thorsten Quaeschning, Banco de Gaia, Test Dept, The Black Dog, Ultramarine and many, many more.. the details of this unique musical experience which traverses the inner and outer reaches of electronic music have been documented in an eBook running to a total of 249 pages.

For a mere £7.99 you not only get the eBook but have the option to access a companion publication ('Sounds of The Seventh Wave' : Music, Video and Audio from the Festival) for 'free'

Full details of both publications can be found here:

https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-seventh-wave-festival-of-electronic-music/id6445570213?ls=1

The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music: Number Ten Set for November

Details via Chris MacAdams of The Seventh Wave:

The Seventh Wave
Festival of Electronic Music: Number Ten

Members of Gary Numan’s ‘Tubeway Army’ (Dramatis) return to the live arena!

Tenth Electronic Music Festival comes to Birmingham and once again it includes an all-day free electronic music event featuring talks, demonstrations, interactive sessions, synth manufacturer attendance, a room for attendees to set up and show off their synth gear and a number of free live performances!

In March of 2020 the ninth ‘The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music’ took place across three days – this was just before the UK went into its first National Covid-19 lockdown.

In November of 2021 the event returns and the tenth ‘The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music’ takes place across three days.

For a relatively small festival The Seventh Wave continues to get some of the biggest names in electronic and progressive music. This time around you can feast your eyes (and ears!) on no less than three electronic/synth-pop legends.

On Friday evening, the headliner is Ian Boddy and Nigel Mullaney. Ian Boddy (DiN Record Label Owner) is one of the founding fathers of the electronic music scene in the United Kingdom. Nigel has worked regularly alongside Ian and releases electronic music on the DiN label, home of top artists such as Node, Markus Reuter, Chris Carter and much more.

On Saturday evening, the headliner is Fiat Lux — from the Latin for “let there be light”. Formed in 1982 and hailing from Wakefield in Yorkshire, England, they pioneered a unique sonic stamp, the influence of which is still felt today. Their pioneering blend was full of lush synthesizer textures, acoustic and electric keyboards, and studio effects – all anchored by Steve Wright’s emotive vocals with multi-instrumentalist David Crickmore providing guitar, bass, and keys.

On Sunday, it is the turn of Dramatis who are an English synth-pop band who were formed in the early 1980s. Chris Payne, Rrussell Bell, Cedric Sharpley, and Denis Haines were all originally members of Gary Numan's backing band. They formed Dramatis following Numan's announced retirement in April 1981.Chris Payne and Rrussell Bell are recording again as Dramatis and released 'A Torment of Angels' just before Covid reared its ugly head ….. this is a very rare opportunity to see Dramatis live (with the added bonus of a Q&A).

Tickets can be purchased for the individual paid events from Skiddle at https://www.skiddle.com/groups/theseventhwave/ and for the free event which runs from 10.00 am until 5.00 pm people can just turn up on the day, stay for a few minutes, or get hooked and end up of staying all day!"

The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music: Number Nine w/ Members of Tangerine Dream

via The Seventh Wave

"Tangerine Dream to play Birmingham …… almost!!!

Ninth Electronic Music Festival comes to Birmingham and once again it includes an all-day free electronic music event featuring talks, demonstrations, interactive sessions, synth manufacturer attendance, a room for attendees to set up and show off their synth gear and a number of free live performances!

The festival once again sees the addition of a ‘raffle’ to the all-day free event in aid of Drake Music who are the leaders in music, disability and technology.

In March of 2020 the ninth ‘The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music’ takes place across three days. For a relatively small festival The Seventh Wave continues to get some of the biggest names in electronic and progressive music.
This time around you can feast your eyes (and ears!) on no less than three either current or former members of global electronic giants Tangerine Dream.

On Friday evening, the headliner is Ulrich Schnauss, who as well as being a distinguished solo performer in his own right is a ‘modern day’ member of Tangerine Dream. Ulrich will be playing a rare live set alongside the founder of Engineers, Mark Peters. On the same bill you also get psychedelic electronic rock behemoth’s Teeth Of The Sea.

On Saturday evening, the headliner is Tangerine Dream ‘bandleader’ Thorsten Quaeschning who will also play a set alongside Ulrich Schnauss in which they will perform tracks from the ground breaking “Synthwaves” album as well as material from their new album. If that wasn’t enough, there will also be a very rare solo alto flute and loops ambient set by Theo Travis of Soft Machine/Gong/King Crimson.

On Sunday, Mark Jenkins performs “50 Years of Tangerine Dream” where the instrumentation will literally go from “metal stick” to “cash register” to modern day “Synths” in an all-encompassing show.

To cap it all, the Festival finishes with Steve Jollife (who played in one of the earliest incarnations of Tangerine Dream) and he will be performing the Tangerine Dream album Cyclone ‘in-full’.

Tickets can be purchased for the individual paid events from Skiddle at
https://www.skiddle.com/groups/theseventhwave/ and for the free event which runs from 10.00 am until 5.00 pm people can just turn up on the day, stay for a few minutes, or get hooked and end up of staying all day!"

The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music #7 w/ Delia Derbyshire Collaborator David Vorhaus

David Vorhaus Analogue Electronic Music 1979 Published on Sep 13, 2009 JeffreyPlaide

Update: Festival info further below. Thought I would start with a couple of videos featuring David Vorhaus.

"In this historical video excerpt, David Vorhaus talks about two of his analogue inventions - the MANIAC analogue sequencer, and the Kaleidophon from 1979.

The MANIAC (Multiphasic Analog Inter-Active Chromataphonic (sequencer)) was an analogue sequencer having variable step lengths, and the ability to split sequences into several smaller groupings giving considerable sonic potentiality. Addition and subtraction of events was possible, as well as the possibility to chromatically correct the output during performance. David could program his MANIAC sequencer to play a background rhythm or combination of musical events, to then improvise over the top with another instrument or synthesizer.

The Kaleidophon was a double-bass-like instrument using four velocity-sensitive ribbon controllers instead of strings. The instrument is played entirely using the left hand, leaving the right hand free to manipulate the sound via a number of controllers and a joystick.

David speaks about the processes of making electronic music, and the developments that such possibilities can provide for the imaginative electronic musician. This excerpt is taken from the BBC 1979 documentary entitled "The New Sound of Music" hosted by Michael Rodd."

WHITE NOISE Electric Storm in Hell [not quite Full Album]

Published on Mar 9, 2013 musick2138

"The Seventh Wave presents

White Noise - a Fifty Years Celebration of An Electric Storm & Other Sonic Adventures

Voyd - live set / White Noise - live set / White Noise - talk and q&a

Friday 14 June 2019 Doors 6.30 pm.

Curfew 10.00 pm.

The Blue Orange Theatre, 118 Great Hampton Street, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham B18 6AD.

White Noise - An Electric Storm - Review

When White Noise's debut album, An Electric Storm, landed on Island Records in 1969, it must have sounded like nothing else. Packaged in a striking black and white sleeve that pictured a spark of lightning streaking across a black sky, this was an album that - quite rightly as it turned out - resembled as much a scientific experiment as any conventional musical document.

White Noise came into being when David Vorhaus, an American electronics student with a passion for experimental sound and classical music attended a lecture by Delia Derbyshire, a sound scientist at the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop whose claim to fame was writing the original Doctor Who theme tune. With the help of fellow Radiophonic Workshop composer Brian Hodgeson, Vorhaus and Derbyshire hunkered down at Kaleidophon Studios in Camden to pen an album that reconciled pop music with the experimental avant-garde. The result is a set of eerie, delightful songs that, for all their surface simplicity, shimmer with vestigial synthesiser swells, strange echoes, disembodied voices, and distant music-box trills.

Outside of a few equally adventurous '60s releases - the debut album from US psychedelic pioneers The United States Of America, for instance - this is pretty much uncharted territory, particularly for a major label release. On ''My Game Of Loving'', a dozen multi-tracked voices built to a panting orgasm, while the closing ''Black Mass An Electric Storm In Hell'' ushers the record to a freeform close in a clatter of freeform drums, cavernous echo and chilling, animalistic screams. Perhaps unsurprisingly, An Electric Storm would struggle to find an audience on its release, and in the following years, great leaps in synthesiser technology somewhat diminished White Noise's experimental achievements. One thing that would remain timeless, however, were the songs themselves. An Electric Storm would later become a key inspiration on bands like Add (N) To X and Broadcast, synthesiser explorers who picked through these primitive, vestigial sound experiments, took careful notes, and eventually, set out to craft their own futuristic pop lullabies.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/pq9x/

The other two dates of the festival feature:

Banco de Gaia (Toby Marks) - he will once again be accompanied by Patrick Dunn on visuals (Patrick produces visual content for Tangerine Dream!!!).

The Black Dog is a British electronic music group, founded by Ken Downie along with Ed Handley and Andy Turner. The group are considered pioneers who, along with acts like Autechre, Aphex Twin, LFO et al came to define the UK techno movement in the early 1990's.

For further information email theseventhwave@btinternet.com

Tickets available at https://www.skiddle.com/groups/theseventhwave/"

R.A.Moog Modular - at the 7th Wave Electronic Music Meeting, 2019.

Published on Mar 17, 2019 noddyspuncture

"This was my 'performance' at the Birmingham Synthesizer Meet - Saturday 16th March 2019. The big Moog isn't geared up to do the kind of stuff the Euro-rack guys can do - so I needed to get inventive and find some 'workarounds'...! Best on headphones by the way... 😉"

The Seventh Wave - Sixth Electronic Music Festival comes to Birmingham 16 March 2019

WMSN promo one from Chris Wave on Vimeo.

"The Seventh Wave
Festival of Electronic Music: Number Six

Sixth Electronic Music Festival comes to Birmingham and once again it includes an all-day free electronic music event featuring talks, demonstrations, interactive sessions, synth manufacturer attendance, a room for attendees to set up and show off their synth gear and a number of free live performances!

This year sees the addition of a ‘raffle’ to the all-day free event in aid of Drake Music who are the leaders in music, disability and technology.

In March of 2019 the sixth ‘The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music’ takes place across three days. For a relatively small festival The Seventh Wave continues to get some of the biggest names in electronic and progressive music.

This time around you can feast your eyes (and ears!) on Richard Barbieri (Ex-Rain Tree Crow and Porcupine Tree) who, let’s not forget, is also one of the original members of Japan and Ulrich Schnauss, who as well as being a distinguished solo performer in his own right is a ‘modern day’ member of electronic giants Tangerine Dream. To cap it all, the Festival finishes with Steve Jollife (who played in one of the earliest incarnations of Tangerine Dream) and he will be performing the Tangerine Dream album Cyclone ‘in-full’.

Tickets can be purchased for the individual paid events from Skiddle and for the free event which runs from 10.00 am until 5.00 pm people can just turn up on the day, stay for a few minutes, or get hooked and end up of staying all day!"

CLICK FOR MORE »

The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music: Number Five

"Fifth Electronic Music Festival comes to Birmingham and this time around it includes an all-day free electronic music event featuring talks, demonstrations, interactive sessions, synth manufacturer attendance, a room for attendees to set up and show off their synth gear and a number of free live performances!

In March of 2018 the fifth ‘The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music’ takes place across three days. For a relatively small festival The Seventh Wave continues to get some of the biggest names in electronic and progressive music.

This time around you can feast your eyes (and ears!) on Wolfgang Flur (Ex-Kraftwerk) who, let’s not forget, is one of the original members of Kraftwerk and Ulrich Schnauss, who as well as being a distinguished solo performer in his own right is a ‘modern day’ member of electronic giants Tangerine Dream. To cap it all, the Festival finishes with Ian Boddy (DiN Record Label Owner) who is one of the founding fathers of the electronic music scene in the United Kingdom.

Tickets can be purchased for the individual paid events from Skiddle and for the free event which runs from 10.00 am until 5.00 pm people can just turn up on the day, stay for a few minutes, or get hooked and end up of staying all day!"

Seventh Wave of Electronic Music Festival comes to Birmingham

"In November of 2016 the inaugural ‘The Seventh Wave Festival of Electronic Music’ takes place across four days and across three venues in Birmingham.

The stellar ‘live’ line-up includes highly influential ambient industrialists :zoviet*france:, revered ‘Kraut-rock’ and electronica collective Gnod, Ex-Kraftwerk member Wolfgang Flur (responsible for inventing the group's electric drums used throughout the 1970s), DJ Rusty Egan of Visage fame (put simply, with-out Rusty Egan there would be no Steve Strange) and Richard Barbieri (currently of Porcupine Tree but he cut his teeth as the highly respected synth player for new wave pioneers Japan in the 1980’s).

One of the high-lights of the festival will be an all-day conference with key note speeches from Wolfgang Flur (Ex-Kraftwerk), Andy McCluskey (of multi-million selling synth pop exponents OMD) and DJ Rusty Egan (whose Blitz Club started the New Romantic movement).

Tickets can be purchased for individual events from both theticketsellers and Skiddle from:
https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk
http://www.skiddle.com/"

Additional info: https://theseventhwaveblog.wordpress.com/