Mocking the Macho Tropes

Aja (UK) ///
Claire Grube & Rho­tar & DJane Hell (AT) ///

Sat, June 8 2019, 20:30 ///
quitch, Untere Donaulände 10, Linz ///

AJA’s indus­tri­al beats and dis­tort­ed drones, com­bined with a psy­cho-vis­cer­al, intense per­for­mance, chal­lenge the audi­ence by break­ing down bar­ri­ers and push­ing lim­its son­i­cal­ly and visu­al­ly. Dis­turb­ing noise, des­per­ate screams, hand­made elec­tron­ics from found and col­lect­ed elements.

She has been pro­duc­ing an array of gen­res from grind noise to tech­no for the past years. Before focus­ing on her new solo projects, she was liv­ing and work­ing in Berlin and play­ing in the noise ensem­ble Batalj. Inspired by the Berlin noise scene, she returned to the UK to start her new live per­for­mance project, which is influ­enced and inspired by artists explor­ing the bound­aries between indus­tri­al and noise like Puce Mary, Emp­ty­set and Pharmakon.

AJA played at the Berlin Alter­na­tive Fash­ion Week for design­er LU LA LOOP, live on NTS radio, was fea­tured artist of the Eng­lish col­lec­tive for elec­troa­coustic music and per­for­mance metanast, and after design­ing the sound for musi­cian Joey Hold­er for the piece “Ophi­ux”, she was nom­i­nat­ed for the PRS-fund­ed Oram Award.

Her lat­est tracks can be heard in “Pageant Crack” released on Opal Tapes and on Perc’s new album Bit­ter Music.

“She’s the antithe­sis of the macho tropes that have for years sur­round­ed noise music. Falling some­where under the umbrel­la of ‘New Weird Britain’, her live shows symp­to­matic of it. Built upon the idea of audi­ence immer­sion, Aja beck­ons you to share the extreme emo­tion her per­for­mances con­vey and the strange­ness that sur­rounds it.” (thequietus.com/articles/24493-aja-ireland-interview)

“Psy­cho­sex­u­al rhyth­mic noise, black­est ever beats, tor­tured ban­shee wails and skull­cav­ing drone. Son­ic, visu­al and phys­i­cal over-stim­u­la­tion.” (residentadvisor.net/dj/aja)

CLAIRE GRUBE is a mem­ber of the liv­ing room and dance­floor go-to-par­ty ani­mals madhou5e. Togeth­er with RHOTAR and DJANE HELL (Cesky Urfahr) she pro­vides plen­ty of bass, extreme house elec­tro and tech­no music, and is cur­rent­ly one of the insid­er tips in Linz.
One more time. But different.

Whether solo, as a cou­ple or as a trio, the three musi­cians in their dif­fer­ent con­stel­la­tions always reli­ably bring stir­ring sets that sur­prise and mix up the usu­al house and tech­no encod­ings to the delight of all dance-test­ed hips.

Links:
ajamusicblog.wordpress.com
opaltapes.com/album/aja
soundcloud.com/opal-tapes
madhou5e.tv/artist/claire-grube
www.mixcloud.com/madhou5e/188