( SIC )[MX]

Photo by Mara Arteaga

Hailed as one of the most insane, extreme and brutal projects in the history of experimental music in Mexico, ( SIC ) is the brainchild of Julian Bonequi and Rodrigo Ambriz. Their moniker is the Latin adverb meaning “thus,” typically inserted after a quoted word or passage and indicating that the quoted matter has been transcribed exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous or archaic spelling.

Bonequi has an extensive academic and musical background in the improvisation scene. He has taught new media art education in Mexico City and animation at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, and has collaborated with neuroscience research groups involved in interactive technologies and mixed reality at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. As a musician he has performed with the London Improvisers Orchestra, Berlin Improvisers Orchestra, William Parker, Tarek Atoui and Vagina Dentata Organ as well with Ute Wassermann, Paal Nilssen-Love, Gudrun Gut and Joachim Irmler. In addition, he coordinates the artist residency project run by Audition Records, the label he co-founded and releases on, and is currently working on his first 3D Opera with The National Centre for the Arts in Mexico City.

Ambriz is considered one of the most talented vocal performers in Mexico. He has long collaborated in the growing Mexican experimental/noise and improv scene with names such as .RR, Los Heraldos Negros, Juanjose Rivas, Germán Bringas, Fernando Vigueras, Angélica Castelló, Arthur Henry Fork, Ute Wassermann, Jaap Blonk, Burkhard Stangl and Joachim Montessuis. He has released on the Mexican labels Ruido Horrible, NoxaRecs, Audition Records and Suplex. Ambriz says, “my way to approach sound is this phonic-waste voragine [Spanish - vortex]; grunts, suffocated exhalations, shrieks, whispers, squawks and screams. I'm focused on deconstructing, altering and multiplying the phonic material. The first thing that interests me about the voice is the physical sensation that comes from manipulating the vocal apparatus, the air travel of the internal cavities, the tremors in different parts of the body, the stresses and strains, and the voice that exists previous to language. All this brings me to a primary state. I'm interested in the voice as generator of a constant flow of dizzying associations, immersed in a channel of automatism and glossolalia [sic]." (auditionrecords)

(SIC) works with extreme improvisation and savage-gestural composition. Their sound is embodied in concise miniature pieces led by a wide range of guttural convulsions, buccal tremors and other cries coming from the depths of nonexistent languages imagined to serve as a framework for contemporary rites remaining to be invented. The duo has previously performed all over Mexico, Berlin, Paris, Geneva and Vilnius. Their work has also been featured in the Norient Exhibition "Seismographic Sounds - Visions of a New World" at Transmediale 2016 and Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe.

Exorcise

Berghain, Wed 01.02.2017, 22:00

Stefan Fraunberger, ( SIC ), Ex Eye (Colin Stetson, Toby Sumemrfield, Shahzad Ismaily, Greg Fox)