CHRIS WATSON (UK)

Altmusic is proud to present Chris Watson as the final artist in 2009's performance series.

Chris Watson is one of the world's leading sound recordists specialising in capturing the sounds of wildlife and natural phenomena.

Watson puts his microphone where you can't put your ears. In this performance you might hear the unearthly groaning of an Icelandic glacier or the voices and rhythms of the Humboldt current around the Galapagos Islands.

Watson has released three solo albums of field recordings on Touch Records: Outside the Circle of Fire, Stepping into the Dark, and Weather Report (recently named in the Guardian Newspaper's 1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die List).

He has also released a variety of works in collaboration with other artists, including Star Switch On, a collaboration with Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic, Philip Jeck, Hazard, Fennesz, AER, Biosphere, and BJNeilson.

In 2006 Watson was awarded an honorary Doctor of Technology by the University of the West of England "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to sound recording technology, especially in the field of natural history and documentary location sound."

Chris Watson (a founding member of influential experimental music groups, Cabaret Voltaire and The Hafler Trio) currently records for and makes programmes for BBC Radio 4's Natural History Unit.

For more information about Chris Watson's extensive audio career, see http://www.chriswatson.net/

Stanier Black-Five complements and contrasts Chris Watson's environmental sound recordings with her dense industrial soundscapes. Her audio work fuses home-made electronics with found sounds and environmental recordings: from mesmerising aircraft drones to the pounding rhythm of trains. As well as playing in New Zealand, Stanier Black-Five has taken her visceral music to the UK and Europe, playing events such as the London Musicians Collective's annual festival of experimental music and most recently performing the Others Gallery in London in September.

www.myspace.com/stanierblack5

Peter Wright debuts his Sea Of Holes project: a medley of raw field recordings, radio chatter, and pre-recorded ambience that he self-categorises as environMETAL.

http://distantbombs.blogspot.com/

Altmusic is an ongoing series of audio events, bringing a vital injection of contemporary and avant-garde sound art from around the world to New Zealand. We gratefully acknowledge the funding received from Creative New Zealand, without which, the events could not take place. The programme for 2010 is currently under development.

http://audiofoundation.org.nz/aboutalt.htm