Lines of Flight, New Zealand's longest-running experimental music festival, is set to hit Dunedin next week as part of the 2013 Dunedin Fringe Festival.
Over three days, the cream of New Zealand's sonic explorers and experimentalists will perform at Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Port Chalmers Masonic Lodge and Chick's Hotel.
Started by Peter Stapleton and Kim Pieters in 2000, the 2013 edition will be the eighth time the festival has been held, including a one-day earthquake-relief event held in Christchurch last year.
Sixteen hours of performances will show a wide range of approaches to experimentation, from trance-like drones to free jazz, from delicate electro-acoustics to roaring walls of noise, from digital techno noise to ethereal vocalising.
''We use the word 'experimental' as a very loose generalised term,'' event co-organiser Peter Stapleton (Eye, The Terminals, The Pin Group) explains.
''It is basically an attitude to going a bit further. I think it is an aesthetic rather than a genre because it does cross a number of musical genres,'' he says, alluding to classifications such as free-jazz, noise-rock, electronic and experimental-folk.
Highlights include Dunedin stalwart Stephen Kilroy opening the festival with a multi-guitar loop on the Thursday night; Hermione Johnson's prepared piano virtuosity teaming up with saxophonist Jeff Henderson later that night, and the hypnotic analogue synth beats of the reclusive Omit.
Wellington's The All Seeing Hand bring their turntable drums and vocal maelstrom to the festival, Dead C members Bruce Russell and Michael Morley (Gate) will both perform guitar pieces, 2006 New Zealand Arts Laureate Alastair Galbraith performs on his glass harmonium, and The Futurians, Dunedin's finest sci-fi punk band, top things off on Saturday night in joyous fashion.
Film has always been a part of Lines of Flight festivals, and many of the musicians create their own films. These will screen during their performances, giving a multimedia feel to proceedings.
All shows start promptly, and cost $10 per show, or $30 for a festival pass.
Freddy Fudd Pucker returns to Dunedin next week, with performances at the Inch Bar and Chick's Hotel promoting their EP Straight Lines.
Often described as ''folk-punk'', the two-piece act is the union of Freddy Fudd (Tom Young), a product of New Zealand, and Whippy Dip (Sarah Gautier), made in Austin, Texas.
Since they began playing together in 2009, the pair have toured ceaselessly across the United States and Europe.
Building songs around accordion, acoustic guitar and loop pedal, foot percussion and often politically-charged vocals, there's something old-worldly about the sound the pair makes. It's often loose and raucous, but it's also uplifting and emotional.
Lines of Flight - the line-ups
Thursday, March 21, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, The Octagon, 7pm-11pmStephen Kilroy, The Ladder is Part of the Pit, Greg Malcolm, Jeff Henderson/Hermione Johnson.
Friday, March 21, Chick's Hotel, Port Chalmers, 8pm-midnightSam Hamilton, Bruce Russell/Peter Wright, Omit, The All Seeing Hand.
Saturday, March 23, The Anteroom, Masonic Lodge, Port Chalmers, 1pm-5pmMagnetic Field Data, Memory Burn, Alastair Galbraith, Eye.
Saturday, March 23, Chick's Hotel, Port Chalmers, 8pm-1amBlack Yoghurt, Foxtrot, Gate, Murderbike, Futurians.
See it, hear it
Freddy Fudd Pucker Straight Lines EP Tour, Sunday, March 24, The Inch Bar at 7pm and Thursday, March 28 at Chick's Hotel (Port Chalmers) with Bad Sav and Space Bats, Attack!.
Straight Lines, a new solo EP, is available now for ''pay as you like'' via Pucker's bandcamp freddyfuddpucker.bandcamp.com/
