Icelandic composer Jóhannsson and the Iskra quartet play minimalist chamber music, the string section laying down a "groove" with JJ adding sparse piano and occasionally triggering ambient samples. This was very restrained, haunting stuff that never really reached the crescendos that you might associate with GSYBE or A Silver Mount Zion, who, to my ears at least seem to inhabit similar sonic territory. Enjoyable stuff nevertheless
Murcof
This was the main event as far as I was concerned. I had been pretty excited about seeing Murcof as I have been a fan of his music since hearing his mesmerising Martes album of 2002, definitely one of my favourites of that year. Murcof is the stage name of Mexican ambient master Fernando Corona. Tonight he had teamed up with AntiVJay, I thought it might be something a bit special, and I wasn't mistaken.
The incredible visuals mesmerised the audience of Futuresonic delegates and paying punters. The music shifted from the spacescapes of his 2007 CD Cosmos to the more ambient orchestral sounds of his masterpiece Martes. The visuals added a stunning dimension to the sound , shifting from what can only be described as a malevolent pulsating ball of wool (you really had to be there) through beautiful starfields, gliding round a wireframe future world that melted into a forest of bamboo (well n my interpretation anyway) all done with a minimal simplicity. The audience was silent throughout the hour and 20 minute set, not bad for a bit of ambient!"Murcof and AntiVJ are collaborating on a new site-specific audiovisual installation in which live music, projected imagery, and a huge layered, semi-transparent installation will create immersion in a broken, multifaceted cosmos of a million stars and abstract shapes". - Futuresonic
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