ACAPULCO REDUX
Clash between various sound elements, deviations without brutality, electrical and dreamlike sleet and discharges, Acapulco’s vibrations created their own response, overturning the initial proposal, the one of a non-conventional guitar approach, through a radical stage lighting device, where the musician’s body is immersed in new musical densities.
Julien Desprez, Guitar, Light Device
Gregory Edelein, Scénographia, Choreography
Cécile Guigny, Light Device realisation
with the partnership of LA MUSE EN CIRCUIT, LA DYNAMO DE BANLIEUES BLEUES and ARCADI
COCO
COCO is neither a concert nor a dance piece.
Coco is between. This performance seeks to create the indeterminate space right in between of sounds and motions.
Resulting from a dialogue between Julien Desprez's practice and the practice of the samba group "Coco Raizes de Arcoverde", COCO creates a total show where tension is taking the role of the narration.
During 02 weeks of residency in Arcoverde, Pernambuco (Brasil), Julien learnt with the Coco Raizes de Arcoverde them special tap dance technic. Through a dialog with this special sound dance, Julien Desprez created a piece where everything has the right to talk with no aesthetic boarder.
Special thanks to Assis, Iran, Damaris and Icaro Calixto for them sharing.
Listen here the music of the "Coco Raizes de Arcoverde"
Julien Desprez: Guitar, Performance, Voice, Direction
Pauline Simon: Performance, Guitar
Julien Loutelier: Performance, Percussion
Ana Rita Teodoro: Performance, Voice
Clement Vercelletto: Performance, Modular Synth, Voice
Lucas Lagomarsino: Performance, Tiny Amp, Voice
Bastien Mignot: Dramaturgy, outside sight
Gregory Edelein: Stage Design, Light design, outside sight
Gregory Joubert: Sound and PA
Milena Grange: Technic Manager
Mael Pinard, Guillaume Marmin: Light Device Design
ABACAXI
Somewhere between late 60’s rock and sound art, ABACAXI has a a heart full of candy and a skin made of spikes.
Formed by Julien Desprez, this brand new incarnation of the classic rock line up guitar/bass/drums presents an intense electric sound sculpture, carved by the rock idiom.
The trio, with Max Andrzejewski on drums/synth and Jean François Riffaud on bass, creates an highly energetic new music full of noisy brightness and sharp edges - completed by a choreography of flashlights.
Julien Desprez: Guitar, Lights, Composition
Jean_François Riffaud: Bass, Lights
Max Andrzejewski: Drums, Light, Keys
HYPNOQUEEN
During a year-long residency at the Les Arcades preparatory school in Issy-les-Moulineaux, Violaine Lochu conducted research on hypnagogy—a modified state of consciousness that takes place at the time of falling asleep—with the help of a hypnotherapist and a sophrologist. During these sessions, she experienced sensations, images and memories that did not directly belong to her. Depending on the time in which one lives, or one’s cultural or religious upbringing, these phenomena are called sensory processing disorders, archetypes or the collective unconscious, past lives. . .
Based on this experiment, Violaine Lochu and Julien Desprez constructs a performance featuring the different mental states she experienced. Her body becomes in turn mineral, animal, vegetable, mechanical, hermaphrodite. . . calling into question the very principle of a unique identity, and of certain dualisms (nature vs nurture, masculine vs feminine, human vs animal) with a preference for trembling and the spaces in between.
Violaine Lochu: Voice and Performance
Julien Desprez: Guitar and Light
T(R)OPIC
Julien Desprez and Rob Mazurek met through
the transatlantic network The Bridge. Entitled “T(r)opic,” their joint project
is a multicultural statement that foregoes repetition and references to
previous work. Their music evokes images of a torrential river that
relentlessly cleaves its way forward, constantly renewing itself in the
process. In their work, they set Europe and America on a—sometimes laconic,
sometimes pointed—collision course, playfully mixing Brazilian rhythms with
improvisational and melodious interludes.
Julien Desprez: Guitar, Direction
Rob Mazurek: Horn, Direction
Mette Rasmussen: Alto Saxophone
Mauricio Takara: Percussions, Electronics
Susana Santos Silva: Trumpet
Ingebrigt Haker Flaten: Bass
Lotte Anker: Tenor/Soprano Saxophones
Gerald Cleaver: Drums
Isabel Sorling: Voice, Electronics
THE HATCH
You don’t have to see them in action to know that they’re both physical players. You can feel lungs being emptied with diaphragm-bruising force, and you can also hear the moments when fist meets wood.
Julien Desprez, Guitar
Mette Rasmussen: Alto Saxophone
Over the years, Will, Julien and Erwan have crossed paths often, sharing bills, and playing in various combinations. The growing desire to play as a trio came after watching each other’s solo proposals.
The three musicians share the mutual taste for a powerful sound, juxtaposed with dynamic ruptures and breaks.
Although based in free improvisation, the trio wishes to use existing musical forms to create its own vocabulary. Rather than fixing the music into scores, the artists will shape a sound spectrum they can use freely.
Will Guthrie: Drums, Percussions
Erwan Keravec: Bagpipe
Julien Desprez: Guitar
WHITE SANDS
MOPCUT
MOPCUT is a medium-length noise-style that covers the head and ears with a vertical bang and a horizontal wave. It's a popular style for all ages, genders and generations.The soundscape should be trimmed evenly all around the circumference so that the noise at the front reaches the inner eye while the waves on the sides cover (or almost fully cover) the ears.
The beats at the back maintain the same length as the samples at the front and sides. Once the overall sound is achieved, trimming is used to achieve minimalism or maximalism, depending. Improvisation, noise and electronic beats work well as backgrounds for the MOPCUT.
Electronic appliances and devices may be used to give the MOPCUT a bit more volume, but effects may lead to standing up instead of hanging low.
Lukas Koenig: Durms, Synth
Audrey Chen: Voice, Synth
Julien Desprez: Guitar