Leeds and Bradford’s festival of pioneering, experimental and underground music, film and art makes its return with new commissions from performers including avant-garde guitarist Stephen O’Malley of Seattle drone metallers Sunn O))), Nick Cave collaborator Blixa Bargeld, large folk ensemble Dark Northumbrian, legendary anarcho punks Zounds, Detroit hip hop group Slum Village, as well as Owls, David Thomas Broughton, Tom Hopkins, Giulia Ricci and many more.

These events will take place in a number of venues, some of which are not usually open to the public; locations include Howard Assembly Room, Brudenell Social Club, Delius Arts and Cultural Centre, Wharf Chambers Co-operative Club, The 1 in 12 Club and the picturesque Victoria Gardens.

This year’s focus is upon pioneering, innovative and risk-taking collaborations and collectives, with festival curators recognising the importance of artists pooling resources, working together and sharing ideas to survive. The festival itself has created new collaborations via its series of commissions, The Amorphous Orchestra’s Frozen Music for example: an art and science collaboration which uses brain activity sensors to visualize the emotional states of musicians as they perform.

These collaborations bring diverse methodologies together to create new styles of working, and made even more fascinating by a festival plan which brings art and music outside of its usual settings and places it in exciting new contexts.

RECON Festival Across Leeds and Bradford 19 – 29 September 2014 www.reconfest.co.uk

Credit:
1. Stephen O’Malley at Brudenell Social Club. Courtesy of Recon fetival