Köln Loopfest 2011
Darkroom at the Köln Loopfest 2011 from Andrew Ostler on Vimeo.
Antwerp Loopfest 2009
Darkroom at The
Antwerp Loopfest 2009 from Andrew Ostler on
Vimeo.
YouTube versions (split into three due to YouTube's
video length restrictions): part 1, part 2, part 3.
Just for posterity, here are the notes I (Os) had to
get the three parts started:
110bpm 273ms
Em
96bpm 313ms
LiSp on git
G
120bpm 250ms
Dm
Improvizone 5/2/2009
Improvizone #20 - the first 40 minutes from Andrew Ostler on Vimeo.
Improvizone #20 (part 2) from Andrew Ostler on Vimeo.
Improvizone #20 (part 3) from Andrew Ostler on Vimeo.
Improvizone 7/10/2008
Design Museum (Improvizone 23/5/2008)
Held in the foyer of the Design Museum, London.
Glastonbury Festival 1997
Unfortunately 1997 was "the year of the mud" and the stage we were booked to play on sank into the mire. We were bumped to the Wise Crone Cafe tent, and eventually managed to play for 5 minutes sometime in the small hours of the following morning (shortly after the sound man went home for the night, so we were left to engineer the gig too).
All in all, a terrible experience. We didn't record it. I can honestly say I remember nothing about how it sounded - at the time I was simply grateful to be making any sound at all.
Dragon's Ball
We were joined by Andrew Booker on electronic drums.
Norwich Fringe Festival 2005
Zaum @ The Michaelhouse Café
Joined by Peter Chilvers on keyboards, including the café's own piano, which was in a separate room from the gig itself.
1st International Loopfestival Zürich
Burning Shed Evening One
Digital Analogue Cambridge
Festival site no longer operational, but you can see it here thanks to archive.org.
The Moon
To date, the only occasion on which Mike has played bass at a Darkroom gig.
The Scala
We were providing a live soundtrack to the Roswell Alien Autopsy film - revisiting the first ever Darkroom (then Collective) appearance back in 1996.
Cambridge Darkroom Gallery
The Club Room
From the programme:
Haunting and arresting, "Darkroom" are an improvising group (more "Starsailor" than Machine Gun) of shifting and unsettling atmospheres. The two instrumentalists construct an environment of mutating loops - while Tim Bowness (of No Man) uses his extraordinary and evocative voice to add an emotional centre to the music.
This was the infamous gig during which several things of note happened
- the promoter left before the end of the gig, apparently not in a great mood
- Mike threw his watch at Os to try to make him stop playing (we were way over time) (Os didn't notice)
- the phrase "rich hippy" was levelled at Mike, apparently because he had more than two guitar pedals.
We played two sets, and I remember it being a good gig. Sadly, it was one of the few that we didn't record.
Plastic3
Peter Chilvers joined us, on bass.
See http://www.collective.co.uk/leaps/leapsevents2001.html
Bleepfest
Organised by Adrian Newton, aka Nemeton, who went on to remix Darkroom for the DAC Mixes album.
See http://www.collective.co.uk/leaps/leapsevents2002.html#bleepfest
Plastic2
This was an Os solo performance, and one of the few times Os played clarinet.
Held at the Portland Arms, Cambridge.
See http://www.collective.co.uk/leaps/leapsevents2001.html#plastic2
Digital Analogue Cambridge
Extended performance/installation. Held in the Cambridge Museum of Technology.
Festival site no longer operational, but you can see it here thanks to archive.org.
Rough Edge
Hybrid Machine
See http://www.collective.co.uk/leaps/leapsevents2000.html#hybridmachine
Rough Edge II
Genome2
Genome3
Self Assembly
See http://www.collective.co.uk/leaps/leapsevents2003.html
The First International Cambridge Festival of Looping
Official site: http://www.collective.co.uk/loopfest/archive2003.html
ACEMS - An evening of new music
From the programme:
Darkroom are the combined and limitlessly creative talents of keyboardist/rhythmatist Andrew 'Os' Ostler and guitarist/loopologist Mike Bearpark, who is replaced tonight by Peter Chilvers.With their "composite of pounding drum'n'bass-ish rhythms, spiralling ambient backdrops and netherworldly atmospheres", Darkroom have quickly attracted a large and dedicated following, as well as interest from independent record labels.
Official site: http://www.acems.20m.com/archive_oct17.html