ComposerMy music is built from drifting melodies and strange chords structured by the rhetorics of classical counterpoint and electronic dance music. Its new tunings suggest to writer Tim Rutherford-Johnson ‘the court music of a short-lived empire’: there is often something ceremonial in my music that emerges from the interplay of the familiar and the strange.
This eclecticism comes from a childhood spent aping Bartók followed by student years immersed in drag and pop, during which I founded a mixed-genre music night, Filthy Lucre. Recently, I have been researching novel tuning systems, trying to think how one might make strange chords sound like home. |
My music is born in the collision of these influences, embracing orchestral music, vocal music, and synth-heavy electronics. I write for myself as a solo electronic performer, and for others using classical notation. My music is inspired by composers from Cassandra Miller to Giacinto Scelsi, and songwriters like Fiona Apple.
My recent recordings include a piece on Terra Invisus’s debut album, Visions. You can follow my work on my website, joebates.co.uk. Artistic DirectorI co-founded Filthy Lucre, an immersive, mixed genre music-night. I curate our programmes, selecting music that fascinates me, no matter its genre. We create events sympathetic to the differences between the music we programme but resistant to any notions of hierarchy.
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All photographs by Ilme Vysniauskaite
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