Joe Bates
  • News
  • Music
    • Full List
    • Large Ensemble >
      • Muted The Night
      • London's Other Bones
    • Small Ensemble >
      • Two Animals
      • Nocturne
      • Lain Lines
      • Us Alone
      • A Noise So Loud
    • Solo >
      • Suite for Guitar
      • Sparrow
      • Street Through A Window
      • Two Animals
      • Flim Flam
      • Slow Hills
    • Vocal >
      • The Hazelnut
      • Some Parts of Us
      • Now Is A Long Time
      • Cataracts
      • Ceasing
      • Hildegard
  • Recordings
  • About
  • Teaching
  • Filthy Lucre
  • Upcoming Dates

Composer

I am a composer and curator making music at the edge of genres. My first musical love was for the orchestral classics of the Twentieth Century; I spent my teenage years aping Bartók and Ligeti (I even have a Bartók tattoo). At university, I became involved in rock and pop, playing in a drag band and running a mixed-genre music night, Filthy Lucre.

My music is born in the collision of these influences, embracing both orchestral 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 Kaija Saariaho to Giacinto Scelsi, songwriters like Fiona Apple and D’Angelo, writers like Ursula Le Guin and Derek Parfait, and artists like Hilma Af Klint and Abu Al-Hasan.

My music blends the riffs and harmonies of rock with structures and instrumentation drawn from contemporary classical music. It combines 
intense, still riffs and drifting synth sounds with notes that fall through the gaps of the traditional Western scale. 

To get an overview of my music, you could start with my solo works: my EP,
Flim Flam, or my piece for double bass, Sparrow. From there, you could check out my work for choir, Ceasing, or my works for small ensemble, A Noise So Loud or Us Alone. You can follow me on Twitter or Instagram for social updates. Rough recordings are on Soundcloud,  releases are on Bandcamp.

Artistic Director

I co-founded Filthy Lucre, an immersive, mixed genre music-night. As Artistic Director, 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.

Soundcloud

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Spotify

Email
Bandcamp​

​CV

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Press kit
All photographs by Ilme Vysniauskaite
  • News
  • Music
    • Full List
    • Large Ensemble >
      • Muted The Night
      • London's Other Bones
    • Small Ensemble >
      • Two Animals
      • Nocturne
      • Lain Lines
      • Us Alone
      • A Noise So Loud
    • Solo >
      • Suite for Guitar
      • Sparrow
      • Street Through A Window
      • Two Animals
      • Flim Flam
      • Slow Hills
    • Vocal >
      • The Hazelnut
      • Some Parts of Us
      • Now Is A Long Time
      • Cataracts
      • Ceasing
      • Hildegard
  • Recordings
  • About
  • Teaching
  • Filthy Lucre
  • Upcoming Dates