8 October 2006 12am - 12am

Please join us at 9pm on Sunday October 8th for performances by FM3 (China) and Polmo Polpo (Toronto). This event is FREE.

Founded in 1999 by Christiaan Virant and Zhang Jian, two active members of the Beijing music scene, FM3 are considered pioneers of electronic music in China.

Known for dedicating prime space for “live” aspects within their work, FM3 produces mysterious, meditative and minimalist soundscapes, while subtly adding elements of Chinese folk tradition into a universe abundant in micro-sounds and synthetic glitches.

FM3 has been called “the most prominent experimental act in China” by the US magazine Grooves. XLR8R described FM3’s sound as “poetic noise” and the UK magazine The Wire calls FM3 live sets “meditative,” “soothing” and “engagingly intimate.”

FM3’s sound works have been featured at the 2004 Shanghai Bienalle, the Louvre museum in Paris, the Beijing-Tokyo Art Project, the Dashanzi International Art Festival and the Kulturhallen Dampfzentrale in the Swiss capital of Bern.

The mass-produced FM3 Buddha Machine loop box was named of the best “boxed sets” of 2005 by the New York Times and was one of the top selling electronic releases of 2005-06. FM3 has released music on a number of European and North American labels, including Staalplaat (DE), Staubgold (DE), Bip-Hop (FR), Mutek_Rec (CAN), Mousike (ITALY), Nascente (UK), Leerraum (CH), Lona (HK) and Sublime Frequencies (USA).

For Mercer Union the duo will perform an interactive Buddha Boxing event.

Polmo Polpo is the work of Toronto musician and producer Sandro Perri. Various releases since 1999 on Constellation Records, Alien8, Intr_version, and his own Audi Sensa label have brought his unique combinations of minimalism, pop, dance, drone and power electronics to our ears. An interest in melodic development and rhythmic simplicity is at the core of his work, while his production style is a unique approach to the exploration of timbre, density and space.

For this live performance he will blend looped percussion, electronics, laptop and harmonica, in addition to the lap steel guitar so prominently featured in his recordings. He will also be joined by super8 film projectionist Jordan Somers, who manipulates reels of found footage by hand, creating a slow-burning counterpart to Perri’s relaxed developments.

For more information contact dave@mercerunion.org.

The Polmo Polpo performance is made possible thru the Canada Council Music In Alternative Spaces grant.