NOISE AND IMPROVISATION

BIO: Cat is an Australian noise bassist, creating in long, loud, complex, powerful sets with multiple bass amplifiers and effects. She also performs in groups such as Super Luminum (with electric guitarist Lisa MacKinney), The Australian Bass Orchestra, HzHzHz (with cellist Tristen Parr), Candied Limbs (with bass clarinettist Lindsay Vickery) and founded the bass groups Abe Sada (4- 30 bass guitars, 2007 - 2012) and Lux Mammoth (with Dr Alien Smith, 1997-2002). She has toured as a support for Whitehouse (UK), ZIpperspy (USA), Miranda July (USA), Merzbow (Japan) and Acid Mother Temple (Japan) and has collaborated with KK Null, (Japan), Lee Rinaldo (USA) and Kasper Toepltiz (France) amongst others. Her album Fetish (2002) has been re – released three times in Australia, Japan and the USA and her live sets contribute to an ongoing BandCamp project continuing the ‘Fetish’ series.

You can hear an interview, with music samples, between Cat Hope and Dienstbar (Marcus Schwill) about her bass noise work here.

CAT HOPE BASS SOLO

“Cat Hope was like nothing I've ever heard/seen. Walls of feedback and raw noise.. the most "extreme", in damn good terms of sheer abrasiveness and sensory overload" Keith Sawyer, RadioStatic NYC, March 2000.

"Cat performs solo bass noise shows, but also composes on commission for contemporary dance, theatre, art installation and film. She has toured extensively and was included on the Susan Lawly ‘Extreme Music From Women’ compilation early in 2000, which led to tours in the USA, Europe, Japan and Australia. Cat has also performed as a noise artist with Ikue Mori, Stelarc, KK Null, Merzbow, Jon Rose and Tony Buck, and contributed to albums by artists such as Lawrence English, Zipperspy and others. Her albums are released in USA, Japan, and Australia, where she has toured many times.

Recent live recordings can be listened to here.

DISCOGRAPHY

Cat Hope, Fetish, CDR (Sound Gallery Label, 2000; Bloodstar, 2001)
Cat Hope, Live: Regret CDR (Gods of the Tundra, USA, 2001)
Cat Hope, Yume, cassette (One Touch Recordings, USSR, 2001) [review]
Cat Hope, Jackie Hush CDR (Bloodstar, 2002)
Cat Hope, Justine 8" EP, (Bloodstar, 2001)

SUPER LUMINUM

Super Luminum are Cat Hope (bass guitar) and Lisa MacKinney (guitar); an improvised duo whose influences are wider ranging, informed by MacKinney’s work with Rhys Chatham (most recently as section leader for his 2018 Sydney Festival performances) and Hope’s rich collaborations with Eliane Radigue. These two very different composers share a musical aesthetic characterised by an unhurried approach to the gradual unfolding of ideas and the constructive employment of stasis as a compositional philosophy. In Super Luminum, MacKinney and Hope apply this approach to improvisation, creating loud, euphoric, swirling textures that often feature exploratory playing techniques and incorporate feedback, noise and experimental tonalities. In a live context, this produces an immersive musical experience that is hypnotic and thrilling.

IN late 2019 Super Luminum toured Europe, appearing at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Curva Minore (Italy) and Bruits Blancs (France).

Listen to them here.

Australian Bass Orchestra

The Australian Bass Orchestra is a project the follows this manifesto:

The [Australian] Bass Orchestra is a group of bass range instrumentalists from any instrumental group or family, with a minimum of 15 players. No pitch above Middle C (262 Hz) may be played in a Bass Orchestra performance. Instruments can be established, invented, electronic or acoustic. Change the name of the orchestra according to the location and/or origin of the players. (Cat Hope, 2014).

The Australian Bass Orchestra has performed at the Now Now Festival (2014), The Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (2014) and as part of Hope’s opera, Speechless (2019). The manifesto can be used in any location, and the anme of the Bass Orchestra should be adjusted accordingly.

The group developed out of the Abe Sada project 2007-2014) whose main aim is to manipulate the lower end of the sound spectrum through live shows that combine installation with performance. In groups of 3 to 30 bass players from all different genres of music, Abe Sada played under or around stages, car parks, in multi-story buildings, on soccer fields or in shop fronts to vibrate audiences with the extreme bass they produce. The Abe Sada project had a constantly evolving line up of bass players and scenarios, each epitomised in a text score in the Abe Sada Songbook, which you can download below.

Live recordings of the Australian Bass Orchestra can be found here.

ABE SADA DISCOGRAPHY

Abe Sada, Redux, Heartless Robot LP.(2009)

Abe Sada, The Low Chord, Kabutsuri Tape International, CD. (2009)

Abe Sada, Tatare Steppe, VLZ Produkt, CD. (2008)

Abe Sada, Subzilla, Bloodstar, (Aus), CD. (2007)

HzHzHz

HzHzHz is Cat Hope (bass guitar and analogue electronics) and Tristen Parr (cello and digital electronics). This improvisation duo brings together the range of very different practices covered by these two artists – noise, experimental classical and pop – creating a dense exploration of the possibilities for low frequency sound colour. The collaboration developed from within new music ensemble Decibel, where they performed as a duo in the groups interpretation of John Cage's "Variations VI".

"This is one of the more cohesive and enjoyable “pure noise” records I’ve heard in a long time – and a definitive refutation to anyone who says noise can’t be nuanced, heavy, beautiful, nasty, enjoyable and musical all at once" COOL PERTH NIGHTS

DISOGRAPHY

HzHzHz, self titled album, CD, Brusio, Bru25 (2013)

Candied Limbs

Candied Limbs is a duo of Cat Hope (bass, analogue effects) and Lindsay Vickery (bass clarinet, digital effects) formed in 2005.

Candied Limbs make free improvised noise like you will have never heard before. Bass drones intermingle with warm bass clarinet tones that are in turn mutilated by maxMSP processing. Harsh high pitch screams mix with warm subtle bass tones filled in-between with mangled, spliced, extended, percussive and chordal environments.

“two of the most dynamic noise artists in Australia" EXPRESS MAGAZINE

DISCOGRAPHY
Candied Limbs, Sub Project 54, with Lindsay Vickery. Tura Records, CD. (2013)

LUX MAMMOTH

This was a bass duo with Dr Alien Smith that was active in Perth 2000-2006. The group toured the USA with Perlonex in 2002. Thier shows involved vaccum cleaners, animal corpses and other apparatus.

"This is one of the more cohesive and enjoyable “pure noise” records I’ve heard in a long time – and a definitive refutation to anyone who says noise can’t be nuanced, heavy, beautiful, nasty, enjoyable and musical all at once" COOL PERTH NIGHTS

DISOGRAPHY
Lux Mammoth, The Low Chord, Kibutsuri Tapes (Japan), CD. (2012)
Lux Mammoth, New Gauge Sinner, Pre Feed (Italy), CD. (2007)
Lux Mammoth, Herz Circus, Bloodstar (AUS), CD. (2002)

Featured Works [ARTIST]

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