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Powerplant: The Filthy Fifteen

Joby Burgess performing The Filthy Fifteen

War crimes and forbidden songs; video, electronics and percussion: Powerplant place musical explosives under the lies of an uncertain century.

Combining visuals, bold new approaches to composition and the sonic virtuosity of Joby Burgess’s Xylosynth, Powerplant create an electronically-enhanced fusion of arts that speaks right here and right now. This is nothing less than a soundtrack for the post-truth age.

Nicole Lizée gets her ideas from the ‘Filthy Fifteen’ – fifteen songs banned as obscene in the USA in 1985. Prompting musical artists and the record industry to challenge and redefine the boundaries of taste and the limits of acceptability, the spectre of censorship inspired Lizée’s work, which warps reminiscences of Prince, Cyndi Lauper and Motley Crüe into something seriously transgressive. Graham Fitkin traces a chain of political evasions back to Abu Ghraib, and there’s music by Will Gregory (Goldfrapp) plus something entirely new.

Part of our 2018 Season, The Art of Change which explores how artists respond to, reflect and can potentially effect change in the social and political landscape.

Discover

photo of man playing instrument

Watch: Graham Fitkin's 'Chain of Command'

Joby Burgess performs a shortened version of Graham Fitkin's Chain of Command. Commissioned by Powerplant in 2008, the work is performed on xylosynth and looper.

 

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Watch: Powerplant performing Max de Wardener's 'Im Dorfe'

Powerplant present Max de Wardener's Im Dorfe from the album 24 Lies Per Second.

Milton Court Concert Hall