Saturday 30 June 2012

More collaborative glowing - Join in !


Recently i`ve been continuing to reap the rewards of some more collaborative fun. Doing it yourself is rewarding in it`s own way and I still enjoy and often feel the need for some solitary creativity. But being open to shared experiences and getting good things done with other people is certainly something that gets me glowing. I`ve been getting a good amount of this type of glow this year both in Japan (Stitch together exhibition and live collaborations) and now back in the UK. Here are some more collaborative things I`ve been up to with others in recent weeks. And at the bottom are two ongoing projects that you can join in with if you fancy.

Kings Place - June 22nd
with a band and projections by sister Betsy Dadd 
and live drawing from Betsy and Sophie

Emma Gatrill (Sons of Noel and Adrian), harp, clarinet and new addition - bass clarinet
Tom Heather (Eyes and No Eyes) drums
ICHI - steel pan and percussion


 Betsy and Sophie sat at a table at the side of the stage recorded the event in drawings and paintings that were snapped up for donations at the end




`D.I.Y. is all you need`
group exhibition at UTROPHIA, Deptford
1st - 14th JUNE

This was a collaboration between like minded friends who make both music and art and who hold a DIY ethos at the heart of all they do. And there was lots to interact with for the visitors of the exhibition too - coloring in, adding stitches, playing ICHI`s xylophone and swinging in Rozi`s swing boat

DIY - Do It Yourself
DIT - Do It Together

This looks set to be a traveling and blossoming show/idea to stay tuned

Alessi Laurent-Marke (Alessi's Ark – Bella Union)
Rachael Dadd (Broken Sound)
François Marry (François & The Atlas Mountains – Domino Records)
Kate Stables (This Is The Kit – Dreamboat / Brasslands)
Rozi Plain (Fence Records)
ICHI (Coup Records)
Thomas Heather (Eyes & No Eyes – Broken Sound)
Jeffrey Lewis (Rough Trade)
Benjamin Meschko
Louise Phillips
Will Newsome
Jonathan Farr
Carrie Hitchcock

Rozi adding the final touches to the swing boat

smoothies at the openning night

a visitor adding color to Francois` Colour Me In project that will become an animation soon

 patiently adding stitches to my Stitch Together project - 
this little girl stood on a stool sewing for about an hour

 ICHI`S xylophone came home with thousands of little dents from 
everyone`s enthusiastic playing

Alessi with her work 

 Rozi, Francois and Kate performing in the much loved Swing Boat

playing with Thomas Heather - drums and all aboard

 Louise Phillips doing some live drawing 
while Will Newsome performed kora in the boat (swung very high by a volunteer)



JOIN IN! MAKE ONIGIRI PROJECT

Spreading the onigiri word that onigiri is better than a sandwich!
 I have been selling onigiri (Japanese rice ball) recipes at shows and asking people to send in pictures. Send an e-mail to rachaeldadd@gmail.com if you want me to post one to you (in exchange for about £1.50 including postage)  or come and get one from a show






JOIN IN! BALLOON SINGLE PHOTO SUBMISSION PROJECT

Anyone who has bought or will buy the Balloon single or the Claw and Tooth single (which is a download code on the back of a badge containing a little piece of a big mountain map I made from all sorts of old bits of paper) can join in by sending a photo of their badge in a location of personal significance. The big mountain is like a map of my travels and this is like tracking the pieces on the next stage of the journey. They are all grid referenced. You may be confused - there`s more in an earlier blog post which you can read here 

If I get enough submissions I`d like to do an exhibition or something so please send in a picture if you have a badge.

Here are a few submissions so far


27T from Charley Sharp

 24L from Matt Howard

 14L from Noco Nico Cafe, Japan

you can nip over and get your single from the broken sound shop











Sunday 17 June 2012

Preparing the piano

Recently I have spent a few days with the piano prepared, enjoying the satisfying sounds of blobs of masking tape, bits of ballon, paper clips and a pot of rice inside the pianos workings. I plan to perform a few of my discoveries this Friday 22nd at my headlining show at King`s Place. I will play two sets, songs old and new, one set solo and one with a band including Tom Heather of Eyes and No Eyes on drums, Emma Gatrill on clarinet and ICHI on steel pan. My sister Betsy Dadd who is studying at the royal college of art will project her animations as part of the show.

For more about the King`s Place show go to the links below

here are some things you might get to see some of on Friday...

prepared piano

Tom playing drums with a wooden knife during my set at 
No Direction Home festival

and here`s a video from No Direction Home


Betsy`s artwork

Saturday 16 June 2012

ICHI

For those of you who don`t know ICHI is my husband, a musician from Japan. He accompanies me on steel pan at shows and he is a very celebrated solo musician taking the notion of a one-man band to new limits, combining his handmade instrument inventions with steel-drum, ping-pong balls, tape-loops, xylophone, double bass and trumpet, all in the space of one short set, and as described by venue magazine "It`s the kind of idiosyncrasy that cult fan-bases are built on, and you can`t help but feel it could`t have come from anywhere but the land of the rising sun".

drawing by Betsy Dadd
King`s Place (where ICHI will accompany me this friday the 22nd June)

ICHI now resides with me in Bristol once more, armed with his visa, his suitcase of musical inventions and his english study books. He has already been back playing a few memorable shows since arriving and will continue to entertain in his totally unique ways. Here are a few photos of his show from No Direction Home Festival last weekend. READ REVIEW HERE



ICHI at No Direction Home Festival


You can catch him playing at Bristol`s Cube Microplex on the 13th July with Emperor X or at the Louisiana with OLO Worms on the 10th August. If you`d like to book him for any shows please contact howard@thelocal.tv


I have been busy making him exist to his full potential on the world wide web, so you can go and say hello, watch films, and listen to his musical archive (he is very involved in the Nagoya underground scene and has other side projects - Flyhoop (ambient improvisation) and his newwave band Noshintoh) 



And here`s a better taster of what you might see live. Hopefully see you at a show soon x