10 Questions for Irina Nalis

10 QUESTIONS FOR IRINA NALIS Multidisciplinary thinking at a time of crisis

Multidisciplinary thinking at a multidisciplinary festival in a time of crisis

Normally we'd put a descriptor - "cellist", "film maker", "techno producer" for example - in the title of this interview, but for Irina Nalis there isn't space. Like, "10 Questions for psychologist, ministerial adviser, festival founder, architectural consultant, digital humanism activist and techno veteran Irina Nalis" wouldn't fit across the page. But that's the multidisciplinary world for you.

Francesca Wade: Square Haunting - Bloomsbury retold

The stories of five women in Bloomsbury recover lost layers in London's palimpsest

These days, Bloomsbury rests in a state of elegant somnolence. The ghosts of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell linger on in the shabby gentility of Russell Square and its environs, the bookish institutions that are the bones of the place conferring tranquility, despite the many students and tourists.

Robert Henke CBM 8032, Barbican - a vision of possibilities from 40 years ago

★★★★ ROBERT HENKE CBM 8032, BARBICAN A vision of possibilities from 40 years ago

Advanced music and visuals coming from primitive technology

Robert Henke is to techno fans as Leo Fender and Les Paul are to rock lovers. The Ableton Live software which he co-created is every bit as influential as any guitar they built, and probably more used. However, of course, being just a piece of code, it could never be iconic like a guitar. This performance was partly inspired by that fact: as Henke explained in his preamble, he's fascinated with a time when computers were a whole lot simpler and, perhaps, cooler to look at.

Haas Hommage à Bridget Riley, London Sinfonietta, Lubman, QEH review - vibrant abstraction

★★★★ HAAS HOMMAGE À BRIDGET RILEY, LONDON SINFONIETTA, QEH Big commission complements a great Hayward Gallery exhibition

Big commission complements a great Hayward Gallery exhibition to near-perfection

Music and visual art, at least at the highest level, should go their own separate ways; put them together, and one form will always be subordinate to the other. A composer being inspired by an artist's work, or vice versa, is something else altogether.

CD: 65daysofstatic - replicr, 2019

★★★★ 65DAYSOFSTATIC - REPLICR, 2019 Hiding the flame of passion under the bushel of math

Hiding the flame of passion under the bushel of math

65daysofstatic, the instrumentals-only post-rock experimental band from Sheffield, have suffered from the obsessive need to brand every supposed sub-genre of music when, in their case, they are much more than a math rock or glitch band. They are instead just courageous and adventurous, searching for new ways to put sounds together. Their strength and originality lies in the fact they escape categorisation and, as the good artists they are, re-invent themselves at every turn.

Reissue CDs Weekly: Fernando Falcão - Memória das Águas

REISSUE CDS WEEKLY Fernando Falcão - The rediscovery of a Brazilian musical auteur

The rediscovery of a Brazilian musical auteur

Memória das Águas hasn’t figured in lists of great Brazilian albums. Its creator Fernando Falcão isn’t as celebrated as fellow countryman and musical maverick Tom Zé. The reissue of this arresting yet previously obscure album should help change these oversights.

CD: Thom Yorke - Anima

★★★★ THOM YORKE - ANIMA His most convincing foray into electronica yet

Radiohead frontman's third solo album is his most convincing foray into electronica yet

Thom Yorke is frontman of Radiohead, a festival-headlining rock band who sell out stadiums all over the globe. His artistic aspirations, however, right back to Radiohead’s Kid A album 19 years ago, often seem to lie elsewhere, in the world of glitching, otherworldly electronica.

CD: Holly Herndon - PROTO

★★★ HOLLY HERNDON - PROTO Can AI make art?

Third album finds composer asking: can AI make art?

To consider the third album from experimental composer Holly Herndon solely as a piece of music is to miss the point. PROTO is part artwork, part research project, on which Herndon teams up with collaborators both human and inhuman to discover whether artificial intelligence can be trained to produce art. The results aren’t always beautiful but that, perhaps, is what makes them human.

Terry Riley & Gyan Riley, The Old Market, Hove review - gently pleasing evening of improvisation

Familial pairing slowly move from avant-jazz to somewhere further out

“I don’t know if I’m going to recognise any of it,” I say to my accomplice as we drain a couple of light ales amid the sea of grey beards in The Old Market’s bar. “I don’t think they’ll play the hits,” he replies, deadpan, “but don’t worry, there should be some onstage banter that’ll give you a couple of the titles.”

Van Gogh and Britain, Tate Britain review - tenuous but still persuasive

★★★★ VAN GOGH AND BRITAIN, TATE BRITAIN An insight into the artist's inner life

The artist's London years provide an insight into his inner life

Soon after his death, Van Gogh’s reputation as a tragic genius was secured. Little has changed in the meantime, and he has continued to be understood as fatally unbalanced, ruled by instinct not intellect.