12 Points Festival 2018

Presenting “The freshest, hottest sounds in jazz and contemporary experimental music”, 12 Points festival of emerging European jazz returns home to DUBLIN this September 2018 to celebrate it's 12th birthday with 4-nights of the most exciting emerging jazz talent from across Europe onstage at The Sugar Club.

Produced and programmed by IMC, 12 Points is uniquely nomadic - alternating between Dublin and other vibrant young European cities. For the 2018 edition, IMC are delighted to return to Dublin and partner with The Sugar Club, one of Ireland’s most forward thinking and vibrant venues for jazz, urban and ethnic music.

Recent ‘away’ editions for 12 Points include Aarhus, Denmark in 2017 and San Sebastián, Spain in 2016. In each case,12 Points was selected as part of the European Capital of Culture programming; as the festival perfectly encapsulates the collaborative energy of the EU.

In 2017, 12 Points was also honoured by being selected by the prestigious EFA (European Festivals Association) as an ‘EFFE Laureate Festival’ - one of just 26 European festivals, and the only Irish-based one, selected out of 715 EFFE Label recipients for their exemplary work.

Full Programme below:

WEDNESDAY 5th September
• Julie Campiche Quartet (Geneva)
• Susanna Risberg Trio (Stockholm)
• nOx.3 & Linda Oláh (Paris)

Steering the an instrument not associated with jazz into new sonic terrain, Swiss harpist Julie Campiche and her quartet create a dynamic yet uncluttered ‘electro-acoustical’ experience, balancing structure with improvisation to create a wide range of exciting possibilities.

At just 26 years of age, Swedish musician Susanna Risberg is already well on her way to becoming one of Europe's leading guitarists, with shades of Scofield and echos of Metheny, but ultimately it’s all Risberg. Together with a tight rhythm section this trio moves effortlessly from rocky, groove oriented pieces to more straight-ahead contemporary jazz.

If Parisian band nOx.3 featuring Swedish vocalist Linda Olah are hard to categorise it is because their music is so diverse; Industrial minimalism meets traditional French chanteuse meets abstract noise meets Noir soundtrack, all, somehow in perfect equilibrium. When words don’t make sense, music does.

THURSDAY 6th September
• Mia Dyberg Trio (Copenhagen)
• Steiger (Gent)
• Kompost 3 (Vienna)

Danish alto saxophonist Mia Dyberg’s freewheeling trio are inspired, in large part, by the swing and poetry of William S. Burroughs - emphasising playfulness, cut-up techniques, pulseawareness and what she describes as “the silver smoke of dreams”.

Demonstrating the potency Belgium has when it comes to delivering interesting progressive jazz music, piano trio Steiger exemplify this spirit of exploration. With each musician working across jazz, pop, electronic, and experimental rock world they blur boundaries between the organic and the electronic.

Austrian quartet Kompost3 bring ultra-tight beats, with trash-funk grooves emerging from dense soundscapes punctuated by a healthy dollop of avant-garde, making for a compelling blend of low-fi, fuzzed out, beat driven sonic goodness. Kompost3; a little funky. Sometimes a LOT funky.

FRIDAY 7th September
• Dowry (Dublin)
• Elliot Galvin Trio (London)
• Container Doxa (Ljubljana)

Our only soloist at 12 Points this year and it’s fitting that is an instrument so readily associated with Ireland, however, a violin in the hands of Éna Brennan aka ‘Dowry’ fuses multiple sound worlds, blending experimental folk, ambient improvisation, contemporary classical and Irish traditional music, to create a haunting live sonic experience.

This is no ordinary piano trio. Maverick pianist Elliot Galvin is quite possibly one of the UK’s most inventive instrumentalists, obliterating trends and banishing stereotypes. Starting with a blank canvas he redraws the format, augmented throughout by various toys, stylophones, cassette loops, electronics, melodicas, to create some brilliantly executed bright ideas.

Ljubljana’s Container Doxa are the first audio-visual ensemble to perform at 12 Points. From abstract sounds and visual shapes, Doxa infuse contemporary club music with the protocols of free improvisation and jazz futurism, recasting ideas from various music constellations; hip hop, techno, abstract minimalism they retain fragments of jazz to create their own distinctive language.

SATURDAY 8th September
• Kjetil Mulelid Trio (Trondheim)
• The Rite of Trio (Porto)
• Dominic J Marshall Trio (Amsterdam)

Recently signed to Rune Grammofon, the Kjetil Mulelid Trio feature some of Norway's most exciting young jazz musicians. This is a classic acoustic piano trio with some seriously beguiling compositions, expertly balancing energetic, rhythmically complex and harmonically rich music with beautiful evocative melodies synonymous with Scandinavia.

From Porto, The Rite of Trio describe their music as ‘jazz jambacore’. We would agree if we knew what this was, but whatever they call it, we like it. Infinitely chaotic and complex, yet full of love and humour this one loud, fuzzy and skronky guitar trio from the Iberian peninsula.

Fusing jazz with hip-hop and electronica, Dutch act Dominic J Marshall Trio’s blend of hard hitting melodic jazz underpinned with slugged out hip hop grooves and daring dynamics, has strong echoes of both Glasper and Kamasi, but with a distinctly European twist. Marshall is a distillation of all that which is diverse, fresh, and kaleidoscopic in 21st century jazz.

TICKETING

Early Bird ‘12 Band’ Festival Pass, just €49 for all 4 nights! On sale NOW
Individual Day Tickets will be released soon at www.eventbrite.ie

More information at 12points.ie

Read more about 12 Points and past festivals HERE

PLAYLIST HERE