12 Points Festival Day 3: Friday, April 17th

Friday, April 17th

MusicTown and Improvised Music Company Present MUSIC FUTURES // Talk hosted by Jim Carroll // Smock Alley Theatre // 2.30pm - 5.30pm // Free but ticketed // entertainment.ie/tickets

MusicTown, showcasing the multi-faceted musical talents and cutural agencies at work in our capital, is the perfect foil for a meeting of minds to address the question: What Does it Mean to be a Music Town? How can cultural, corporate, city and community bodies work together to generate and sustain work for Irish artists, create new work through shared cultural initiatives, and, ultimately, unite and grow audiences? These questions will be put to curated panels comprising of musicians, cultural and community groups and media representitives to get perspectives and insight from across the sector.

Alarmist/OKO/REDIVIDER SUPERGIG // Smock Alley Theatre // 6 - 7pm // Free but ticketed // Click HERE for tickets

Three of our favourite Irish bands join forces for a supergig at Smock Alley. Alligned somewhere between free improv, electronica, post/math rock, jazz and contemporary classical music, these 3 groups have formed an innovative and exciting ensemble. Full details here.

12 Points //Project Arts Centre // Doors 7pm // first act 7.30pm // Click HERE to buy tickets

London's Laura Jurd Quartet are Friday's first performers. A very recent winner of the 'Jazz instrumentalist of the Year' prize at the Parliamentary Jazz awards, group leader Laura is a trumpet improv star. Think electric-Miles with a folkloric twist as Laura's unique compositional style brings her influences together in a distinctive world of groove and improvisation. Even though they are the youngest ensemble at this years festival there is a maturity to the sound that belies their age. This is original, groove driven music with lashings of folk-like melodies and evocative, memorable themes.

Copenhagen's SVIN follow, on a mission to break down genre barriers, with a brash jazz attitude, and a sound that is light years from the land of straight-ahead. At times they produce a dark, angry drone of heavy riffs and detuned instruments, but then it breaks, gasping, into an almost fragile chamber melody.

Finally it's the ever-stylish BRUUT!, hailing from Amsterdam, bringing their own style and self-proclaimed 'superjazz'. This four-piece from balance the colourful with the unpolished, and the danceable with the listenable creating a sexy, sassy sounnd.

Showcase Club // Sweeney's // 11pm

Friday nights Showcase Club performance comes from BUNK - an instrumental funk/soul quartet building on the legacy of the studio 'house bands' of the classic rhythm and blues era. A tight and rhythmic four-piece, infusing blues into instrumental grooves, yet loose enough to explore the adventurous terrain of improvisation.

Followed by a jam session 'til late.