New tracks posted from my gig at the Sound of Failure Festival at the The Factory

‘The League of Shadows is a prime example of a group of devotees who, despite the lack of commercial viability or a self sustaining ’scene’, are attempting to breathe life into a drastically under-represented art form.’

‘Working from minimal backdrop drawings and animations the puppeteers should be congratulated for performing what would be a very technically challenging art form with minimal resources. Add to this the fact that all those involved were completely self-taught and the performance becomes all the more impressive.’

‘The whole event was tremendously lo-fi and gave the audience the feeling that they truly were experiencing something special.’

‘The production and its creators are a fine example of young artists working with minimal resources to create accessible, entertaining and potentially inspiring art.’

League of Shadows is set to start on the 30th on June at CarriageWorks. Performing in the back of bay 19 for the Underbelly Festival you can catch us, for free, during the public lab week; where artists perfect their exhibition/installations giving the public a chance to tour Carriageworks and chat to the artists involved.

Public Lab:

• Mon 30/6: 6pm-10pm

• Wed 2/7:  10-3pm

• Thurs 3/7: 6-10pm

• Fri 4/7: 6-10pm

• Sat 5/7: 10-4pm

• Sun 6/7: 10-4pm

• Mon 7/7: 6-10pm

• Wed 9/7: 10am-3pm

• Thurs 10/7: 6-10pm

• Fri 11/7: 6-10pm

The festival starts on the 12th of July and finishes up on the 13th. We’ll be doing 3 to 4 performances a day, where you can watch, League of Shadows in its finished form.

Come join us!

On Sunday we had our first read-through with the talented and eclectic cast. We are also starting to craft musical interludes and sound effects. The audio excerpt below introduces the character of Dr. Malvatron, the diabolical and somewhat unhinged inventor whose overriding ambition is to “defecate on everything that’s beautiful and good”.

More info about Underbelly can be found on the CarriageWorks Website

The second track “Title” is for parody on your typical opening credits for a hipster young TV series.

The third track “Orpheus” was remixed for Orpheus Remix Awards.

The fourth track “Nobody” is for The League of Shadows

And the final track “Playing” is a fun, quirky, orchestrated track.

-Jake

It is a farcical yet dark performance piece inspired by Indonesian shadow puppetry as well as silhouette animation such as “The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello”. Expect mad scientists, post-apocalyptic ennui and toilet humour.

The score, script and puppets are all works-in-progress, but so far the music is shaping up to be an eclectic undertaking featuring a junkyard instrumentarium, accordion and vocals (Melissa Lesnie), percussion, vocals and guitar Rhys McGowan and the sci-fi strains of a theremin.

Tickets and info can be found on the Cariage Works website: Underbelly

-Jake

photo by Prue Upton: www.underbelly.com.au