Portico Quartet
+ Magic Panda
Friday 9 March : 8pm
£15.00 adv : £17.00 door
“Glorious… awe-inspiring… Portico Quartet is a band striding out from the underground on their terms, and the admiration awaiting them is there for all to see.”- Clash Music
Portico Quartet still sound like nothing you ever heard before. The Mercury nominated East London based outfit’s unique music has expanded to embrace new sonic territories. Drawing on the inspiration of electronica, ambient, classical and dance music as they take their strange, beautiful, cinematic, future music to exciting new vistas where the inspiration of Burial, Mount Kimbie and Flying Lotus rubs shoulders with the textures of Arve Henriksen and Bon Iver and echoes of Steve Reich and Max Richter. But all underpinned by a shared joy in collective music making as the band push their inimitable music into the future.
Portico Quartet’s third, self-titled, album is released in January 2012 on Real World Records. It is the sound of a band that refuses to stand still as they add new electronic inspiration to their trademark sound. But there are no shortcuts here, the music is played live, not pre-recorded, and the hard won collective empathy that is at the heart of their sound remains their primary touchstone. Full of mystery and drama Portico Quartet still take the listener on an unparalleled journey and live they pack a heavy punch as the band looks defiantly into the future.
“It’s a faultless set: a proficient expansion of the group’s recent studio work. Portico Quartet aren’t just knocking on the door of experimental dance music, they are leading it in new and exciting directions.”- Stool Pigeon
“Cinematic, ambient, funky, impressionistic, eerie… All of these terms and more can be applied to Portico Quartet’s music, where acoustic instruments and increasingly capable technology blend to create almost infinite hybrids and variations. … Where on earth will they go next?”- The Telegraph
“…pulsing anthems such as City of Glass and Laker Boo – means Portico Quartet stake claims to territory occupied by Radiohead,Cinematic Orchestra and Efterklang.”- The Guardian
“Isla feeds on Steve Reich mathematics, Radiohead dread, African desert grooves and ECM northern melancholy to travel into a new, chiming cavernous sound-world that is both exotic and hypnotic.” MOJO ****
“genuinely innovative.. there isn’t a band that sounds remotely like them.” Observer Music Monthly ****
“the hottest ticket in town” Time Out
Duncan Bellamy- drums and electronics
Jack Wyllie- saxophones and electronics
Milo Fitzpatrick- bass and electronics
Keir Vine- hang and keyboards
Steepless
