A haven of normality in East Yorkshire, Hull would not have made a very decisive contribution to the history of music in the United Kingdom if it weren’t for that same tepid landscape that gave life to Throbbing Gristle. Maybe there were other fires and Basil Kirchin lived there for a few years, but for all intents and purposes, there is no tangible legacy that we associate with a particular musical movement as in other more revered latitudes – Manchester, Sheffield or Bristol. The album reflects Richie Culver’s return to his hometown after more cosmopolitan stops, ‘I was born by the sea’ doesn’t try to flatter or glorify Hull, but rather projects a twisted but no less real mirror of it, of mental and physical twists, of little swims that become everything. 

Already with a recognized work in the meanders of visual arts and multimedia, it gained special relevance after the controversy and viral impact that the painting ‘Did U Cum Yet?’ generated on Instagram, in a reference to the masturbatory process that is presenting art on social networks. Something that outraged many people, left a few scratching their heads and generated a torrent of comments that became a book – after Culver himself destroyed the piece – and continued with the EP ‘Did u cum yet?/I’m not gonna cum’ signed in collaboration with Blackhaine, and leveraging the interest of this mind in music to something more expressive. And equally personal.

Continuing the collaborative path already in 2022 with Pavel Milyakov tcp Buttechno in ‘A Change of Nothing’, Culver throws himself revealingly into his loneliness in two phases: first with the release of ‘Post Traumatic Fantasy’ by the very active Superpang and with the aforementioned postcard of experiences in Hull of ‘I was born by the sea’ by REIF. I wander through possible memories and laconic bits of reality patiently poured out in spoken word patches that confuse meanings and become encrusted in the torpor of layers of pads and aching synth chords. Seemingly ambient in the somewhat contemplative sense that rises here, Culver’s music escapes this fate without imposing itself, claiming attention through almost hallucinatory paths where word and sound become entangled in multiple realities. Singular. Precious. BS

Carincur, 1992, transdisciplinary artist living in Almada. She studied Visual Arts and Music at the Conservatório Regional do Baixo Alentejo and has a degree in Theatre at the Escola Superior de Artes e Design das Caldas da Rainha. She has developed work in the area of creation, production and management of cultural events, Artistic Direction and Curatorship. Currently she develops her artistic activity in an exploratory character, configuring herself in hybrid formats between performance, electronic and experimental music, audiovisual installations, among others. In recent years, he has been investigating and developing his practice as a dynamic event through symbolic experiences that fold the socio-technical fabrics where the image of the human (normative) is woven in a hybrid work with technology. Passing through themes such as fiction/reality, electronic/organic and human subjectivity. Through the quadrinomial space/body/voice/machine as main plastic materials, he explores acoustic phenomena, auditory and visual perception, the voice as a synthesis device and the creation of post-human voices, used to understand the transitions between organic and electronic bodies, where any new additions of “external” technology, are seen as extensions of the body. His sound work has been released by labels such as Weathervane Recs, Extended Records and ZABRA. She has released two albums, “Sorry if I make love with sound” and her latest project “Echos from a liquid memory”. She is co-creator of Spectrum Awareness, an audiovisual project with João Pedro Fonseca and João Valinho; she belongs to the ZABRA Records label, the YUUTS RUOY platform and is vice-president of ZIGUR, which organizes the annual Zigurfest festival. Of the various collaborations and projects in which he has participated and/or participates, the following stand out: “.G RITO” by Piny; “Apocalipse 2020” and “Temporary Palace” by Alice Joana Gonçalves & DADDY G (MASSIVE ATTACK); “COMO MATAR MULHERES NUAS” by Xana Novais; “La Vida es Sonho” by the João Garcia Miguel Company. He has performed at Centro de Artes (Caldas da Rainha, 2013-2015), Centro Cultural Vila-Flor (Guimarães, 2015), Teatro-Cine de Torres Vedras (2015), Teatro Nacional S.João (2015), Silos-Creative Container (2015), Teatro Ibérico (2017, 2019), MAAT (2019), MNAC (2019), Rua das gaivotas (2020), MONO galeria (2020), TBA (2021), Galeria Zé dos Bois (2021) among others.

Marcelo Alcaide (PT 1989) based between Berlin and Lisbon, developed his transversal body of work between diverse artistic expressions. His interest and kaleidoscopic knowledge of different characters/environments also led him to explore different means of expression such as his artistic collective REIF – a free alliance of artists and record label.

REIF’s main interest is in curating events and programs that include different expressions of thought, identity, interpretation, experience, and togetherness. The collective summons a need for common creation and experimentation, bridging bridges and commissioning unexpected connections. Assuming in this way as a cultural agent aiming to foster and explore new forms and methods of creation, cultural care, curation, and practice methodologies. REIF is resident at Berghain/Ostgut and has recently developed cultural programs for partners such as the Julia Stoschek Collection [EVENTIDE, 2022], Centre D’Art Contemporain Geneve [Sonic Catharsis], HAU Berlin among others, recently the release of ‘I was born by the sea’, the first LP by thinker and conceptual artist, Richie Culver, presented this evening at ZDB.

The immaterial agglutinating space imagined by Alcaide translates into the representation of different expressions of identity. As a practical result, through his homonymous label that explores a wide aesthetic, material and sound spectrum, compilations were released that made Wolfgang Tillmans, Jeff Mills, Ron Trent, Dominique Gonzalez Foerster, CEM, Carminho, Isabel Lewis, rRoxymore, LABOUR, Karl Holmqvist or CRYSTALLMESS cohabit in the same narrative.