Date
Friday 29 and Saturday 30 September
Time
6pm-11pm
Price
£15-£30
Venue
The Sunfold Hotel,
39 Beach Road,
Weston-super-Mare
BS23 1BG
Unfold at the Sunfold #5
UNFOLD #5 @ The Sunfold
Artful eclecticism + creative athleticism. The Sunfold guest house invites you to the fifth special weekend of interesting & unusual sounds in a very intimate space you’d like to be – beside the seaside, beside the sea.
The Sunfold is a regular guest house in the popular Victorian resort of Weston-super-Mare run by Steve and Lana who, in amongst offering warm hospitality for Brummie/Welsh tourists, occasionally run deeply Avant garde musical happenings down in their cosy basement lounge bar. Previous events have been a stupendous, yet secret success – a fervent clientele of staying and visiting music-lovers were treated to a veritable cornucopia of weird music from the likes of New York crazy inventor/performer Thomas Truax, Brighton psychedelic outfit Crayola Lectern, Leeds surrealist troubadours Biscuithead & The Biscuit Badgers, dreamlike art popsters Yama Warashi and the inimitable chap-hop stylings of Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer (currently the main European tour support for Sparks). Following on from our last UNFOLD event in March which proved to be yet another triumph of wilful weirdness, we’ve decided to try and make these weekenders at least bi-annual, book-ending the busy Weston tourist season.
This September’s UNFOLD event is going to be a curative partnership with the lovely people from UNORTHODOX PARADOX, who put together a wonderful and magical outdoor festival every year in places ranging from the woodlands of North Yorkshire to the wilds of Anglesea, as well as running their awesome weekly UP Radio show. To say there is a crossover of taste and musical appreciation between us and them would be an understatement. In fact, many of the artists earmarked for our weekender also appear at their summer festival at the start of August in Wormelow Tump nr Hereford, almost as if we planned it that way! Incidentally, here is the link to their latest festival: https://www.unorthodoxparadox.co.uk/
At UNFOLD, each evening will start with a buffet spread at 6pm and the acts (from 7pm on the hour every hour) are punctuated by an eclectic selection of outsider tunes. You may need to knock on the basement window to get the attention of someone to let you in as the night progresses, much like some kind of seaside speakeasy!
Line-up/stage times:
FRIDAY 29th SEPTEMBER (Curated by Unfold):
10pm: ICHI
ICHI, from Nagoya in Japan, takes the notion of a one-man band to new limits, combining his quirky handmade instrument inventions (Stilt-bass, Kalilaphone, Balloon-pipes, Hatbox-pedal-drum, Tapumpet, Percussion-shoes & Hattrick-hat) with steel-drum, ping-pong balls, typewriter, toys & everyday objects all in the space of one short set. Somehow there’s an ancient ritualistic feel to his performances – he’s like the misplaced leader of a tribe. To see ICHI live is to witness something so playful and unusual you know you’re experiencing something entirely new. It’s fun, it’s danceable, it’s exciting.
https://lostmap.bandcamp.com/album/maru
9pm: PAUL MORRICONE
Our Paul has been a regular feature of these Unfold events since it’s inception in 2019, partly due to the nepo-tastic fact of his genetic code being identical to the venue’s owner, but mainly because his work is genuinely world-class. Also a key part of The Scaramanga Six since the beginning, Paul has in recent years carved out a parallel output of solo albums that cover the more chocolate box croony elements of his songwriting prowess along with some banging electronic elements. For this performance, he’ll be joined by a full band to play an intense selection from his forthcoming third long-player ‘Go Sanction Yourself’ along with a sprinkling of lung-busting favourites.
https://paulmorricone.bandcamp.com/
8pm: SCHNAUSER
Welcome to the world of Schnauser – a place where Canterbury prog, 60s psych and melodic pop gently collide. The renowned prog/pop quartet from Bristol released
their seventh album ‘Altra Seccatura’ in July last year, their first since the highly lauded ‘Irritant’ in 2017. The album features ten tracks of concise melodic prog/pop, but each cut packs in as much attention to detail as the average UK Visa application form. Their live show is genuinely nuts.
https://schnauser.bandcamp.com/
7pm: THE STEVEN MORRICONE TYRANNY
I don’t know, it’s almost as if all the previous years Unfold events have been a cunning ruse leading up to getting a captive audience there just to see resident host/bar steward/chef/dogsbody etc hammer out a ramshackle set of his own crappy ‘songs’ rather than do any real work. I can assure you that this set will be just as much, if not harder work for Steve and audience alike as punters will be subjected to solo renditions of tunes from The Scaramanga Six catalogue + other as-yet unknown aural assaults and mental somersaults.
+ Stuffy’s Fantastic Disco
SATURDAY 30th SEPTEMBER (curated by Unorthodox Paradox):
10pm: PADDY STEER
Paddy Steer is a Zelig-like character along the timeline of Manchester’s musical activity. In rejection of the notion of ‘immaculate reproduction’, Paddy’s live performances err daringly and admirably on the frontier of chaotic abstraction, expression and focussed blunder, dice rolling down the hill in case of duende, as from behind his stacked array of instruments, the anarchically intrepid punk gargles through a vocoder with his xylophone, all a-clatter under disco lights and doilies. He creates his tools, as he creates his craft, here from scratch, there from new, ever from long-garnered experience that includes running the massive ensemble Homelife, years hence. In style he is unique on the circuit that knows him, on which similarly his blinkered resolve and capacity to create must be unparalleled. This has been reduced down over a long period of time, and applied coat by coat with subtle mastery, for richness, depth, and vivid texture, as if it were some magnificent curry, or a samurai sword. Lounge, romp, deep groove, homely and galactic-expedition whimsy, furry electronic invention, it feels akin to playing and winning a computer game made from reality, to hear..
https://paddysteer.bandcamp.com/
9pm: KUGELSCHREIBER
Not a lot is known or published yet regarding the new musical outfit from the inimitable Sharron Fortnam other than the moniker being the German word for ball-point pen. Sharron may be familiar to you from her previous/concurrent work in The North Sea Radio Orchestra, Led Bib, Lost Crowns and a stint in the legendary Cardiacs. With a full band including members of The Display Team etc and an absolutely astounding full-length album in the can, Kugelschreiber are certain to entrance and excite us all with a truly magical performance.
https://www.facebook.com/kugelschreiber2023
8pm: GARY WILLIAMS
Gary is an improvisational slide guitar player of rare and captivating quality. Expect a mesmerising set woven from many strings, bottlenecks, pedals and loops that will lead you down a dark alley in one moment, then out across a technicolour ocean the next. Check the link below for an extensive and recent example of his craft.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bliN_wMzWEA
7pm: BENNY JONES
Creator of mystic folk, also goes under the moniker Bingo Harry, when creating sounds of psychedelic pop. Cloud chiming guitars, hilltop chanting to distant monks, spellbinding dream songs carved from the ether. Benny Jones is one of a kind and a real heart speaker.
https://bennyjones.bandcamp.com/
+ Julia’s Shit Disco
FURTHER EVENT INFO:
Doors at 6pm
Vegan/Vegetarian Buffet available from then until it runs out!
Music/Performance commences 7pm
Very Limited capacity!
Weekend ticket + full self-catering accommodation* – Prices vary per room
Weekend ticket (music only) – £30
Single evening ticket (music only) – £15
*Call Steve at The Sunfold on 01934 624700 or email info@thesunfold.co.uk to make your reservation – there are a couple of rooms left!
MUSIC TICKET LINK: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/unfold-5-the-sunfold-tickets-655867877477
FACEBOOK EVENT LINK: https://www.facebook.com/events/25573358745611462