• exclusive: video promo
This promo marks the first in a new series of av works to come out of the new Origamibiro stable - The BiroBox Workshops. Originally a Nottingham based audio-visual night run by Origamibiro, the Workshops has expanded to become a working space where biro can develop new ideas, experiments and working methods for playing live.
New album also coming soon. To stay in the know about gigs and new releases, join the mailing list here
• origamibiro: a collective
It's official: Origamibiro is now a collective, consisting of two musicians and one video artist. The Joy of Box (aka Jim Boxall) has become such an integral part of the band and the live performances that it is impossible to separate his work and influence on the music - and vice versa. In this new form, the group's output will be a dynamic mix of music videos, audio-visual artworks, installations, soundtracks, album releases and whatever else the trio decide to put out there. So, although traditional music releases will be available to buy / download, there should be a lot more to wet the appetites across a broad range of mediums.
"QUAD TIME", the bands new music video, will appear on this page within the next few days, so keep your eyes and ears peeled! (12/08/2010)
• aelita soundtrack
Under the Origamibiro name tag, Tom also produces soundtracks for film and television. This clip is an edit taken from the 1924 Russian silent movie - Aelita: Queen of Mars, for which Origamibiro was commissioned by Nottingham Contemporary to soundtrack and perform live at Broadway Cinema for the 'Star City' exhibition, Feb 2010. Scroll down this page for a detailed synopsis. To see more of Tom's soundtrack works go the soundtracks menu.
• aelita: queen of mars
SILENT FILM WITH LIVE MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT BY ORIGAMIBIRO
Cert 15, Dir: Yakov Protazanov Soviet Union 1924
Sunday February 7th 2010, Broadway Cinema, Nottingham
Synopsis:
This is called the first Soviet science fiction film because of its "futuristic" sets on Mars, although most of it takes place in Moscow. The movie is set at the beginning of the NEP (New Economic Policy) in December, 1921. A mysterious radio message is beamed around the world, and among the engineers who receive it are Los, the hero, and his colleague Spiridonov. Los is an individualist dreamer. Aelita is the daughter of Tuskub, the ruler of a totalitarian state on Mars in which the working classe are put into cold storage when they are not needed.
With a telescope, Aelita is able to watch Los. As if by telepathy, Los obsesses about being watched by her. With the revolutionary Gusev, he travels to Mars, but the Earthlings and Aelita are thrown into prison by the dictator. Gusev and Los begin a proletarian uprising, and Aelita offers to lead the revolution, but she then establishes her own totalitarian regime. Los is shocked by this development and attempts to stop Aelita, and then reality and fantasy become confused, and Los discovers what has really happened.
• perpetual output
Origamibiro is changing. After a long stint performing live with The Joy of Box, producing soundtracks, running live events, starting families, making music videos and putting the finishing touches to the [long overdue] second album, it has become clear that a future working in this way will ultimately lead to less productivity - mostly on account of there not being a million hours in a day. So after a few ales and a depressing realisation that we can't carry on in this way, we had a brain storm and eventually a new direction presented itself. If all goes to plan, we will increase creative output to a point where we'll be prolific whilst simultaneously reducing the amount of effort used. Good for us and more for you. Most surprising of all was that we still agreed with our past drunk plan in the morning. It might however mean a break from gigs.
But, while we iron out the logistics of this 'perpetual motion' plan, have an exclusive preview to two full length tracks off the, as yet, still unreleased album.
• award nomination at the dublin fringe festival
Origamibiro & The Joy of Box were nominated for Best Production at the Fringe Festival this year for their performance at The Project Arts Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. It's a fantastic recognition for the trio who have been working relentlessly over the past two years, evolving and honing their act. Due to the extremely complex nature of their set up, travelling and performing with so much equipment can really take its toll, so this is a real honour for a band that need some lovin' back!
