NEWS:
Metal Preyers performed a live audio visual set along with our friends Kinact joining in for an impromptu performance. We were part of the feature for 'Night Shift' a show curated by Claire Contamine & Nyege Nyege Tapes at Kanal Centre Pompidou Brussels.
Directed & Edited by Denholm Hewlett
Music by Jesse Hackett & Otim Alpha
Footage by Olivier Conrardy, Nic & Seb, & Marion Desmaret
Performance & Costumes by Kinact
Live Visuals/Projections by Denholm Hewlett
Art Direction by Mariano Chavez
Special Thanks to Derek & Arlen.
Metal Preyers is happy to be part of an evening performance at Centre Pompidou in Brussels. A live A/V set will be performed as part of the Nyege Nyege Night Shift presentation. More info Here
Shadow Swamps Out Now
Filmed by Mantas Kvedaravicius
Editing by Denholm Hewlett
Wasp-nest head sculptural pieces by Mariano Chavez
Video watch
Following 2020's acclaimed self-titled debut album, Metal Preyers take the left hand path into a gloomy backwater filled with haunted creatures and fraught with peril. "Shadow Swamps" again finds London-based Jesse Hackett handling the music and Chicago's Mariano Chavez fashioning the album's visual identity, which this time includes a short film and book for a fully immersive experience.
"Shadow Swamps" is the soundtrack to a pitch-black fairy tale about a father and daughter as they journey through a swamp avoiding gremlins, red swines and crater creatures. Musically, it pivots between the clattering Czech new wave experimentation of "Valerie and her Week of Wonders" composer Luboš Fišer, or the magical, eccentric lounge of Birmingham's Broadcast, and the grinding industrial grot of Italian pioneer Maurizio Bianchi.
This time around, Hackett has roped in production assists from his six year-old-daughter Wonder - who used phone memos to record herself singing - veteran Metal Preyers collaborator Lord TusK, and Manchester-based painter, DJ and producer Richard Harris, aka Sockethead. The crew inks an unsettling, richly textured sonic landscape, with claws of rhythmic smoke curling around chiming otherworldly xylophone, disembodied fiddle drones echoing over screwed 'n chopped beatbox dirt and half-heard magical vocals buried under clouds of white noise.
It's an eerie experience from beginning to end, somewhere between 1980s DIY tape music and the quirky soundtracks to the Quay Brothers' cult stop-motion animated shorts.
Check out our new feature on Fact Magazine. A nice short film detailing the evolution of Teeth Agency. We co directed this with our good friend and collaborator Denholm Hewlett.
MCA
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
The Long Dream
November 7- May 2 2021
More info can be found here: THE LONG DREAM
Teeth Agency's double album " You Don't Have to Live in Pain' is available now for pre-order from Stones Throw Records. The album is a diverse collection of music spanning over six years and was nicely (loving) arranged by Folerio from many different eras. The album will come with a signed 24 page book (edition of 50), and is exclusive for the first 50 orders. Preorder here: STONES THROW
Teeth Agency's Stones Throw double album debut slowly rolls out this month with the release of the single 'Anon'. Watch the video created by Mariano Chavez and Diamond Mcnabb. Music by Jesse Hackett with additional vocals / music by Bullion and ESKA. Watch here: ANON
London and Chicago duo Jesse Hackett & Mariano Chavez aka Teeth Agency are now on Stones Throw Records! Check out the latest news and projects here: TEETH AGENCY on STONES THROW RECORDS
The Artwork I made for Metal Preyers was on The Vinyl Factories list of Favorite Album Art and Packaging for 2020! Check out the list here: The Vinyl Factories list of Favorite Album Art 2020
Metal Preyers selected on Crack Magazines list of top 50 Albums of 2020. We came in at #11 see list here: CRACK MAGAZINE TOP 50 ALBUMS of 2020
Metal Preyers Audio Visual set debut featured in Nyege Nyege Fest 2020. Full show posted here: Nyege Nyege Fest Featuring Metal Preyers
Twinners expansive article up on Psychic Garden Magazine
PSYCHIC GARDEN
TWINNERS release today 10.10.2020 Deluxe hardcover book and 7" Vinyl
available for purchase on website
New album release today 10.1.2020
Boötes Void--more info on gallery post
album available on-- BOOMKAT
Teeth Agency on Stones Throw
My collaborative project 'Teeth Agency' with Jesse Hackett is now up on Stones Throw Records. See what we have been up to HERE
Metal Preyers Released on Nyege Nyege Tapes:
Boomkat Product Review:
Incredible album of ruffneck outernational soundsystem abstractions brought together by Uganda’s by-now infamously fecund Nyege Nyege crew; an impressionistic industrial/ambient soundtrack where chopped & screwed gristle meets ballistic singeli and mutant electro-acholi. If you’re into anything from King Midas Sound to classic Talking Heads, Nearly God and The WIld Bunch - this one’s a stone cold killer.
London’s Jesse Hackett and Chicago-based Mariano Chavez distill a wickedly sozzled, bleary impression of their time spent with Lord Tusk and a crack squad of Ugandan musicians in Kampala, 2019. Documenting the result of six weeks of making music, art and videos, and Waragi Gin-fuelled rides into the Kampala nightlife, their debut album features a full battery of traditional percussion and strings, plus the canny use of whistling and Lord Tusk’s rude sound system sensibilities, serving a triple AAA-rated trip that lures listeners into their intoxicated/intoxicating state of mind and effectively conveys the experience of a jag deep into the belly of Uganda’s thrilling, sprawling capital city at a major crossroads of East and Central Africa.
It’s not the first time Jesse Hackett has worked with Ugandan musicians - his 2017 album ‘Ennanga Vision’ saw him teamed with electro-acholi stars Otim Alpha, Geoffrey Opiyo Twongweno, and Albert Bisaso Ssempeke - however the vibe this time is more psychedelic in a road-level, grimy and noisy style thanks to the expanded platte of inputs, including an all-star Ugandan roll call of Otim Alpha, multi-instrumentalist Lawrence Okello, percussionist Omutaba, and Rian Treanor-collaborator Ocen, all girded by the vital ruggedness of London underground don, Lord Tusk.
In their pair of ‘Dream Sequence’ suites the album freewheels with delirious style, from mechanically musical drones in the title track to a quietly febrile conclusion recalling Craig Leon’s ‘Nommos’. Bouts of melodically stressed noise give way to Gin-steeped sing-song, chunks of chopped & screwed gristle, and dizzy clusters of Singeli-esque rhythm in a stop/start, unpredictable manner that sounds like nobody else right now. DJs will find ways of working this material into sets, although the album is really best downed in one for a vividly soundtrack-like experience that recalls the thrills and spills of a Safdie Bros flick, but set in Uganda, effectively throwing listeners head first into the thick of Kampala’s nightlife.
Listen Here
Ed Paschke Art Center
Ouroboros September 8 - December 15
Ed Paschke Art Center
5415 W Higgins Ave, Chicago, IL 60630
Mariano Chavez Ouroboros at Ed Paschke Art Center
Marinaro Gallery
Cheeky: Summer Butts June 29 - August 3, 2018
organized by Anthony Iacono and Peter LaBier
1 Oliver Street New York, NY 10038
Dia De Muertos: A Spiritual Legacy
Veliz
National Museum of Mexican Art
Opening reception on Friday, September 21, 2018 6pm to 8:30pm
Exhibition continues through December 9
OUT HOUSE
NEW BOOK NEW SOUND
Working on finalizing an exciting new book / sound collaborative project with producer /musician Jesse Hackett
release date soon to be announced early 2018
Upcoming Exhibition
Scout
New Work
5221 N Clark Street
Opening October Friday 13th 6-9pm.
Soccer Club Club
Deep Cuts
June 25-July 21
www.soccerclubclub.com/
Carrie Secrist Gallery
Visible and Permanent
March 17—April 29, 2017
www.secristgallery.com/exhibitions/2017…
Books!
Ten titles out now: Channeling, DUMP issues 1 and 2, Doctonrunner 5 and many more. Check them out with the link below.
and
www.blurb.com/user/marihondo
2016
(upcoming)
April 22- June15th
'Things'
Curated by Becca Mann
The Soccer Club Club
2923 N. Cicero Ave., Chicago, IL 60641
:www.soccerclubclub.com/
catalog available here: www.dragcity.com/products/things-catalog
Solo Show
'Black'
AdventureLand Gallery
1513 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622
'Black'
May 6th
Present Standard
January 30-April 24 2016
Chicago Cultural Center 1st Floor Galleries
78 E Washington St, Chicago, IL 60602
Present Standard Reviews
:www.chicagotribune.com/ct-present-stand…
www.artforum.com/picks/id=58692
2015
Review:
UICA shows us how to take art collecting to the next level
by Rick Beerhorst
:therapidian.org/uica-shows-us-how-take-…
January 22- February 15
John Molloy Gallery 'Transfigurations' Featured at Metro Curates (Metropolitan Pavilion) January 22-25 Opening January 21st 6-9
125 West 18th Street, New York
Also Showing at John Molloy Gallery
49 E 78th St., Suite 2B New York, NY 10075 Jan 22- Feb 15
:www.johnmolloygallery.com/mariano-chave…
2015 March 14- May 15
Power Objects: The Future Has a Primitive Heart
The Josh Rogers + Lesley Weisenbacher Collection Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts 2 West Fulton Grand Rapids, MI 49503
:www.uica.org/calendar/power-objects?rq=…
2014
NEWS: November 15th Buying Friends Ryan Kortman Collection Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts 2 West Fulton Grand Rapids, MI 49503
:www.uica.org/calendar/buying-friends
NEWS: (May 15 - June 14, 2014) Stolen Property @ John Molloy Gallery 49 E 78th St., Suite 2B New York, NY 10075
:www.johnmolloygallery.com/tony-fitzpatr…
NEWS: Western Exhibitions
'Head'
January 31-March 8th
845 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607
:www.westernexhibitions.com/future/index…
NEWS: "Gowanus Ballroom"
This Particular Patch
January 17- February 2
55 9th St, New York, NY 11231
:gowanusballroom.com/
NEWS: Februrary 8th Open Source Gallery Curated by Fuse Works
Some Assembly Required
306 17th street, between 5th and 6th ave Brooklyn, NY 11215
NEWS: Why Marriage (Book Release)
The Darst Center
2834 South Normal Avenue Chicago, IL 60616
Saturday February 22 2014 6 to 10pm
2013
NEWS: Interview with Tony Fitzpatrick and artist (part II) for La Luz de Jesus show for Bureau of Arts and Culture :www.bureauofartsandculture.com/ART--TON…
NEWS: July 21 2013 Cultural Conversations 'Catalogs' @ High Concept Laboratories highconceptlaboratories.org/cultural-co…
NEWS: Feature on Nothing Major
:nothingmajor.com/features/46-mariano-ch…
NEWS: "Little Man Pee Pool Party" Curated by Paul Nudd @ (((antena))) gallery Chicago October 11, 2013
NEWS: Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection features 'Twinners'
:vimeo.com/theschoolofart/review/6626986…
NEWS: New piece out on Chicago Gallery News (Chicago’s Young Artists What does
the future hold?) by Kevin Nance networkedblogs.com/Kz8r6
NEWS: The Bus: 27 Hooligans from Chitown (curated by Tony Fitzpatrick)
A show of 25 artist from Chicago at La Luz De Jesus Gallery opening Reception: Friday, April 5th, 8-11 pm 4633 Hollywood Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 666-7667
NEWS: Solo Show Crosses, Diamonds, and Monsters @ Adventure Land Gallery October 5th 7-10 1513 N. Western Ave. Chicago IL, 60622
NEWS: Just opened today 'Thanks For Sharing' Curated by Jen Lopez @ MOPA mopaonline.com/content/VID3.html