Soundscapes collide and harmonies arise when three of today’s most ground-breaking electronic artists share the bill in this extravagant show at ALICE at Stairway. Shanghai-based Osheyack fuses high-intensity IDM with techno, gabber and drone music across a broad spectrum. Lebanese dj and producer Liliane Chlela blends field recordings, personal memories and incantations with pioneering and disruptive sounds. Athens-based Evita Manji performs melancholy yet clubwise pop rendered in cyborgian tones. The final concert ends at 01:00.

Evita Manji
Manji has been an ethereal presence on the scene for the last few years, collaborating with numerous artists as both a sound artist and a creative director. Last year, they launched their own platform myxoxym, where they debuted two singles from “Spandrel?” and assembled an ambitious fundraiser compilation featuring Rainy Miller, Palmistry, Cecile Believe and others, raising money for Greek wildlife fund ANIMA. Performing across the world at festivals such as Unsound, Lunchmeat, and Rhizom, Manji has also appeared at clubs in Berlin and London, and was picked to represent the Shape+ platform in 2022. These experiences teem through “Spandrel?”, helping them weave a complex artistic tapestry that seeks to look far beneath the surface of existence, attempting to balance the doom of global climate meltdown with themes of self-actualization, love, and bodily autonomy.

In evolutionary biology, the term spandrel refers to the features of an organism that aren’t developments for survival, and seemingly possess no obvious purpose. The word is taken from an architectural label for the triangular spaces in the corner of an arch: small aesthetic elements that provide symmetry and demarcate boundaries. Musician and vocalist Evita Manji asks an opaque question on their debut album, wondering in the face of immense loss what elements of ourselves might be for endurance, and what might just be decoration. Their tracks, pieced together from the vapors of contemporary club music, baroque pop, and experimental sound design, are a way for Manji to examine their relationship with the world at large and within, disassembling systems of control and highlighting interconnectedness. Manji’s themes resonate through history that’s older than pop music. It’s tragic, romantic, and poetic, and resolutely refuses to turn away from the era’s most urgent concerns.

Osheyack
Osheyack is a producer and musician based in Shanghai who’s work fuses elements of IDM with gabber, techno, ambient and drone music across a broad spectrum. An integral member of Shanghai’s burgeoning electronic music scene that centers around ALL Club. When not playing live for the legendary 云CLOUD night his music can be heard soundtracking art installations and fashion shows across Shanghai. His profile grew considerably in 2018 with his release of two EP’s, Empty Hell on SVBKVLT and Proof of Concept on CGI, as well as his critically acclaimed debut album Sadomodernism on Bedouin Records, followed by 2022’s Intimate Publics on SVBKVLT.

Liliane Chlela
Producer, DJ and performer Liliane Chlela is widely known in electronic and experimental scenes for her unique and audacious approach to sound, stirring audiences into pushing the limits of their auditory experiences ever further. Through her signature techniques, she explores the relationships between improvisation and the manipulation of sounds from wide-ranging musical genres.

Chlela’s multi-sensory flair for adventure saw her developing her aural and visual skills to apply them in other disciplines such as fashion films, interactive installations and performance art. As a result, her work boasts a diverse and audacious sound palette, making Chlela one of the most multifaceted female producers/musicians in the Middle East/West Asia and North Africa.

Chlela constructs a characteristic sound both as a composer/producer and as a hybrid DJ. She further explores the connections between improvisation and sonic manipulation by approaching numerous musical genres with her signature techniques. Her electrifying DJ sets stir audiences to move and propel the limits of their hearing experience into new frontiers and prompting audacious approaches to sound.

Her work saw her perform as a solo artist regionally and internationally, but also as a versatile collaborator with regional and international acts from Mashrou’ Leila’s Hamed Sinno, to acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and composer Khyam Allami up to Björn Meyer.