(Friday 13 July / 8.00pm / £6 advance)

Emperor X is the project name of American songwriter and noise pop saboteur C. R. Matheny. In 2004, Matheny dropped his pursuit of a master's degree in physics to self-release a string of critically-acclaimed lo-fi speed folk. Plan B magazine called his music "a swollen interfusion of capricious brilliance".
His performances – half Billy Bragg-inspired anarcho-electric singalongs, half Lee “Scratch” Perry lo-fi dub live sessions – sometimes involve the aid of a ramshackle, revolving lineup of friends on drone guitars and marimbas; sometimes he employs little more than a shoulder-mounted battery amp and a delay pedal. Emperor X has shared stages with indie luminaries like Sebadoh, Nada Surf, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, The Hold Steady, and John Vanderslice, who dubbed Matheny "a serious genius" on his photo blog after they toured together.
From Nagoya in Japan, Cube favourite Ichi takes the notion of a one-man band to new limits, combining handmade instruments with steel drum, ping-pong balls, tape loops, xylophone, double bass and trumpet to create playful, ritualistic and totally unique performances. He's played with Deerhoof, Tenniscoats and Asa-Chang & Junray among many others.

Japanese sonic artist Manabu Shimada's first album, Pieces for Her, combines piano, alias noise, sine wave and field recordings, weaving them into spacious melodic lines and warm drones.

http://emperorx.tumblr.com/
http://www.ichimemos.blogspot.co.uk/
http://www.manabushimada.com/jp/index.html