Steve Bates / Spyros Polychronopoulos
Steve Bates (Canada): “An Infinite Antenna”
Steve Bates presents material from his latest release, “An Infinite Antenna” (Constellation, 2026), on Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s independent label. The album is based on field recordings and Bates’s unique approach to manipulating and distorting the audio signal. “An Infinite Antenna” gives freer reign to melodic components and textural dynamics: leftfield synth work, deconstructed drum machine, pointillist electric guitar, and radiostatic blur are all part of the new brew swirling around his bruitist signal-bending and field-recording sensibility.
◍ Steve Bates is an artist, musician, curator, and researcher based in Montreal. His work bridges electronic music, sound art, improvisation, and experimental composition. With roots in the hardcore and post-punk scenes, he has been navigating the space between underground music cultures and contemporary artistic research for decades. His works combine experimentation with immediacy and have been presented in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Chile, and Senegal.
↳https://alsostevebates.bandcamp.com/album/an-infinite-antenna
Spyros Polychronopoulos (Greece): solo set for a blindfolded audience
Composer Spyros Polychronopoulos (Spyweirdos) returns to KET with a new solo project, in a concert where the audience listens with their eyes covered (masks will be provided at the entrance).
This new work was born out of many hours of field recordings. From this material, he didn’t keep the “main” sounds, but rather those that are usually pushed to the sidelines or cut out entirely: The creaking of wood, the grinding of metal, small gears, the turning of a rotating chimney cap, distant rumbling, thuds, imperceptible vibrations, air noises, and minor recording glitches. Sounds that would normally be discarded become the musical material itself. From these small sonic fragments, melodies and soundscapes are constructed.
The sounds undergo intense processing, yet retain something of their original materiality: wood, metal, air, friction, movement. The melodies emerge from these disparate, unexpected sources as if they had always been hidden within them. Sometimes clear and sometimes almost fleeting, they leave the impression of a sweet memory with no specific origin—a melody that seems familiar, even though you can’t remember where you heard it. With your eyes closed, the actual sources of the sounds cease to matter. What remains is a space of textures, distances, and melodies: a world completely transformed, yet strangely earthly.
◍ Spyros Polychronopoulos, also known as Spyweirdos, is dedicated to the world of sound and explores its multifaceted nature. He teaches as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Music Technology and Acoustics at the Hellenic Mediterranean University. His research interests include acoustic suspension, musical acoustics, acoustic holography, and room acoustics. At the same time, since the late 1990s, he has been exploring the aesthetic dimension of sound: he has released over 20 albums, collaborated with many musicians, and performed in numerous concerts around the world. Works such as Live Electronic Music – LEM (Room40, 2016) and Nyfida (Room40, 2024, in collaboration with Jannis Anastasakis) propose new ways of distributing and listening to music through a dynamic and interactive experience.
↳https://spyrospolychronopoulos.com
Following the two solo sets, there will be a short improvisation by Steve Bates and Spyros Polychronopoulos.