Music Features

As Birmingham's most eclectic music promoters, Capsule continually bring some of the biggest names in alternative and experimental music to Birmingham. For the sixth annual Supersonic festival they have again put together another diverse and adventurous bill, featuring local, national and international acts from a wide span of genres.

Returning for a sixth year at the Custard Factory from 11-13 July, Supersonic has now expanded to three days and the lineup is stronger than ever. Critically acclaimed band Battles return to headline after first playing at the event in 2005. They are joined by influential German Krautrock band Harmonia, discordant Norwegian rockers Noxagt. Gravetemple featuring the legendary Julian Cope and Georgia-based band Harvey Milk, who will be playing their first ever UK show.

Julian Cope

As ever, the West Midlands has a healthy presence on the bill, in the form of abrasive rockers Beestung Lips, the post punk of The Courtesy Group, underground drum 'n' bass act PCM, along with more adventurous sounds from ZX Spectrum Orchestra and Transitional.

Sixth year of Supersonic

This year's event again promises to draw crowds to Digbeth from all over the UK, Europe and beyond - Capsule's Lisa Meyer tells us about the history of the event:

"The first Supersonic, a one day event over three stages took place in 2003, and to our surprise was very well received, we had both Coil and LCD Soundsystem play as well as numerous regional acts. It was as it is now a very eclectic event. We are now in our sixth year and have grown to include three days as well as a number of offshoot events."

Eschewing the commercial nature of many festivals, Supersonic concentrates on showcasing new, innovative and experimental acts - And as Lisa explains, Supersonic features great music, but it also provides much more than that:

Harvey Milk

"Our ambition for growing the festival is not in terms of increasing numbers but rather being more ambitious with the content. Last year we added a new stage which gave us the room to program more acts, we also expanded in other ways...

"We held a symposium with the aim of celebrating the West Midlands as home of Metal, this was a tremendous success and has since led on to us developing the project with the aim of a big exhibition for 2011.

"The festival has grown and last year we had bigger acts Mogwai and Sunn 0))) co-headlining, but its still a relatively small, intimate festival with a capacity of about 2500.

"This year we’re extending to three days and are also working with three arts venues near to the Custard Factory to provide additional exhibitions and transforming another space to develop a market place for independent labels to sell their wares."

More on the lineup

Capsule's Lisa Meyer takes us through Supersonic's 2008 headliners in her own words:

Battles headline the festival

BATTLES

"Battles performed in 2005, and at that point were fairly underground but ended up being the talk of the festival, now that they are so much bigger it seems only right to invite them back to headline the festival, and we're honoured that they've agreed to come back."

GRAVETEMPLE

"Gravetemple is a collaboration between Stephen O'Malley of Sunn 0))) and Julian Cope who visited the festival last year as a member of the audience and wanted to get further involved, as well as long time Sunn 0))) collaborators Australian guitarist Oren Ambarchi and Hungarian vocal shaman Attilla Csihar."

Harmonia

HARMONIA

"We also have Harmonia headlining, comprising of three of Germany's experimental music heavyweights, Michael Rother, Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Roedelius – all of whom played in the stars of Krautrock namely Kraftwerk, Neu! and Cluster. The group was only together for three years [1973-76], producing two albums, but these guys have been massively influential, and for us its important to show younger artists where their influences orginate from."

HARVEY MILK

"Also headlining on Saturday are Harvey Milk from Georgia Athens, who have a massive cult following. Again its important that we seek out innovators of a genre and present them to an audience."

Supersonic takes place at and around the Custard Factory in Digbeth from 11-13 July

For the full bill and information on the festival and other Capsule events, visit the Capsule website:

For more on the local music scene in Birmingham, listen to BBC WM Introducing every Thursday night on 95.6FM or here on the BBC Birmingham website.