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Late Junction has teamed up with Freeness, fellow explorers of all things experimental and improvised on Radio 3, to curate an online stage at this year’s TUSK Virtual Festival.

TUSK is an annual adventurous music festival held in Newcastle, renowned for working with credible artists at an international and local level. Normally held at Sage Gateshead, this year they are curating a digital-only programme, with artists recording from their homes across the world. For our stage, in partnership with TUSK, we’ve handpicked three innovative ensembles from the north east to record at a local studio under socially distanced measures. In the first of two programmes featuring highlights from our ‘Lateness’ stage, we’ll share performances from some of these titans of Tyneside.

Mariam Rezaei is a composer and electronic artist who draws on noise, hip hop and experimental turntablism, as well as being artistic director at local arts venue The Old Police House. For Lateness she’s joining forces with Stephen Bishop, founder of the renowned Opal Tapes label, who releases skewed electronics under the aliases Basic House and Lacrima. This will be the first time the duo have collaborated.

Stalwarts of the left-field folk scene, Anglo-American duo Cath and Phil Tyler will be performing their style of grainy traditional song as part of the Lateness sessions. Drawing on their experiences in a plethora of bands and traditions, they blend guitar, banjo, voice and fiddle with their passion for oral histories and authentic storytelling. We feature highlights from their set.

Also on the programme will be highlights from a performance by the jazz quartet °ä²¹°ùö³¾, led by powerhouse double bassist Andy Champion, as championed by Freeness presenter Corey Mwamba. Andy has been a central figure in the North East jazz scene for the last decade, and for this occasion he’s enlisted a stellar lineup of local players to join him, including tenor saxophonist Graeme Wilson, percussionist Christian Alderson and vocalist Zoë Gilby.

Elsewhere, expect highlights from the rest of TUSK’s diverse line-up, two weeks of expansive music from the international left field.

Produced by Katie Callin and Alannah Chance
A Reduced Listening production for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3