Asbestos
live improvisation duo Pete Batchelor and James Bentley
Asbestos is a live electronic improvisation duo consisting of Pete Batchelor and James Bentley, two composers associated with BEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre). They formed in 2002 and made their debut in a disused car factory, The Chuck Works, in the heart of Digbeth, Birmingham as part of BEAST's evening-long event Industry at the 2 week arts festival Birmingham Works. Further performances that year were given at Artsfest in the foyer of the International Convention Centre, Birmingham. 2003 saw Asbestos travel further afield to Cardiff for the launch of GAIN UK: UNESCO, giving an extended 50-minute set and also Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge in a special collaboration with Jonty Harrison.
Asbestos presents an improvised fusion of the concrete and the synthetic, moving within and between extremes of electroacoustic and experimental sound design, from glitch electronica to rich spectralism and acousmatica, all within a multichannel environment that is truly immersive.
