PREVIEW:Loop Collective Festival 2010
(17th-21st February, The Vortex.Preview by Peter Horsfall)

Following 2009’s highly successful and first-ever Loop Festival, the influential London collective will present 17 gigs over four days in a flurry of activity at The Vortex club in Dalston.

Three participant bands will also be launching their albums at the festival:

I saw trumpeter Rory Simmons’ 10-piece Fringe Magnetic at The Oxford in Kentish Town last year and loved it. With this upcoming festival performance they will be celebrating the release of their album Empty Spaces, on the Loop label. Simmons’ writing displays both sophisticated rhythmic counterpoint of the Django Bates model and a flare for colourful orchestration with a Modernist bent. Amongst the group are fine soloists including Blink’s Robin Fincker (clarinet), Fraud’s James Allsopp (bass clarinet). Simmon’s own trumpet playing is also suitably brought to the fore.

Also not to be missed is Allsopp’s own trio The Golden Age of Steam, featuring Kit Downes (organ) and Tim Giles (drums), who will promoting their debut release on the Babel label. Similarly, Ivo Neame’s quartet signed to the new exciting Edition Records label in October 2009 and provided one of the most memorable gigs at last year’s Loop festival, due in no small part to drummer James Maddren’s explosive drumming. (Photo above- Olly Wedgwood)

The Full Festival listings can be found here at The Loop Collective’s website.