8 songs that sum up The Experiment

The Basement is dedicating five nights to experimentation this week in the form of multidisciplinary arts festival, The Experiment. With performances scheduled every half hour from a line up of New Zealand musicians, artists, poets, dancers and actors, each evening will offer a diverse range of unique artistic experiences.

In the spirit of experimentation, we asked production coordinator Taylor MacGregor to sum up the festival with eight pieces of music, shared here as an eclectic playlist.

The Experiment NZ from Metromagnz on 8tracks Radio.

Track one: Chris Knox – Not Given Lightly.
Arts Foundation Laureate and Kiwi punk pioneer Chris Knox is exhibiting paintings for the first time which will be able to view throughout the festival.

Track two: Rackets – TV Started Talking To Me.
They’ve just returned from playing over 20 shows in one week, and now Rackets will be kicking things off for us on Tuesday night. The song title is a neat segue to Tim Vickers’ immersive TV and audiovisual installation which will also be showcased.

Track three: Randa – Frankenstein
Randa will be mixing things up with acapella rap as Saturday’s headline act. The title of his most popular song couldn’t be more fitting for a festival of experimentation.

Track four: Tourettes – No Future.
While this song from rapper and spoken word poet Tourettes may be called No Future, on Tuesday night at 6.30pm, he will be joining Lisa Reihana, Simon Bowden and Stu Robertson in a panel discussion about the benefits of experimentation in arts practice.

Track five: Soccer Practise – Windfalls.
Soccer Practise are playing on Thursday night, accompanied by an audiovisual performance by band member Kim Newall.

Track six: David Bowie – Stars Are Out Tonight.
A scaled-down version of The Blackbird Ensemble – the orchestra led by musician and composer Claire Cowan – will be performing on Tuesday at 9pm under the name Fledglings. Cowan has excellent taste in cover songs, exemplified by this iconic track which featured in their show The Night Sky last year.

Track seven: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings – Mama Don’t Like My Man.
One of many songs that will be available at playwright Sam Brooks’ Lip Sync Juke Box on Wednesday evening, this is his personal favourite.

Track eight: LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends
It sounds cheesy but one of the goals of The Experiment is to encourage people to make new friends, hopefully while dancing, which this song should inspire.

The Experiment runs between 11-15th August. theexperiment.co.nz. Book tickets here.