«Diamonds» by Yao Bobby & Simon Grab
LavaLava Records 2019
https://lavalavarecords.bandcamp.com/album/diamonds

«Politically charged noise dubbing industrial Hip Hop» - probably an appropriate description of this pulsating musical clash between Yao Bobby and Simon Grab, known for their live shows which are completely improvised and unpredictable - an intense freeform madness!

For the last two years Yao Bobby, pioneer of the togolese hip hop mouvement and political activist, has been collaborating on new musical forms with swiss no-input mixing noise & bass maniac Simon Grab.

Yao Bobby and Simon Grab’s debut release «Diamonds» (LavaLava Records Bristol UK), which includes a remix by dubmaster Dhangsha (Asian Dub Foundation), and with an award-winning videoclip, has been well received internationally.

Buy / Support

Yao Bobby & Simon Grab - Diamonds EP

Tizia Zimmermann, Akkordeon
Tapiwa Svosve, Saxophon
Simon Grab, feedback electronics

Booking: contact@ganzerplatz.ch

Tizia Zimmermann, Tapiwa Svosve und Simon Grab – deren musikalische Backgrounds vom Noise, Dub und Jazz über klassische Musik bis hin zur freien Improvisation reichen – bewegen sich im Trio irgendwo zwischen Drone, Ambient und Noise. Sie schichten improvisatorisch Geräusche übereinander, die sich zu vollen Klängen auftürmen. Wummernde Bässe und mächtige Wände werden zerschmettert und prallen mit nervösen, eckigen Sounds zusammen. Es öffnen sich sphärische Räume, in denen feine Melodien auftauchen. Wenn die Drei aufeinandertreffen, kann alles passieren. Von der leichten Brise bis hin zum erschütternden Gewitter.

Photo by Francesca Camilla, Stadtsommer Zürich 2021

Zimmermann - Svosve - Grab _ Recordings 2021 Set1

BBC 3 Late Junction premiered the brand new track «Kpalongo» by Yao Bobby x Simon Grab in their round up show SOUNDS OF 2023 on December 15! Among artists like Coby Sey, Alejandra Cárdenas, Lucy Liyou we were also invited to suggest an album from 2023 that has inspired us. Our take was the album «Mimosa» by cabezadenego, Leyblack and Mbé, released on QTV records, based in Rio de Janeiro (check this label diggers). 

Listen back to the short excerpt, edited down to our appearance, including the new track «Kpalongo».

...
BBC 3 Late Junction
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001t2l5

BBC 3 Radio / Late Junction feat. Yao Bobby X Simon Grab

Sunday

Marimbula live - depending on the mood it might as well sound like that

Produced by: Simon Grab
Musique: Simon Grab, Math Doly
Mix: Ramon Orza, ganzerplatz zurich
Mastering: Dan Suter, echochamber zurich
Direction artistique: Renata Hanselmann
Photos: Marc Lendorff
Label: ganzerplatz zurich
Distribution: ganzerplatz zurich / RecRec Zurich

https://simongrab.bandcamp.com/album/math-doly-bluffing

musiciens, -ennes suplémentaires:
Rahel Hadorn, voc
Lolo la Star, voc
Christoph Grab, saxes
Bernhard Schoch, tr, tromb
Gustavo Nanez, tres cubano
Jacky Love, commmentaire

© 2004 ganzerplatz Records

Bluffing

Math Doly - Qui Es Tu?

Diamonds

Ahouadjo

Ahojde

Milawoe

Djole

Diamonds Instrumental

Diamonds Instrumental (Remix by Dhangsha)

Diamonds (Remix by Dhangsha)

"New Horizons"
from the album "Posthuman Species" by Simon Grab
-ous records Zurich 2019
simongrab.bandcamp.com/album/posthuman-species

Posthuman Species

Observatory

To promote the release of their Diamonds 12" EP on Lavalava Records in October 2019, Simon Grab and Togolese rapper Yao Bobby, teamed up with UK electronic musician Dhangsha (who had remixed the title track). With very little rehearsal, the three set out on an intense 10 date tour of Switzerland and Germany, recording as they went. One of their stop offs was at Radio RaBe Bern, where they performed a set of remarkable energy, as if trying to burst out of their confined surroundings. This 50 minute session has now been released on cassette by Lavalava and this post presents a condensed 'taster' version.

This music balances ferocity with discipline. The collaborators are engaged in a three way interactive loop of listening and reaction. Yao's impassioned political lyrics speak of injustice and corruption in his homeland and its roots in the grossly unequal economic relations between Europe and Africa. His colleagues match his sentiments. Simon, with his now trademark feedback frequencies, continuously threatens to overload and destroy the sound system  - but it's just a metaphor for his frustration at his country: Switzerland's complicity and hypocrisy in the aforementioned situation. Dhangsha's distorted rhythms and rippage noise are designed as propulsion and spiritual nourishment for those seeking alternative ways to live on this planet.  

The tape is available from Rewind Forward at this link: 

https://rwdfwd.com/products/yao-bobby-simon-grab-dhangsha-live-at-radio-bern/

Yao Bobby & Simon Grab & Dhangsha live at Radio RaBe Bern (Taster Mix)

Simon Grab & Flo Götte
Live at Helsinki Klub Zurich April 2019

Bass Drones and no input mixing madness.

Simon Grab & Flo Götte - Live at Helsinki Klub Zurich 2019

Anticipating the extinction of the human kind, «Anthropocene Panic» takes a look at how the human species will face their irrevocable end. Simon Grab's disturbing and intense electronica tracks, bass heavey and infested with dub and noise, are produced on an analog no-input feedback system. 
After his previous two releases «Extinction» and «Posthuman Species» on swiss label -ous Records he continues his work of science fiction.
https://simongrab.bandcamp.com/

Epilogue

Anthropocene Panic

Neurodegeneration

«Locked in» from the album «Anthropocene Panic» by Simon Grab
Out now on sound-space Records London
https://sound-space.bandcamp.com/album/anthropocene-panic

Anticipating the extinction of the human kind, «Anthropocene Panic» takes a look at how the human species will face their irrevocable end. Simon Grab's disturbing and intense electronica tracks, bass heavey and infested with dub and noise, are produced on an analog no-input feedback system. 
After his previous two releases «Extinction» and «Posthuman Species» on swiss label -ous Records he continues his work of science fiction.

Locked In

Coma

Intrusion

Deformation

Anticipating the extinction of the human kind, «Anthropocene Panic» takes a look at how the human species will face their irrevocable end. Simon Grab's disturbing and intense electronica tracks, bass heavey and infested with dub and noise, are produced on an analog no-input feedback system. 
After his previous two releases «Extinction» and «Posthuman Species» on swiss label -ous Records he continues his work of science fiction.

Overload

The co-founder of ganzerplatz sound studios has been an active musician and producer in a wide range of musical contexts. As a composer and sound artist he produces music & sound design for feature films, documentaries, theatre and radio. In live performances and installations Simon Grab uses the venue as an acoustic playground. He likes exploring new grounds by negating existing borders, though staying addicted to dub and noise, with an everlasting punk attitude.

Booking: contact [at] ganzerplatz.ch

More Infos: simongrab.ganzerplatz.ch

Simon Grab

Pinned to spotlight

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