CDR In Conversation with Contours

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Mattik is no longer able to join us for this CDR Session. We look forward to welcoming him back at a later date. Stepping in for this session is Manchester-based producer and live artist Contours. For those new to CDR Sessions, each event includes an in-depth, production-focused interview with a guest artist, exploring their career and creative process. The talk is flanked by openCDR, where producers and artists of all levels and abilities have the opportunity to play their own music on some of the best club sound systems across the UK. All genres and styles welcomed!

Contours’ live work explores the percussive-focused sound palette he has developed since his debut release on Rhythm Section in 2015. Drawing from the minimalist, ambient and tuned percussion-led compositions heard on Balafon Sketches and the follow-up Elevations release on Amsterdam’s Music From Memory, his music blends delay-soaked balafon and homemade instrumentation with polyrhythmic drum machine programming and interlocking synth lines. Lush dubbed-out strings and heavy low-end pressure create a distinctive intersection between the percussive, spiritual, synthetic and organic. His productions have received support from Gilles Peterson, Andrew Weatherall, Mr Scruff, Optimo, Zakia, Benji B and Bradley Zero, while his wider musical world is explored through his NTS Radio residency show Expansions with Yadava.

Join us for an in-depth conversation with Contours, flanked by openCDR: your chance to bring along your works-in-progress and hear them played on SOUP’s renowned sound system. We keep our events as accessible as possible, but if you are able, we would appreciate your support of CDR with a £5 donation ticket. Every contribution helps us continue creating space for producers and artists to connect, learn, and grow.