Invisible System

Invisible System is the pseudonym for the UK & Africa producer Dan Harper whose music involves a fusion of Ethiopian, dub, reggae, techno, trance, drum and bass, jungle, acid, psychedelic, folk, post-punk, goth and rock.

They have played at the Addis Ababa Music Festival, Ethiopia.[1] Endorset Festival, UK. Thimbleberry Festival, supported the UK bands Dreadzone, The Beat, The Dub Pistols, Jah Wobble and also played Music Port Festival, Waveform Festival and Glastonbury Festival.

Albums

Punt (Made in Ethiopia) was released in 2009.[2][3][4][5] Guest musicians included Mahmoud Ahmed,[3] Captain Sensible, Aklilu Bedane,[6] Justin Adams, Dubulah, Juldeh Camara,[5] Desta Fikra,[2] Ozric Tentacles,[7] Tsedenia Gebre Markos, Bahta Gebre Hiwot, Simon Hinkler (The Mission), Zion Train, Eat Static, Loop Guru, Baka Beyond, Hilaire Chabby (Baba Maal) and others.

The album has been played on BBC's World Service, Late Junction and Asian Network,[8] on Radio New Zealand (Trevor Pagan),[9] RRR Australia, BBC6 Music (Gideon Coe) and many European and US based stations,[10] It reached the final of the Songlines World Music Awards 2010[11] and included on the CD to celebrate the finalists in the Best Newcomer category.[12]

In April 2011 a new album entitled Street Clan was released. Not only was this another Ethiopian fusion album as Punt, but it introduced Jamaican vocals and post-punk into the mix. It was released to international critical acclaim again scoring five and four star reviews in for example, The New York Times (Jon Pareles),[13] fRoots Magazine (Jamie Renton),[14] the BBC (Robin Denselow),[15] Uncut (Nigel Williamson),[16] World Music Network (TJ Nelson),[17] The Daily Telegraph (Mark Hudson),[18] The Financial Times (David Honigman),[19] Los Angeles,[20] and in AllMusic (Chris Nicson).[21] Guest musicians included Skip McDonald (On-U-Sound/African Head Charge/Little Axe/Realworld/Sugar Hill Gang/Mark Stewart and The Pop Group), Adrian Utley (Portishead), Stuart Fisher (Hole / Courtney Love), The Ozric Tentacles, Eat Static and others. Radio airplay was very prominent on BBC Radio 6 Music with Gideon Coe and was also on BBC3 Late Junction with Max Reinhardt,[10] RRR Australia, Radio New Zealand with interviews,[22] and many national radio stations in Europe and the US including Italy, France, Spain and Germany. It reached no.25 in the World Music European Charts.[23]

In January 2012, a download only EP entitled The Cauldron was released with again much BBC Radio 6 Music airplay with Gideon Coe and European and US coverage. Reviews included five stars in Los Angeles[24] and a review with David Honigmann in The Financial Times.[25]

Invisible System is the featured artist on Disc Two of The Rough Guide to the Music of Ethiopia (2012, World Music Network). This featured album is also available as a download only stand alone and had some reviews e.g. four stars in Songlines magazine by Tim Cummings, a copy of which is pasted on the Invisible System website;[26] World Music Central;[27] and in the Independent on Sunday alongside the rough guide.[28] Robin Denselow who writes for The Guardian and the BBC also reviewed it.[29]

Introducing Invisible System was also reviewed in Pop Matters alongside the subsequently released double live album Live and Raw.[30] Live and Raw also was reviewed by David Honnigman in The Financial Times[31]

In 2013, Invisible System released their final Ethiopian fusion album alongside their UK and Jamaican strands. Guests included Zion Train, Baka Beyond, the members of IS who went on to perform with Dub Colossus and Juldeh Camara again better known for his work with Justin Adams as JuJu on Realworld Records; and more recently as a member of Robert Plant's band again alongside Justin Adams, The Space Shifters. It was entitled Tiga Tej Tibs and was favourably reviewed again. Again it was reviewed in The Financial Times with David Honigmann[32] in Songlines by Nige Tassell and given four stars by David Haslam in Rock N Reel / R2 Magazine. Scans of the reviews were found online.[33]

Invisible System have since released two double digital/download albums. Azmariz versus Acid Mali that delivered a mix of their work with Ethiopian Azmaris alongside a more stripped down acid sound from when Dan Harper was working out in Mali in 1999 with a very basic solar powered setup. And Roots N Dub versus Beats N Trances delivering as told.

A dub album was subsequently planned although cut short and delivered as the digital/download only Dub Triplets EP featuring Mahmoud Ahmed, Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara it was cut short due to Harper spending the summer in Mali through an international arts grant.

Harper is now working on new Malian fusion albums having returned to the country that he aid worked, married and had a child in, before he moved to Ethiopia. Some samples of what is to come can be found online.[34] It is to be released in 2017.

He is also working on a sequel to the stripped down acid 303 album he made in 2000 called Acid Mali to be called Acid Frome 2017. He has a new UK-based offshoot Post Punk, Pay, Kraut style band called Invisible Eyes with Boswell who is a known Mutartis graffiti artist as well as the artist for Eat Static and Ozric Tentacles released. Having just got off the ground some rough recordings of jams/rehearsals.[35]

References
  1. "Invisible System, Mondomix magazine". Archived from the original on 15 November 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
  2. Denselow, Robin (21 August 2009). "Invisible System: Punt – Made in Ethiopia". The Guardian. London.
  3. Nickson, Chris (22 March 2010), "Invisible System: Punt: Made in Ethiopia.(Sound recording review)", Sing Out!, 53 (13), ISSN 0037-5624
  4. Hudson, Mark (5 September 2009), "Music WORLD review", The Daily Telegraph
  5. "Also worth a mention ...(sound recordings)(Sound recording review)", New Internationalist (425), 1 September 2009, ISSN 0305-9529
  6. "From Bradford on Avon to Ethiopia", Wiltshire Times, 22 October 2009
  7. Honnigman, David (18 July 2009), "World", Financial Times
  8. "Album project brings best of Africa's music talent together", Somerset Guardian, 14 January 2010
  9. "Radio New Zealand : National : Programmes : Music 101 : Saturday 30 May 2009". Radionz.co.nz. 30 May 2009. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  10. "Music – Invisible System". BBC. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  11. "Dan's unlikely rise gives him star billing in the world music scene", Somerset Guardian, 1 April 2010
  12. "Songlines Music Awards 2010 nominations | Songlines World Music News". Songlines.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  13. Pareles, Jon (15 April 2011). "CDs From Alison Krauss, Colin Stetson and Dennis Coffey". The New York Times.
  14. "Invisible System – Punt (Made in Ethiopia)". Invisiblesystem.blogspot.com. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  16. Invisible System. "Invisible System – Punt (Made in Ethiopia): May 2011". Invisiblesystem.blogspot.com. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  18. "Invisible System: Street Clan, CD review". The Daily Telegraph. London. 8 April 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  19. "/ Arts / Music – Invisible System: Street Clan". Financial Times. 9 April 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  22. "RNZ : Search : Results". Rnz.co.nz. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  23. "Charts – World Music Charts Europe". Wmce.de. Retrieved 22 October 2011.
  24. James, Duke (19 February 2012). "Dan Harper and Invisible System release new EP – The Cauldron E.P." Lasttheplace.com. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  25. "Subscribe to read | Financial Times". Ft.com. Retrieved 27 June 2020. Cite uses generic title (help)
  26. /
  27. "Ethiopia Aplenty". Worldmusiccentral.org. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  28. "Album: Various artists, The Rough Guide to the Music of Ethiopia". The Independent. 9 September 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  29. Denselow, Robin. "BBC - Music - Review of Invisible System - Introducing Invisible System". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  30. "Why 2012 Is the Year of Ethiopian Hybrid Music". PopMatters. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  31. "Subscribe to read | Financial Times". Ft.com. Retrieved 27 June 2020. Cite uses generic title (help)
  32. "Invisible System: Tiga Tej Tibs". Ft.com. 9 August 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  34. "Invisible System in Mali (ISIM) : Studio Mp3 Unmixed Rough Snips". Soundcloud.com. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
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