i-Sa, the last live act we need to introduce will do something special. Combining sounds and vision as do some of our other participants but not by means of a VJ but by letting Up High Collective member SIR-5 do some live graphics / painting. We’re as curious about that as you are. An other Up High member will join them soundwise; Oddlaner aka Raydius360. They’ll be start the series of performances so be sure to be at Beursschouwburg before 11pm.

Here are the bios of all artists involved in the i-Sa gig:

i-Sa is a trio of musicians from different directions. The music is mostly inspired by and made from analog synthesizers, old records or whatever’s got ‘that’ sound! i-Sa will tweak, layer drums, add keys … ‘we make it ours’.

i-Sa first got together in 2007. A year later, the first demo ‘a lil some sOme’ on CDR made some buzz in the growing beat community. In 2008 i-Sa started to work on their live-shows and made an exclusive show with Kissey Asplund (SE) on vocals, Pieter van Voorten on drums and Jan van Poyer on bass. After this gig in Antwerp, the band was invited at various radio shows as ‘deHop’ on Studio Brussel by dj Lefto, ‘Future Vintage’ on Lijn5 by Melodee, Radna and Tom Trago, ‘Laid-Back’ on Brussel FM by Luigi, … .

Not to long after the airplay the ‘Wah Waah’ was released, another free demo hosted and recommended by Amsterdam’s world famous blogger Nalden. 2009 has been a busy year for the i-Sa members so far. They moved their studio, started working together with Oddlaner, studied on new techniques for live-performing, and got a new live-show ready, … . The new show contains more live instruments, visual performances and a lot of powerful beats! Be sure to check it out if you can!

ps: the new demo is to be released soon, be on the lookout…

SIR-5 is in the first place a Illustrator / graphic designer that graduated as Illustrator at HONIM Brussels – where he had his first contact with street arts. After some years working in the graphic industry he realized that this sector did everything but motivate nor improve his skills as an artist. So he left this sector behind in a pursuit for a situation where he could enjoy the freedom of spending as much time as possible making artworks. Today Sir-5 lives in Leuven and mainly works on canvas, cardboard, wood and textile. As he left the illegal graf scene some years now he can be found on Graffiti jams or at legal walls, although this doesn’t mean that he is totally off the streets.
With his creative roots in classic comics & street arts, his style can best be described as abstract action painting, freehand marker illustrations and complex stencil structures all mixed into one image. These stencils became one of his favourite techniques in the last couple of years and can be found in most of his recent work. The most important aspect of his work is the underlying moral and social criticism that dominates every part of his work, from: locations, colour combinations up to symbols, forms and letters. All are part of a picture that can be read like a big graffiti collage with a hidden message or just be enjoyed for its colours, action, ambiance n contrast

Emmanuel Oddlaner is a side project/alter-ego of the man behind Raydius360. This character is a funkateer, lost in space and time making next level space beats sounding way too electronical for the classic boombap lover. He’s a product of the new beat generation, a bedroom studio rocker/laptop-headphone slinger, loving crazy arpeggiators, vintage synths, sick plug-ins and midi controllers. You can find him making odd beats on odd locations. Emmanuel is his first name and he found a home with the Up High Collective somewhere in 2009. Stay tuned for 2010 …