It’s been a while, and as such I’ve gone and not written about a bunch of stuff I intended to write about. To catch up and make the most of the bits I remember before it all ebbs away, behold my quickfire roundup style post:
Vladislav Delay, Gudrun Gut & AGF, To Rococo Rot: London, 11/03/10
Who? Finnish ambient electronica guru / Berlin techno stalwarts / minimal post-rock legends
Where? Berlin Sounds at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, part of the Ether Festival 2010
Well? I went for Vladislav Delay having recently fallen in love with his deeply atmospheric, ambient sound. The track that really captured me was Huone from the album Multila, a 22-minute dub techno epic and a masterpiece of pacing and sound design. The only dissapointing thing about his set was that at around 30 minutes it was too short. For that half hour, though, the audience were immersed, womb-like, in gorgeous, sweeping atmospheres, clattery bursts of rhythm (some generated live with various springy things and a motion sensor device) and the odd pulsing beat. Gorgeous, accomplished, hypnotising stuff.
To Rococo Rot, a band I was previously unfamiliar with, headlined with a set of evolving, tight and very satisfying post-rock. They were joined on stage by Hans Joachim Irmler of Faust who tinkered jazz-like with a beautiful stack of ancient looking analog keyboards and synths. The collaboration went over my head somewhat as all the musicians were new to me, but the show was wonderful nonetheless.
Unfortunately Gudrun Gut and AGF somewhat let the side down with their monotonous, derivitive and frankly dull composition based on a construction site. Their cringe inducing spoken word vocals (”mix-machine, mix-mix-machine”), slip ups both technical and non-technical (the foil-covered comb instrument failed to deliver) and uninspiring visuals left me cold.
Four Tet, Nathan Fake: Brighton, 17/03/10
Who? Experimental folktronica hero / UK techno and electronica whiz-kid
Where? Concorde 2, Brighton.
Well? I like Nathan Fake’s album, Drowning in a Sea of Love, but was underwhelmed when I saw him performing a set of directionless, electronic noodling to a crowd of overly enthusiastic teenagers at Bestival a few years ago. However, tonight he stood his ground and delivered some good old foot stomping techno. Perhaps slightly misjudged as school night support for a folktronica producer, but then Four Tet’s latest LP There is Love in You is pretty much a deep house album anyway, so fair play.
The man himself ran through most tracks on his new album, plus a few classics, and after a slow start ended up rocking the house with his glitchy, sometimes-noisy-always-pretty new found house sound. I was expecting a slightly more dynamic performance – much as I adore electronic music and am a keen supporter of it’s live delivery, there’s something quite uninspiring about a man behind a computer. However, it was a very enjoyable set. Kieren Hebdan is at the head of his game and continues to evolve a unique sound in a genre of immitators and wannabe’s.
Ricardo Villalobos: London, 20/03/10
Who? Minimal techno uber-god
Where? Fabric, London.
Well? For the 4th time, I failed to see Ricardo Villalobos, despite him being something of a hero of mine. It’s becoming a joke. First attempt, the decks at Bestival didn’t work and Ricky V just put records on and looked disgruntled that he couldn’t flex his (very impressive) DJ muscles. Second attempt, he was on at 2pm in Berlin superclub Berghain – it was crowded, and the middle of the afternoon. I couldn’t be bothered and watched someone else. Third attempt, again in Berlin, he was on first rather than last as one would assume for a headliner. Arriving fashionably late meant I missed him, again.
And so, fourth attempt. Fabric, my favourite London night spot of old, has really lost it. It resembled an overcrowded tourist attraction – no room to dance, hipsters everywhere, no atmosphere. Plus I was ill and Ricardo wasn’t on until 5am. I went home at 4.30 after a night of dancing a bit to some pretty good house and techno. Harrumph. Full post dedicated to the demise of Fabric coming soon…
Konono No.1, Omar Souleyman: Bristol, 11/05/10
Who? Congalese afro-trance thumb piano maestros / Syrian folk-pop legend
Where? Metropolis, Bristol.
Well? Counter to the publicised line-up, Konono No.1 (my reason for going) were on first not last and as such they played to a sparse crowd until things picked up as their set went on. Which was a good job, because music like theirs needs atmosphere, energy and activity. I was pleased to see that the band consisted of 4 thumb pianos, percussion and voices – no electric guitars as featured on their latest album, Assume Crash Position. Not that the addition of Western instrumentation is a problem, the album is excellent. But I was glad to experience them doing it the way they’ve done it for the last 25 years.
I’ve mentioned Konono No.1 in this blog before, being as they are the band who introduced me to electric thumb pianos, my new favourite sound in the world. They played a stunningly visceral set of tunes that lasted an average of around 20 minutes, during which time the pulsing, buzzing energy of their music fully infected me. At points I worried that I didn’t have enough body parts to move to do justice to the polyrhythms coming from the stage. This wasn’t the case for much of the audience, however, presumably because they were British and as such scared of dancing!
All told, I’ve never experienced a live show like it. Utterly mesmerizing and unique.
Omar Souleyman is hugely prolific, with over 500 albums to his name. His sound is Middle Eastern folk meets Eurotrance. It was interesting for about 20 minutes but I found it got quite repetitive and, dare I say it, cheesy. A few more live instruments would have helped – the keyboard player was excellent but relying on synthasized wind and percussion let the overall sound down. Souleyman himself, who must be in his 50’s, looked slightly incongruous in his traditional garb with his traditional vocals over banging trance beats, but I guess that’s just because I’m not used to it.
