I got into the venue just as the Young British Artists started up their last song. A friend had seen them a few weeks before and said that the singers continual use of a loudspeaker for his vocals became very annoying after a while. I could see what she meant, but with only hearing their last track I'm not really gonna comment too much. They seemed decent enough with being sounding earth shatteringly good.
Next up were Banjo or Freakout a strange london band. Their line up promised much; a few floor toms two samplers a guitar and two stringy looking chaps, one of which looked like he knew what he was doing the other looked a lot like James Woods and it seemed it was the first time he'd seen any of the equipment. I'm well into bands using samplers so I awaited their set with great anticipation..."this is the future" i whispered to myself.
It was with great ironic mirth that the first track stuttered to a stop before it had hardly began. The James Woods looking one of the two strumming a mute guitar before stopping the looping sample and getting his obviously more competant mate to come over and somehow switch his guitar on, "sorry" he mumbles into the mic. Not the greatest of starts.
They manage to get it going. the samplers bleep out simple repeating guitar lines, some with glitchy distortions over the top. The 'other' one drums along on floor tom and James Woods strums his distorted guitar and sings over the top. There's an obvious Animal Collective influence going on here but the sound makes you appreciate just how incredible the much hyped AC actually are. Tonight Banjo or Freakout show is beset with wandering sound levels, the guitar overpowers everything and the vocals are hopelessly lost one minute and then the echo effect is warping ear drums the next. The two band members seem to spend most of the set gesturing wildly to the sound man to get things turned up. However, despite these technical issues once the guys found their groove it's easy to see why they've created a little bit of a buzz about them. There's elements of tonights set where I can feel myself getting drawn into the psychedelic edginessof their sound and one track steps even closer to an Animal Collective vibe and it sounds all the better for it. This is definately a band worth checking out, I 'll look forward to see what happens to them in the future because there were glimpses of real quality amongst the shambolicness.
The Deaf Institure is a great venue. It looks incredible, the wallpaper, the speakers above the bar, the huge glitterball. Personally I like the way the bartenders can take 3 drink orders at a time, it just gives you hope that despite the bar que being three deep that liquid refreshment isn't far away. And , Tuborg on tap, despite the plastic glasses is always worth a go.
I happened to check out South Africans BLK JKS earlier in the day and their participation in tonights event was a tipping point for me coming out. After what seemed like an ice age to set up they began their set. Once again I wasn't convinced the sound was balanced right. The bass and drums were driving the songs along but the guitars were lost and the vocals were way too upfront. I'm not sure whether someone bought a new echo effect recently but it was getting a hammering tonight. I'm not sure how wise it is to leave your vocals echoing away for every song, it certainly annoyed me. Another weird thing was that inbetween songs the band seemed to drift off into "incidental music land" noodling away for no aparent reason. Which probably explains why they only played 6 songs in thirty minutes.
Not to get down on them though because, once again when they hit their stride they really were impressive. Stand out track 'Lakeside' sounds like it could be the next TV On The Radio single, the dubby bass and drums are infectious and the afro-pop tinged guitars finally spring to life, even the echo..echo...echo starts to work with rather than against the music. The drummers the star though, he's definitely got some weight behind his drums and his backing vocals are great. In the last song he even starts whistling along and I have to say it's pretty damn great. I hear some guy in the bogs declaring they're the best band he's ever seen in his life, I admire his enthusiasm they were certainly pretty great and I'll be checking out their album when they record one. There's an awesome bit when the guitar player jumps up onto an amp and his hat flies off and sticks on the end of his guitar, but what's really cool is that his afro do is in exactly the same shape as his little beret hat...yeah well it amused me.
So inbetween bands you're always stood around and being on my own I have two usual tricks one is constantly fiddling with the phone. The mobile is a gift for the socially disabled it allows you to look purposeful and occupied without risking exposure. The second and more favourable pass time is eavesdropping on conversations. Tonight we're listening to some young students one of which is proclaiming the value of the newspaper he writes for, claiming that loads of papers rip of the humurous content he and his colleagues write. "It's satire", he proclaims to his really quite bored looking chums, "Which basically means we just sit around being racist". Obviously, you can take anything out of context and make it sound dumb but I thought that was quite funny, oh and he was being deadly serious by the way. But speaking of being racist I thought the bassist from BLK JKS was a dead ringer for Avon Barksdale in The Wire but then realised he was a black guy with a goatee and that was probably where the similarities ended.
Los Angeles band HEALTH are last up, their album has been proclaimed as a master piece. I'm not so sure, granted there are moment of sheer noise brilliance and wonderfulness but inbetween it seems to stutter and stall a bit. Not tonight though, it's like men and boys when they take the stage. The stage can barely contain them as they switch instruments effortlessly, handing over floor toms and guitars to each other without ever reigning in the noise loopage that's a constant background. Again the drummer is a big lad and he's worthy of a watch. They are incredible to be fair, like a true geek I'm straining to see what sound is coming from where. I'm pretty impressed when I realise the highpitched ring mod sounds thats been blasting out for the past few minutes is actually the bass player.
They're so good that when I realise its way past the last bus I'm not that fussed. HEALTH seem to have reinvented the sound of the guitar, no other band seems to churn such strangled sounds from their instruments (OK..well maybe MBV) it's blissful in its lunacy. The sheer forcefulness of the show is breathtaking and even when I'm forking over a tenner for the taxi ride home, trying desperately not to work out how much the gig has cost me overall, I can barely hide the smirk on my face. What a master piece.
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