Geisha at Thekla

Of course it wasn't just Geisha, but that's how I sold it to my friends: "Want to go out and listen to some dark noise metal that's mentalistic and wicked?" also playing at the Thekla (Wednesday 15th September) were Ivory Springer, The Edmund Fitzgerald and Bronnt Industries Kapital. It said doors at nine, but knowing Thekla we left late, and arrived hearing rumours (so far unconfirmed) that this was a gig the POLICE DID NOT WANT YOU TO SEE (apparently they tried to shut the place down). Anyway, on to my entirely subjective 'review':

Ivory Springer

Dammit. Arrived too late. Apparently they were very good, but I'll have to wait a bit before I get to review them.

The Edmund Fitzgerald

Just starting when we arrived, Oxford's TEF were a bit muffled, but that's what you get for sitting round the corner on a boat. Once we'd got over the first round of drinks I ventured out to see what the hell was going on with the music. Distant vocals, no bass, an insane drummer and two guitarists, all of whom seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, yet somehow managing to stay extremely tight. This was quite something. To give you some kind of idea about the scale of TEF's vision, they played 3 songs, in a 45-minute set. The songs start innocently enough, you know - strong riffs, powerful metal, we couldn't hear the words - then it all seems to go haywire. A quiet period, followed by extended bouts of syncopated power chords all executed with mathematical precision, before rocking out in a big way. I have to admit though, that by the end of the third song I did kinda wish that they didn't make it quite so extended. Like you know, that instead of going 'I like that, lets do it over and over again and build it up slowly', they just did it once and got on with the rocking. Very impressive mind.

Geisha

I really wasn't prepared for this. Well mentally I was, of course - just in the mood for some serious metal shouty madness - but I was nowhere near prepared enough for them to be THAT good. The hairy singer shouted incomprehensibly and hit his 'you thought there wasn't room for any more distortion? Well here's a little bit more!' pedals at appropriate moments while the leather trousered bass player showed TEF what a really good bass sound is (although I hear he regretted wearing trousers that tight later) and their drummer was a skilled dervish of percussion. I'm sure I could hear Zeppelin riffs in there, just with maximum added fuzz and noise. Occasional bouts of beautiful music broke the noise up perfectly and even with severe flu it really sorted out my dark mood.

Bronnt Industries Kapital

I'm not really sure how this got onto the bill, I didn't stay long enough to find out if there was any metal involved but it certainly started out as quiet, atmospheric electronic sounds with shades of Aphex Twin. Good beginning, but it was a Wednesday and I was ill.

NsN, Bury and Disinter, Manyfingers at The Cube

Before I get into this I've got a major confession to make: this was actually my first visit to The Cube! Been in Bristol six years, never been. Well those days are over now. To find out more about the Cube and why it's slightly embarrassing that I haven't been yet, visit their web site .

North Sea Navigator, along with Tim (Drummer of Angel Tech Fame) was sounding much better, much clearer than a few weeks ago where the engineer really screwed up the sound. The performance was excellent, covering up for the missing cello admirably, and we were treated to a sound that strictly shouldn't be allowed to come from two people. NSN as a 'band' has gone through many different mutations, from playing solo acoustic sets to the full line up of electric guitar, cello and harmonium / drums. Coming in late on the scene, I can't really comment on the actual progression of the music, but the current sound is confident and powerful. NSN are currently working on an album, to complement the Alibis E.P. released a couple of months ago.

Bury and Disinter are the only group I've seen for a while who appeared to be bored by their own music. I think everyone else was wondering what they were supposed to be experiencing as well. A stone's throw away from pure ambience, there were a couple of moments that made you think 'I like this bit' but generally directionless soundscapes accompanied by meaningless visuals made for a fairly dull show. The only thing that stopped me disappearing to the bar was that I was worried I'd wake up the people next to me when I climbed over them. A good example of 'they're good at what they do', but I didn't really get it, if indeed there was anything to get.

Manyfingers on the other hand, otherwise known as multi-instrumentalist Chris Cole (Crescent, Movietone, Matt Elliot) was a seriously powerful experience. Echoing the layering concepts used back in the days of post-modern 20th century art music, think Phillip Glass, Nancarrow and their ilk, the aptness of the name was immediately apparent once we realised that the set-up of cello, drum kit, keyboards, guitar, mixing desk and various interesting looking effects units were going to be played by just one person! Each tune started with a simple piano line, usually a four-bar loop, to which he added layer upon layer of melody and rhythm with impressive results. It was just fantastic waiting to see what he was going to add next, and occasionally a cornet player appeared and added a bit of extra melody on top. I did find myself wondering whether the music was written with maths or just by sound, he carefully followed a script, on which I imagined was simply written things like, 'now hit your guitar like this', followed by a little diagram only he would understand. I hope anyway! This was a really good gig.

Team Brick Album Launch, 18th Sept

Team Brick (and friends), Headfall and Freeze Puppy, Saturday 18th September at the Cube Microplex, Bristol

Freeze Puppy seems to have his whole performance all wrapped up. Entering in contemplative mode, he ceremoniously circles his guitar, before picking it up and slowly putting it on... Armed with a toy saxophone, he stalks the microphone centre stage. The atmospherics in the background quieten, and the madness begins. I don't think there is anything quite like Freeze Puppy. He is at once hilarious, insane, musical, atonal and thought-provoking. OK, mainly thoughts like, what the hell is going on inside this man's head?, but with lyrics like I've got a frog in my throat and it's hungry, you have to wonder. He stares wildy about himself and gesticulates to rhythms that seem hidden in the music, pausing only to fix the sampler that seemed to get stuck in a loop which we hadn't realised wasn't part of the performance. His melodies are as random as his lyrics, but have a real comedic charm about them. This was a very special performance, which left me with a feeling that all was right with the world, if a bit off kilter.

Throughout Headfall's set I wished a few things. Firstly, that Freeze Puppy had just played for another hour. Other dreams included bands being able to tune guitars, being able to sing, originality... I liked the lyrics though. What we heard of them. Musically, echoes of Godspeed You Black Emperor and Meanwhile Back In Communist Russia - but out of tune, directionless and frustrating. They've been playing together for a long time - since 1997 - and I really don't understand why bands think it's cool, clever or musical to sound so bad. Personally I hate the White Stripes for the same reason. And I mean hate. There is potential for powerful emotions in there, some beautiful moments, but they were just moments which soon disappeared when the clumsiness returned. I don't want to rant too much. Critics seem to love this kind of music, they use words like 'raw' and 'honest' and 'increasing tonal awareness'. But I really think after 7 years of playing together people would work out that music is a bit more than playing out of tune and shouting.

*Breathes Heavily*

On to the main show. Team Brick + friends. Or 'fun with delays'. It seemed that the Cube was packed with friends of TB, the atmosphere was good, the band self-conscious, and the music - well - eclectic, drone-noise, was enlightening, soothing, frightening and indetermined. Every member, save perhaps the guy who stood in the back left corner behind a box of wires had some kind of strange delay effect to play through. In some tunes this worked to great effect and in others it was a little bit annoying. The drums sounded terrible, flat, cheap. I don't think this was intentional, and our man certainly bashed them as best he could in one of the louder numbers. For the finale a ramshackle choir sang a short round about fish or something - I'm not really sure where this fitted into the grand vision of things but while at the time I thought it was awful, in hindsight I can't imagine the evening ending any other way.

I have a few gripes, mainly about indeterminism and how I never liked it the first time round. Well when I was learning about it - obviously I wasn't born when Cage and their ilk were deliberately breaking the rules of all that's good and beautiful about music. When I studied modernism and postmodernism all I could think about was that this sort of 'music' should be left to the scientists and mathematicians - read about but never listened to - because they are merely reactions to aestheticians' attempts to quantify why music is such a powerful art. As soon as someone writes down music is beautiful / sublime because... there is always someone to react and write something that contradicts it, calling it music without realising that the result proves exactly why the first statement is closer to the truth. Think Stockhausen's Gruppen for three Orchestras. You either need a surround sound system or to experience it live to hear the true effect. Why can't you have three orchestras playing 3 different modern mathematical musical pieces in different time signatures and keys at the same time? Oh THAT's why.

So some parts of Team Brick's set - ones where real composition was involved, or seemed to be involved (I'm sure there are those who would disagree) - were absolutely amazing, the instruments weaving around each other, gorgeous chords and delay (of course). Others, well there was an element of improvisation around an idea just play this til I tell you to stop, which didn't really seem to mean anything. The highlight was the bass player asking if there was a sound engineer in the house because he couldn't hear himself, followed by a rant at how he'd been to two rehearsals while another member of the band had been more interested in playing Morrowind than practising.

At times it was fantastic at others shambolic, but I think this is what most people expect from such a dynamic and random performer. Most of the charm is that he saunters over to things and music just happens... It doesn't matter what. It was pretty much the direct opposite of Freeze Puppy's set, where he obviously had everything worked out to it's finest detail, random as it may sound, TB just went with what people felt like at the time. I'll definitely be going again, although I'm not sure why...