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SOUNDS FROM THE OTHER CITY 09 - #3
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:: David A. Jaycock
:: A Middle Sex
:: (unknown electronic artist) :: Infinite Light :: Peggy Sue :: Mazes :: Nia Morgan :: Chops :: Sam And The Plants :: The Invisible :: Bridget Hayden :: Todd ::
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03 May 2009 / Various Venues / Salford
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By James Hinchcliffe
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Once again it's an opportunity to take in some off-kilter rock in gritty pub venues, courtesy of Sounds From The Other City
First port of call is upstairs in The Black Lion to have a look at DIGITONAL. There's some mildly energising sparse techno coming from that laptop set-up but even more than with most electronic acts you have to question the performer input here. He doesn't seem especially interested - even a little grumpy when he appears to hit the wrong key (open the wrong window?) and the visual backdrop of ironic 80s favourite Tron doesn't show much imagination. Perhaps better suited to a later slot.
(Editor's note: We've since learnt that Digitonal had to pull out of SFTOC, so who we were watching at 3.30pm we have no idea. If anyone can enlighten us, please do - CA.)
A new venue this year is From Space, which looks like it might be an estate agents or some kind of bohemian home improvement outlet. INFINITE LIGHT is a one man set-up and under way as we walk in, making a useful fast-fingered guitar racket not unlike Voice Of The Seven Woods, if not quite as good. Sadly he elects to add histrionic wailing vocals (a la Jeff Buckley to the power infinity) applying near identical pacing and pitch at every visit to the mic, which makes the experience a bit trying. Musically reasonably adept, it's quite possible you could be entranced or "transported" by this but you'd need a fairly high melodrama/performance art threshold.
A high point of the day was always likely to be the secret shows put on by Dunk Le Chunk aka the legendary Red Deer Club and the first of these sees Brighton's PEGGY SUE crammed into the back room of The King's Arms to perform an intimate and mainly acoustic show. Frontwomen Rosa Rex and Katy Klaw really can sing (and project mic-less) and provide some neat Indigo Girls-esque harmonising whilst Olly Olly Olly (really?) taps politely at his drums and a gently strummed electric guitar occasionally feeds through an amp the size and shape of a fag packet. Songs such as 'The Sea The Sea' are confessional, spirited outings rich in melody and surely marking Peggy Sue out for future success.
The first tantrum of the day comes via MAZES' frontman upstairs in the same venue, who brings an energetic opening to their first number to a crashing halt. Something's wrong with the guitar or the lead, although it sounded OK to most in the audience, I'm fairly sure. The offending guitar is unceremoniously dumped, a call goes out for a replacement but then after about 10 minutes of inactivity/procrastinating he has another go with the ditched guitar and apparently everything's now fine. You wouldn't want to be too harsh on these lads for this, although a bit of communication with the audience would have helped. The momentum is noticeably a little lost, too, although there is good form in these Dinosaur Jr/Sebadoh-influenced plaid shirted stabs at melodic grunge.
Ironically, it's the singer's voice and not his guitar that lets the side down. Indistinct and muffled, whereas the band otherwise sound good and tight. Some raw promise here though, for sure.
A quick stroll into the United Reformed Church allows a chance to hear the oft-praised A MIDDLE SEX. It's only later that I realise (or am reminded, having seen on an earlier listing and subsequently forgotten) that they're providing a live score for a silent film, namely Hitchcock's The Lodger. This offers some way of explanation as I was baffled as to why they were studying the visuals so intently and of the firm opinion that this was far too about-face (aren't the visuals meant to enhance the music rather than be the main focal point?) Either way, this knowledge doesn't really save the show, which is ultra minimal and far too pretentious for my liking. A few (and I mean a few) little gurgles and treated noise effects of indistinct pattern behind a silent film of yesteryear? You pays your money and takes your choice but firmly not for me, I'm afraid.
So I'm off to the always lovely Sacred Trinity Church - a real gem amongst SFTOC venues - and manage to catch NIA MORGAN playing some encapsulating balladry backed by cello and double bass and coming across like a Welsh Tracy Chapman. Which is clearly no bad thing.
DAVID A JAYCOCK allows a second stab at the United Reformed Church and offers some nice pastoral guitar not unlike David Pajo or even Chris Brokaw on the vocal numbers.
Then it's the first undoubted highlight of the day in the impressively-named CHOPS back at The King's Arms. Right away the set-up looks good: 2 sets of synths/samplers pointed at the drum kit in some weird, statement-of-intent sonic triangle. So 2 of the 3 Chops fellas play with their backs to the crowd, although the less-than-reluctant frontman makes up for this by donning a sax and/or a mic and running wildly along his "technical area" a fair bit - even grabbing me and kissing me on the head at one point - whilst the 2nd keyboard player (bedecked in an achingly hip "Orlando's Gentleman's Club" T-shirt for anyone engrossed in the current TV reruns of The Wire, as you should be) takes time out between songs to chat amiably to those of us stood right behind him.
Not that this show needs any of this. It's a relentless bleep vs drum clatterfest, every song perfectly honed and realised and laden with brave experimentation around the rigid body-moving foundation. It's inevitable that this kind of sound gets compared to Battles these days but both in terms of the visual set-up and the flourishes around the edges it's maybe nearer to the wild experimentation of Fuck Buttons in the noise/math rock lexicon, albeit more danceable. It's quite possibly as good as both aforementioned acts, and that's high praise. Band of the day, hands down.
A very quick stop at the United Reformed Church for a look at the much-mooted SAM AND THE PLANTS Yields pleasant if unspectacular results then via some slightly dubious door policy at the Rovers Return it's a chance for a look at THE INVISIBLE, whose Orange Juice meets The Blue Nile with perhaps a touch of The Style Council hooky guitar pop was at times a bit sugary sweet for me but still undeniably impressive. They illicit a great response from the crowd, who contrived to make the pub floor bounce in a way it presumably rarely has or will again.
BRIDGET HAYDEN seems to be on at From Space and playing pretty much the same chord over and over again. It's faintly engaging and well realised but there's a limit for me, which is hit at about 15 minutes.
Finally to the King's Arms again, where the lead singer of TODD seems a bit agitated. We're only seconds into their show and he's kicked a mic stand with some force towards a seated girl. Moments later, he wrestles a bespectacled guy holding a (momentarily) full pint to the floor. Not long after and he's scrabbling around on all fours grabbing people's ankles and forcing some young women to scream and kick out at him quite violently, not unreasonably.
You can take varying views on this but it isn't really on, for me. I'm well versed with the idea of a confrontational punk gig but this seems to cross boundaries of audience participation and respect. Also, most venues are big enough to incorporate an active front section and more passive zones further back for the more shy/elderly/infirm. The King's Arms is certainly (just) such a venue, although given how much audience floor space the singer demands (most of it) the rather thin crowd set up in a shallow arc at the back near the mixing desk and the singer isn't just interested in those along the front. Anyone, it thus appears, is fair game for assault and it's an edgy job watching them as a result. Which is a shame, as they're terrific. A real lithe, dirty blues rock juggernaut with guttural vocals owing a debt to David Yow but then that's OK.
Sadly by about the 6th number - as the singer wraps his mic lead around a male bystander and pulls him all over the floor in an ungainly manner presumably designed to humiliate - I elect to leave before someone (ideally the singer of TODD) gets badly hurt.
pics CA:09
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Resources:
SFTOC 09 - more info
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Orphan Boy..
The Graveyard Shift..
Golden Glow..
DILE..
Sad Day For Puppets..
Arcade Fire..
Who Shot Who?..
Bare In The Woods..
Tweak Bird..
Fuzzy Lights..
BLACKLISTERS..
Beats & Pieces Big Band..
The Smiles & Frowns..
Islands Lost At Sea..
Backahyard..
Human Fly..
The Lines..
The Scottish Enlightenment..
Caspa..
Luke Hirst..
The Strange Death Of Liberal England..
Heat Vs Light..
Crass..
Oceansize..
Faithless..
Feeder..
Sky Larkin..
Darker My Love..
The Slow Readers Club..
Birthrite..
Tom Edney & The People Pleasers..
The Bottletop Millionaires..
The Nearlys..
Orphan Boy..
The Lightstreams..
We Are Willow..
Daniel J Nixon..
Mount Fabric..
Kyte..
Extradition Order..
BackPageFirst..
Orphans..
Beat The Radar..
Stu Morrison..
Laboratory Noise..
The Mysterons..
Les Cox Sportifs..
Black Cab Casino..
Charlotte Gainsbourg..
The Chemical Brothers..
Feeder..
The Xcerts..
The Gaslight Anthem..
Orbital..
Sound Of Guns..
Twin Atlantic..
Rush..
Wildbirds & Peacedrums..
The Wave Pictures..
Delays..
The Pipettes..
The Tamborines..
Archie Bronson Outfit..
Above Them..
Oasis..
Anathema..
Being 747..
Holy Fuck..
Everything Everything..
Alex Hulme ..
Fuzzy Lights..
Anna Kashfi..
Beads..
Bugs In Ember..
The Commune Of Rochefourchat..
The Missing Link..
Lotte Mullan..
Joe Galen..
The Real Dolls..
Cotheria..
Jaca..
Merchandise..
Faithless..
Charlotte Gainsbourg..
The Paddingtons..
Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip..
The Gaslight Anthem..
Lethal Bizzle..
The Drums..
Young Rebel Set ..
Sub Focus..
Stornoway..
Pendulum..
Kill The Captains..
The New Pornographers..
The National..
Tunng..
Delays..
Slow Club..
Fuck Buttons..
Charlie Barnes..
Hurts..
Borland..
Various Artists..
Team Ghost..
Various Artists..
Luke Hirst..
Dead Confederate..
Lost From Atlas..
Ensnared..
The Exhibition..
Castrovalva..
Kyte..
Quack Quack..
The Lodger..
Clubsmith..
Carrie Flower..
Run Toto Run..
I Am Three..
Glass..
The Safires..
SupaJamma..
Exit Calm..
Love Is All..
Paul Weller..
Mr Fogg..
Sparrow And The Workshop..
Mr Fogg..
Codeine Velvet Club..
Biffy Clyro..
Being 747..
Black Sabbath..
Glass..
Lifescreen..
City Reign..
High Roller..
Transmission 13..
Exit State..
Obsessive Compulsive..
Ayatana..
Danny Mahon..
May 68..
Nowhere Again..
Daniel Burt..
Black River..
The Rising Hours ..
The Alfa Binding Theory..
PLANK!..
Islands Lost At Sea..
Freedom Of The City..
Casual Riot ..
Straight Lines..
Plan B..
The National..
The Loves..
Crazy Arm..
Sound Of Guns..
Kill The Captains..
Tunng..
The Hidden Cameras..
Duke Special..
Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip..
My Luminaries..
The Miserable Rich..
The High Wire..
Cymbals Eat Guitars..
Islands Lost At Sea..
Xtra..
The Hicks..
The Nearlys..
The Lucid Dream..
From The Kites Of San Quentin ..
Deadtapes..
Young British Artists..
Tim And Sam's Tim And The Sam Band With Tim And Sam..
The Heartbreaks..
Eight Legs..
The Paraffins..
Trouble Books..
Knievel Genius..
Still Flyin..
You MeAtSix..
Wolfmother..
Placebo..
The Hush Now..
Plasticines..
Hammer No More the Fingers..
French For Cartridge..
Straight Lines..
Various Artists..
The Who..
Los Campesinos!..
Shearwater..
Efterklang..
Oh No Ono..
Charlie Winston..
TeenagersInTokyo..
Sir Yes Sir..
Inego..
The Levenshulme Bicycle Orchestra..
Last Harbour..
LoneLady..
The Ambersons (The Magnificent Ambersons)..
Richie Syrett..
Tidy Hooker..
Benjamin Shaw..
Plasticines..
Eight Legs..
Husky Rescue..
The Irrepressibles..
Vampire Weekend..
Marble Valley..
You MeAtSix..
Ian Dury..
First Aid Kit..
Yeti Lane..
Standard Fare..
Lets Go To War..
Is Tropical..
Sub Focus..
The Hush Now..
Thomas Dybdahl..
Simian Mobile Disco..
Biffy Clyro..
Charlotte Gainsbourg..
Maps..
LoneLady..
Anna Kashfi..
The Chameleons..
Gary Fulton..
StateDancer..
Delphic..
Airship..
Jo Rose..
Hurts..
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FOUR BANDS IN A BOAT...
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MAKE A BIG NOISE AND HELP HOMELESS PEOPLE...
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DARKNESS AT THE MILL...
BEST OF BRITISH / MOHO A-GO-GO...
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MORE DOTS!...
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STILL MISSED...
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SUNDAY'S HELPING OF WEIRD...
ELECTRONICALLY FREE...
GLOWING DEBUT...
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RE-ENABLED...
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ON THE RADAR ** updated **...
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