Phoning it in

Dispatches from the back of the venue

Genre: Experimental

  • Seefeel

    Seefeel

    I first saw Seefeel 30 odd years ago supporting Cocteau Twins and was immediately grabbed by the fact that while they presented as a traditional 4 piece guitar band, they didn’t sound like a ‘beat combo’ at all – swirling, looped sounds, distant vocals mangled so the line between voice and synthesised sound becomes blurred, and great thwacking bass (memorably played by Darren Seymour – twirling it around his head like it was a majorettes baton). Truly in a class of their own and I’ve been an avid fan ever since.

    The band have returned, sporadically over the years, and got some critical reappraisal recently with the material they recorded for Warp records being reissued as an excellent box set complete with a wodge of unreleased gems that – unlike a lot of ‘extra tracks’ are well worth your attention. Seemingly out of nowhere, a new mini-LP ‘dropped’ earlier this year on Warp. ‘Everything Squared’ is delicious and bridges the gap between the billowing clouds of looped guitar and sub-bass of their earlier stuff and the spartan, icy plains of their mid-period work.

    A gig by these is a rare thing indeed and with no danger of a moshpit I get down the front for the full arsequake bass experience and perhaps to try and figure out how Seefeel works. They’re down to a 3 piece tonight with core members Sarah Peacock and Mark Clifford joined by a bass player (I didn’t catch his name and this reviewer thought it was a returning Seymour?) and while the bass stays firmly below head height you could lie down and take a nap on the colossal subsonic waves coming off the stage.

    The set opens with ‘Climatic Phase’ from their debut ‘Quique’ and it is one of those goose-bump moments as they gradually build the track up from looping samples, fragments of vocal and guitar building toward the dub bass and everything locks in. They still sound like nobody else. The set mixes those early Too Pure tracks with a selection from the new record and you can’t see the join. It’s a privilege to watch them at work, up close – and it’s not as if we’re seeing behind the curtain as I’m none the wiser how they make a few FX pedals, some guitars, a laptop and some singing sound so other-worldly.

    It’s a relatively short set but warmly received by a very attentive audience of old heads and few curious pop-crazed youngsters who hopefully leave inspired like I was 30 years hence. Leave ’em wanting more I guess, and we do. Their is talk of a new full length LP and apparently Mark Clifford only puts out a fraction of the material he records so hopefully I will have my atoms rearranged by Seefeel again before too long. Majestic.

     

  • Immersion (Colin Newman & Malka Spigel)

    Immersion (Colin Newman & Malka Spigel)

    While sensible people are staying home with the immersion on, I’m braving the sub-zero ice and snow ‘cos Immersion are on.

    Last time I saw Colin Newman on a stage he was fronting his day-job band, Wire, at Band on the Wall just before Covid curtailed their touring plans in 2020. With the band now seemingly on hiatus (check out Matthew Simm’s Memorials and Graham Lewis’ latest – both mighty fine ) Colin and his partner, musician and artist Malka Spigel have been keeping very busy with a weekly radio show and reviving Immersion which started 30(!) years ago as a way of exploring the duo’s fascination for club music and electronica. I saw them play a mesmerising set at Wire’s ‘retrospective’ comeback at the Royal Festival Hall in 2000 (we only have this excerpt:)

    – and tonight’s set up is very similar – a bank of electronics and the duo silhouetted against a video projection except tonight, they are facing the audience. There are songs too, with vocals from both and Colin occasionally reaches for a guitar and Malka is bashing away at a Korg synthesiser with considerable gusto – so although the austerity budget didn’t stretch to bringing a live drummer over for the tour, it makes this feel like a gig you can engage in rather watching some laptop jamming.

    There are familiar, signature drones which remind you of their initial incarnation and the downright essential ambient classic ‘Low Impact’ but Immersion has morphed into something more open-ended and actually very danceable – there are beats galore and trouser-flapping bass as well as some very enjoyable detours into kosmiche musik and Dreampop (if we need to get into genres).

    There is an airy, almost new-age positivity about Immersion which might sound a bit flowery in less talented hands but with two of the coolest musicians on the planet in charge who know of what they sing/speak, it works and the audience response reflects this right back – all smiles. The audience is a mix of people of a certain age but also curious younger folk who are enjoying the hefty basslines and beats these two, ridiculously youthful 70 year olds are firing off and we’re all moving with them. Immersion are bringing their sound and art to your town – go and see them!

  • Night Swimming, RIP Magic and The Itch

    Night Swimming, RIP Magic and The Itch

    Mood Swings @ Yes Manchester

    Another excellent ‘Mood Swings’ night..you know the shtick by now, Now Wave present 3 new bands for a fraction of the cost of a warm lager in a Manchester Enormodome. Musically you don’t know what to expect (hence the name) but Now Wave can be trusted to sift through the unstoppable avalanche of new bands and find the best. Short, sharp sets with a minimum of faff between acts make it easy to give everyone on the bill a chance to be heard so if you want to support new artists and hear something fresh, get along to one of these nights that happen every few weeks at Manchester’s fantastic Yes.

    Tonight’s turns…first up Night Swimming who in spite of a moniker that doesn’t scream originality and wearing their Cocteaus/Slowdive/Sundays influences on their sleeves early on, revealed hidden depths as their set progressed. All the Sonic Cathedral signature sounds are there but as they progress the songs open out, leaving space to appreciate the excellent vocals and songwriting with considerable emotional heft – underpinned by an insistent rhythm which nods toward Joy Division or Magazine. As often is the case at Mood Swings you start to forget you’re at a new band showcase and feel like you’re watching a confident group who’ve been treading the boards for years rather than just starting out. I’m wondering how we’re going to top this ridiculously good start to the evening…

    Total gear change for the next turn, RIP Magic who deliver their set silhouetted against deep red light apart from when they blind us with yellow strobes. I like it when bands think about the lighting scheme – it works a treat and makes for a disorientating, slightly threatening vibe. They play an enjoyably murky set of heavy beat-laden industrial sludge with nods to 90s Hip Hop powered along with with a driving bass and live drumming combined with analogue synths – always a good match. See what I mean about mood swings? The sound mix means the vocals are submerged somewhat but that may be intentional and matches the lighting scheme – nobody really knows what RIP Magic are up to and in an era where everything is transparent and we’re always being let in on the magic – it’s fitting that this lot keep something hidden. There doesn’t seem to be much info about these let alone any recorded music – hopefully they’re building up toward something – we want more!

    Last up, The Itch…5 hyperactive groovers with lots of bubbling synths, slap bass and more cowbells than you can…er…shake a stick at…which they did. Some of them wore vests, the singer had a jerky Talking Heads preppy style and they played infectious punk-funk work-outs. Musically LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture are the obvious touch point but they go much further. They tap into the darker side of Depeche style synth pop and there was a nod in the direction of those early 80s bands who had loads of members and whipped up a militant shakedown – I’m thinking Pigbag, Funkapolitan and perhaps a touch of the Spandau Ballet (before they donned the stockbroker suits)- with various members joining in the chant and throwing some excellent shapes. Kids and their eclectic music tastes today eh? Loads of movement and energy on stage – if I was going to be a total hack I’d say scratch this Itch if you can!

  • Swell Maps

    Swell Maps

    I’m back at the ultimate Salford grotspot to celebrate the music of the mighty Swell Maps in their current incarnation as Swell Maps C21.

    Support comes from Dutch group Geo who are enjoyably unhinged and have a very heavy low-end bass groove that works a treat with the huge speakers in the venue. Swell Maps were always a curious proposition (and I’m certainly not an expert), more of a loose musical collective who were active in the early 70s but having put out a single in 1977 get lumped in with Punk but really they pre-dated and post-dated it at the same time and tonight reflects that very well.

    Leading the celebrations is original member Jowe Head – who has some art school history with Manchester. In tight formation around him are the great David Callaghan (a brilliant artist in his own right and as part of the brain frazzling Moonshake), drummer Jeff Bloom, singer and keyboardist Lucie Rejchrtova and – festooned with a clankening of badges, Post-Punk gun for hire and fellow IdealCopyist – the great Lee McFadden.

    Everyone shares vocal duties and lyric sheets are swapped around as the set isn’t carved in stone. We get lots of the visceral, Motorik Swell Maps sound but also new material, and some nice nods to the extended discography of the band including a lovely version of ‘Jellybabies’ the song Epic Soundtracks recorded with Robert Wyatt in 1981 (beautifully sung by Lucie) –

    that one in particular sits this in context with that curious, hard to fathom strain of 70s British music that covers This Heat, the Canterbury Scene and the ROI thing. Perfect. Alas things are running late (not Swell Maps fault) – but there’s no way I’m leaving before a closing medley of glorious fuzzy ‘Midget Submarines’ and ‘Full Moon in My Pocket’ which veers quite logically into ‘Mother Sky’ by Can – which is ringing in my ears as my cab driver veers in out of the mad traffic back to the station. We made it! Hooray!