Phoning it in

Dispatches from the back of the venue

Genre: Techno

  • Factory Floor

    Factory Floor

    Dreams can come true. Many years ago Factory Floor, never a band shy about revealing their influences, wrote a letter addressed to ‘Stephen Morris – Macclesfield’ with some demo CDs enclosed. Luckily, like when kids write to Santa c/o Lapland it reached the right letterbox and the stereo of the wry New Order drummer who recognised an energy and propulsive drive familiar to his own early synth experiments. Morris promptly offered to remix them, and FF would soon be sharing a stage with Steve, Gillian and Bernard.
    Nik Void would have similar success hooking up with the enigmatic Chris & Cosey of Throbbing Gristle and sultry electro-pop fame resulting in a stellar series of collaborations.

    There was a major buzz around FF back in 2010 and I saw a few live performances most memorably a near upstaging support slot with Wire (courtesy of The Quietus). They never failed to mesmerise live – but perhaps on record didn’t always ignite the imagination. In my opinion they leaned a little too much into the New York Post-Punk Party groove rather than the ultra sleek electro of their early singles. More DFA than DAF you might say.


    Cue auspicious solo careers for both Nik (working with Klara Lewis and the late Peter Rehberg) and Gabe Guernsey (solo works and remixes for Depeche Mode etc) but 7 years on the draw of dusting down the modular synths and the drum set was too much and here they are now…a mere 45 mins later than advertised (we’re on ‘White Hotel time’ tonight).

    They may have been in absentia but there is a room full of minimal groovers delighted to welcome them back. They are sans original third ‘Floor’ Dom Butler but with percussionist and knob twiddler Joe Ward adding some extra beats and pieces there’s plenty of action on stage. From the first synth throb, heads are nodding and feet are moving as much as they can in the cramped space and it strikes me that there’s no better place for this comeback than on yer actual industrial floor in a suitably grimy setting. This music needs volume and is perfect for the ‘orrible Hotel’s secret weapon – their monumental sound system.

    On a superficial level, FF’s music is inordinately simple. Two note basslines, treated vocals, acid squelches, metronomic drumming and the odd cowbell. It’s quite telling though how many bits of synthesis and wiring are required to get that seemingly basic sound – with FF it’s all in the tiny details – tweaks, bursts of static and ghost sounds – and when Gabe becomes the human beatbox and it all clicks in nobody can touch ’em. Highlight of the set is new single ‘Between You’ – as close as FF have to a shiny pop song with a nod toward Underworld at their most sprightly.

    FF are on just shy of an hour which flashes by in the beat of a strobe light. Notably the crowd are a mix of hip young dancers and a few veterans of New Order & The Fall gigs – hip Salford clubland meets The Vikings – and tellingly there’s a little singalong at the end as the DJ cues up Echo & The Bunnymen which reminds me of the crossover appeal of Factory Floor. For all their experimental edge and obfuscated vocals they’re a great electro pop band at heart. They recall the great lost Factory band Section 25, and perhaps Gerald Simpson’s early acid experiments.

    None more Manchester in fact.

  • Das Koolies

    Das Koolies

    Back in the early 90s music was tribal – unlike today where teenagers are getting into Toto, Taylor Swift and probably Throbbing Gristle and Test Dept on Tik Tok – back then you chose your tribe and stayed in your lane – to the point it became quite striking when Indie guitar bands started to incorporate samples and beats when Acid house and Hip Hop crossed over. It became a running joke in the weekly music press to portray this cliche of former anorak-wearing 12 string guitar bands, suddenly festooned with beads and smiley-face t-shirts, adding a funky drummer beat remix to cash in on ‘Madchester’ and ‘Indie Dance’ – the meme was “there’s always been a dance element to our music”. In the case of Super Furry Animals though, that was 100% true. Right from the off they were incorporating synths, sampled beats and acid house basslines into their songs and the band were always big on raving and partying and famously purchased an armored tank – equipped with Technics decks so they could DJ at festivals spinning tunes from the likes of Hardfloor and Orbital after their live sets. Later on the band would traditionally end their sets with each member leaving the stage to keyboardist Cian Ciaran who would close the set by performing a fantastic acid techno jam as the strobes and lasers took over – confused Indie kids found themselves at rave for 10 or 20 minutes.

    So the thing is, there’s always been a fantastic dance/electronic group hiding in plain sight behind SFA and I’d often thought they should make a purely electronic record based on some of those Welsh techno encores. Well – sans the singer and frontman Gruff Rhys 4/5 of SFA have now morphed into that techno supergroup – made the excellent ‘DK.01’ and are now onto their 2nd LP ‘Pando’. The music is majestic and is far from the generic bedroom electronica that pretty much anyone can do these days – it includes soaring vocal lines, guitar, bass and drums assembled into dance tracks. There are songs too – Vocally it’s hard to figure out who is singing – vocals are used more like samples, or as harmonic choral sweeps that remind me of Animal Collective. Check out ‘White Star’.

    It’s a super combination and sounds like music made by 4 people who have a deep love and understanding of dance music – have spent many years DJ-ing and partying and are having a lot of fun.

    With SFA on hiatus, Das Koolies have become a live act now and essentially perform as an A/V (Audio Visual) show. Their schtick is to play from behind two tall screens from which the band can just be seen peeping over – with video projections in front of them. It’s hard to see what the band are doing but Huw has a guitar, Guto has a bass, Cian is donning headphones and doing something technological and Dafydd is bashing away on some electronic drum pads. They seem to be having fun behind there and occasionally break off to acknowledge the audience, punch the air, smoke some vapes and throw some shapes.

    Sonically it is glorious – full of tension and release between trouser-flapping bass and moments of pure euphoria and soaring vocal hooks. What doesn’t quite work tonight is the A/V presentation- in a late night club setting or festival tent it would be fine but in a half-full mid week Indie venue it just becomes a somewhat irksome barrier between the band and the audience. The visuals are a bit repetitive and in this context it would be better if we could watch the band – just seeing musicians play and interact with each other is far more interesting than any video presentation. Bassist Guto is wearing a crash helmet with a Noddy Holder style mirror ball effect – which we only get a brief glimpse of – which says it all.

    The massive elephant in the room is the lack of live vocals – that small tweak would have completely transformed the whole performance which otherwise feels like a bit of a playback of the new record or a DJ set with a bit of live jamming over it. There’s no faulting the brilliant music, but mid-venue I’m surrounded by people looking at the football results on their phones or chatting and tapping a half-hearted toe. Granted there are some party people down the front getting a bit more into it – and only a boring knobhead would say “I could have just stayed at home and listened to the new LP on my headphones”. That said I’m playing the new record right now and enjoying it immensely.