|
| Foocha! is a non-profit Web site. We do it for kicks, not for cash. If you're interested in writing for the site, click here |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
| Live,
Justin Harries,
20 January 1999 |
Rating: F5
|
|
| |
| |
|
As part of the London Jazz Festival those lovely boys at LMC (London Music Collective) have seen fit to provide us with an evening of sonic atrocity (in the good sense!) aptly entitled ‘Feel the noise’. However, and very fortunately there was no sight of that arse slapper Noddy Holder tonight.
Our first guides through this sonic maelstrom were the trio Voltage. Voltage are a band that can channel raging anger and playful humour apparently at the same time. Powered by sticks man Dennis Austin (a Sexagenarian possessed by the Duracel bunny) and Moshi Honnen's obtuse guitar histrionics, Sharon Gal screamed, shouted and generated general palaver whilst riding the surge with a compelling confidence. In a music scene where eye contact seems to be a no-no, Voltage are a positive blast, if not whirlwind, of fresh air.
Next up, one of the better-named bands of recent years – Brown Sierra. Now these guys are electronica. Hunched over a bank of equipment that looked as if it had been certified obsolete after the First World War, Brown Sierra gauged grey, dense blocks of raw noise from a bleak sonic terrain. Added to the arsenal was a home made device constructed from a multitude of alarm bells – fortunately panic was averted and I wasn’t crushed in the rush to the emergency exits.
And now, all the way from Switzerland, Voice Crack! As with Brown Sierra we were presented with the not too exciting spectacle (!?) of two people mulling over a table strewn with certain gizmos. However, slowly and with needling persistence, the duo of Andy and Norbert hypnotised the audience with a steady build up of gurgling, wheezing sound that was suprisingly glacial and elegant. What really differed between these guys and the even more inanimate Brown Sierra was that a process was becoming apparent. Hold on, here comes the science bit. A series of lightwave responders were activating various sound generators. This enabled the pair to literally ‘conduct with light’. As they brought more light creating ‘instruments’ (torches, flashing toys etc.) to the table so the sound increased and transmogrified. This also meant we were treaded to a light show that, if not John Micheal Jarre, was certainly amusing.
The realm of experimental music may seem a cold and uninviting realm for the uninitiated, but at lest two of the acts at ‘Feel the noise’ certainly proved that it’s possible to inject personality and humour aplenty into the proceedings. Quite a triumph really.
The Spitz, LONDON, ENGLAND
19/11/99
Top Home |
|
|
|
|
