Geisha // Moss // Sunn(o))), 8th Dec

Wednesday 8th December, The Croft

Yes, I admit it. I went to this gig because of the hype. In a way, I should have been warned by the description:

"The SUNN(0))) mission is to create trance like soundscapes with the ultimate low end/bottom frequencies intended to massage the listeners intenstines into a act of defecation. SUNN(0))) have gathered 2x for live performances, at which they have succesfully made audience members instantly nauseous, or better yet run for the toilet in terror."

I guess, even if I had listened to their music first I would still have gone, just to see if they could make ME run to the toilet in terror. So why did I go? To see if there was anything worth listening to in this 'drone' rock music. I am somewhat humbled by the fact that this was one of the dullest gigs I've ever been to, and there was probably some element of wanting to appear that it understand it too.

Geisha, with their usual wall of furious noise, fast metal, were plagued by sound problems, but they were their usual energetic selves and put me in a fine mood for music. I'm not sure what the laptop actually did, we couldn't tell over the noise...

Moss could easily be just one person, if you closed your eyes. Perhaps a child who can't decide whether they want to be a guitarist, drummer or singer - 'now I play a power chord and let it ring, now I hit a drum or a cymbal (see how daring?); now I scream; now a slightly different power chord; now the snare…' I think I understand what they're trying to do. Actually sod it, no I don't. The fact that they've divided the work between three extremely bored looking people made it even more dull. I couldn't pass comment on whether any of them are actually talented musicians or not, because they didn't really play anything of value. I'm informed that within their genre they are actually one of the good ones, but I'm not going to pretend it's worth the effort of understanding.

The main band, much-hyped famed for their volume, vibrations and ceremony, didn't disappoint. For about the first twenty minutes anyway, which was halfway through their first song! Let me try to explain what we saw. Moog and Mini-Moog keyboards. Two guitars. All played through enormous amplifiers, like Marshall JCM 800's. The start was promising, disparate slow guitar melodies intertwining, building up tension as the band enter (slowly) in druidic cowls. As the first loud chord hit us, this is really where the interest ends. For a while it held my attention, as the actual sounds are amazing, hearing a pure sustained power chord at that kind of volume is every guitarists dream. In fact, I think we all do it secretly at home anyway.

Sunn(o)))'s music is created through the resonances and harmonics formed by the two guitarists playing power chords (with Great Slowness and Ceremony) in unison, which becomes offset as one player changes his chord slightly and the resulting resonances from this soundclash hit you. This builds tension, which is then released as they come back together again. The Keyboards provide impossible bass, which is supposed to be the defecation bit I guess.

Like I said, this was interesting for about 20 minutes. After that, when the wonder was over I started itching for Something To Happen. I will not be going to see any more bands whose main promise is that they are boring! I'm not into 2-minute songs, but this is a bit much. Lesson learned.

Angel Tech, Jon Gomm, Doubtful Guest, 11th Dec

11th December - Decode Unplugged - The Folk House

Doubtful Guest began by apologising that they were playing a 'plugged' set, at an unplugged gig, but then proceeded to put great big smiles on everybody's faces with their uptempo skiffle / Americana / country type music. It is a genre I guess, so while I didn't really get on with their ballad (on the whole, I don't really like Country), it is a style of music that this band do very well. Real toe-tapping stuff�

Jon Gomm is out there on his own as a guitarist. He utilises every aspect of the instrument, using the body to make various drum sounds, hands flying all over the fingerboard playing harmonics and melodies and rhythm all at the same time. When he does stop to just strum conventionally, usually in the choruses, I did find myself thinking how plain it sounded. The technique works better in some numbers, 'Stupid Blues' - an instrumental - is a good example, but in others it can be a bit annoying. Once you get past the cleverness of the playing however, the songs still need to be able to stand up on their own. His cover of Radiohead's 'High and Dry' leaves a lot to be desired as the emotional impact of the song has been sacrificed in favour of technique. The chorus is left quite literally high and dry. Overall the set was good though.

Sofia Gradin, also our compere for the evening, a 6ft-something Swedish Poet tells quirky stories of misfits and a world of moral pop stars. While her poetry is poignant and funny, her singing is neither and should probably be left at home.

When Angel Tech used to play in Bristol back in 1998 - 2000 (my student days) I tried to make it to every gig they did. I would evangelise to my friends, often failing miserably to satisfactorily explain why this would probably be the best gig they would attend as students.

The music still defies explanation. They really are a 'oh just listen to it', kind of band. It is imbued with a passion that hasn't really come across on any of their recordings. 'well there's this drummer, see, and he sings and plays the keyboards, and there's these other two who play bass guitar, keyboards, violin and they sing too, but their songs aren't really like songs as we know it� it starts quiet and gets intense and loud�' you can see why I had problems. Well you would if you went to see them. There is no-one to compare this band to.

So I was fairly excited, to say the least, that after a few years' sabbatical, the trio are back, this time doing an acoustic set. The music - gentle, passionate, intense, theatrical, frightening, beautiful - I think it is testament enough that after the first couple of songs, the audience chatter had all but disappeared as everyone strained to catch every word, every note. Angel Tech are finally back, let's hope that this time they get the break they truly deserve (an interview about 'what happened' can be found at Choke).

Team Brick and Friends

Team Brick, Desdemona, When they know you they will run

It seems obvious to me now, the place I mean. As I cycled up and down the long road as directed by the reliably unreliable Team Brick I very nearly gave up and went home. 'Past the Louie, up the longroad it's on the right somewhere by the marina', he'd told me. Several dark and foreboding industrial estates later I found someone looking as lost as I was. 'Hello, you look as lost as I am', he said. Amazingly, we had encountered each other right outside the very place we were looking for! Why they don't put signs up outside the building I don't know.

The mission I'd chosen to accept was to take as many drums and percussive things as I could carry to be part of an improv / percussion / choir under the 'guidance' of Team Brick. Of course you can't have expectations for this sort of thing, so when I encountered toy drum kits, pots & pans, glasses, a traffic cone with Perspex strapped to the bottom… I knew it was going to be interesting. 'Right I'll start, we all sing and everyone can join in playing - let's see what happens.' A bit later: 'Right. When it all gets quiet and I'm sawing my cymbal like this (saws cymbal) I want all the big drums to play really loud… and then out of time...'

So on the night, as all the other bands and their mates watched we hit stuff, chanted, got loud - quiet - loud, screamed for a bit and then lay dead for an age.As we lay there and the confused clapping died out, the silence became filled with nervous whispers and giggling. At one point someone walked into the room, some people standing at the back and some lying in a circle, and asked what was going on. 'There's some people lying on the floor', 'I think it's art', followed by a mobile phone going of which cracked everyone up.We had fun playing some good rhythms, it certainly felt intense from where I was sitting, we definitely made a terrible noise and all those watched claimed they had enjoyed it... Photos courtesy of Dec (Clicky)

On Choke, someone said: "The first wave of the English resistance to the new weird America movement in full force this evening, never entirely sure whether they want to be NNCK, the master musicians of Joujouka or a bunch of pseudo-art students playing improv. The closing scene of a load of (not-dead-looking) dead people in silence meets with awkward laughs and coughs, either a Cage-ian tribute or an art-school gag gone right."

Brick replied: "art, schmart, i just wanted to make some more fun music, originally we were going to run out of the place, but it woulda been slow, so we died." Isn't that just the way it goes?

Desdemona picked their way through the pieces of broken tambourine on the floor and claimed it was the weirdest gig they've been to. They then proceeded to play some poppy indie songs, with a woman singing outrageous melodies over the top. Occasionally she comes back to the right harmonies and sings with the keyboard player, but generally sounds well off the pitch. We'd been told it was 'some hippy band' and I guess that's a good way to describe it. Individually, all very good musicians (especially the bass player), but the collective sound doesn't seem to gel consistently enough.

When they know you they will run a three-piece, like Mogwai / Godspeed but much more impatient. Not for these boys the eternal build up, they set up their melodies then cut straight to the loud noisy part. I stayed for the intensity, because I like the ringing Big Muff - Delay - Reverb guitar sound. But after a few songs it gets a bit samey.