A midweek evening of quietude and eclecticism, in which I managed to escape from the current trend of Real Life (if I was into bio-rhythms mine would be in a VERY deep slump at the moment). One of the things I was looking forward to with this gig was that it included some performers I have seen who rely heavily on electronic boxes for their sound. Are they actually any good? I was asking myself. At last I will find out once and for all whether the distortion of their music by digital means belies a great lack of talent.

'Real' musicians have been heard to complain about how computers help people who lack the skills / flair / deep seated 'raw talent that you can't buy in shops' to make acceptable music. Programs like Rebirth, Reason, Orion, Fruity Loops etcetera already come with acid housey trancey techno bollocks inbuilt. You can instantly create dance music without really trying. This isn't original, it's taking what other people have already done and put it through an LFO. I always used to take great pleasure in taking the Acid House sounds of Rebirth and turning it into rough Drum and Bass, or at least trying to. It is at once obvious to any discerning listener whether any real composition and creative thought has gone into any piece of music, although with a noise that you don't quite understand it is sometimes difficult. Personally, I have a problem with music that requires training before you can appreciate it.

Not to say that's what we are experiencing here, although sometimes I wonder, as the words 'challenging' and 'unusual' are thrown about. If you don't understand the concept of the art, how can you purport to understand the music, let alone appreciate it on its own merits.

So with the opportunity of seeing SJ Esau, Team Brick and Max Milton all exposed without their boxes (I was most suspicious about the last two as Sam manages to sing some actual songs rather than 'works' in his performances), I headed off to Bar Unlimited with an open eager mind. SJ Esau was excellent. Self conscious in parts, with just an acoustic guitar for accompaniment, and a couple of songs that I recognised from other, more 'plugged' gigs. Bizarre lyrics and light-hearted subjects made SJ Esau's set a pleasure to hear.

Mario Vendredi is something else entirely. I admit some scepticism during his first couple of songs, the man strains his voice to the point of breaking, jumping between bass, tenor and falsetto in tearful ballads about love, loss, and dog heaven. However, he really comes into his own when he puts down the guitar for a rendition of 'John the Revelator' accompanied by foot stamping and hand claps, the song sang as you imagined it would have been sung by negro slaves on the railroads. Well okay, they would have been beaten for stopping and clapping, but you know what I mean. Powerful stuff. Also tribal drum hitting with incoherent but strangely musical shouting in various voices make Mario a very entertaining performer.

A lot of these gigs always challenge me in a muso kind of way, because the music is often 'unexpected' leftfield, of undefineable genre. Following this pattern the quirky styles become the norm and the next act blew it all out of the water. Old American Country Folk tunes, very mellow, beautiful and looking around the room, I noticed that everyone was completely wrapt by it. 'So there IS a place for 'real' 'conventional' music still', I thought, and coming from a background of English Folk amongst other things, I have a lot of time for this. Helen Solomons and Andrew Short were excellent.

Team Brick's set was brief, he's been working on ostinato lately, the piece he and his gang played I have heard before, but then there was noise, and effects and delay. Lots of delay. Without all that, there is still a delicacy to the music and I must admit that I preferred it like this. Plus the drums sounded amazing. That's what you get when everyone plays without being miked up.

Max Milton didn't strike any chords with me at all. In fact I was so put off I was forced to go outside and buy some dinner and hang around until he'd finished. The stuff I wrote at University was crap. Student compositions, ripping off Nyman etc, but this sort of this should remain firmly in the classroom. I appreciate the effort to write art music, and the attempt to bring it to a popular forum in this way, I mean that's what chamber music used to be all about but I'm not sure about this at all. Maybe clever effects would work better... or just continuing to collaborate with others as he isn't lacking in talent.

Whale Bone Polly are a trio who sing English folky-type music, stunning songs and three-part harmonies rounded off a very good evening. Had I the money, I would have been buying CDs, them and the country folk get my vote for the best performers of the night (with Mario very close behind).