The Arc Bar, Bristol

12 months ago, Sausage Time was born. To quote from the home page, "sausage time is a monthly event at which artists from bristol and beyond are invited to perform experimental and creative music, film, poetry, and live art and other entertainment strategies." I've only made it to a few, having only been introduced to this scene recently, but it never fails to amaze / horrify / amuse me, while also allowing me to comtemplate what the hell the 'true' meaning of music actually is. As Aaron Copland says on the front page of this site, I have no idea how to quantify it. but dammit, I'm gonna try.

As usual, I missed the first act, De:Vil, who seemed to provide a fair proportion of the audience. The following act Jar plays the piano and sings, but it really does seem as though she is stretching herself beyond her ability at the moment. This is always a good thing for musicians to do, I guess. Although some of the over-complicated music did seem under-rehearsed, Jar has a very good singing voice and I'm sure there will be more to follow. She had a very encouraging reception from a section of the audience.

Robh Hokum, a quiet man-with-guitar (although he does know the 'art' of crescendo) was largely ignored, possibly because of the extremely quiet singing - maybe the atmosphere was too noisy for what he was trying to achieve.

Jeremy Smokingjacket, a collaboration of SJ Esau and Rose Kemp picked things up a bit, with more fantastic singing over Mr Esau's usual loops and strange noises. The highlight had to be a song where Rose Kemp sang over a loop of her own coughing - strange I know but it worked and inspired some more loud coughing from the more inebriated watchers at the back of the room.

Silev is an incarnation of Sausage Time creator and promoter Hugh IdLab . Fedback electronic noises of quietude and directionless ambience, to be honest, I was too busy buying Rose Kemp's CD to pay any real attention. The CD IS excellent though.