Its a freezing Tuesday night in October so it's no wonder that only twenty or so people turn up to sit, stand or even sleep their way through the Brummie, Quebec and Genoan sonic melodies on showcase. The almost exclusively male and check shirted crowd are pretty quiet, some are lounging around on the settees as if they were at home watching TV, some are propping up the bar deep in contemplation. I'm guessing it must have been a hard day at the office, there's no pogoing here tonight.
I catch the end of Arc Vel set, it's all 2001 A Space Oddysey style visuals, pretty sounding looped guitar licks and melodica created drones, it's nice stuff. Warm, appealing and a great introduction for the acts following.
After a short break and a bit of head scratching and fiddling of wires and messing about with DVDs Millimetrik introduces himself and thanks everyone for coming before launching into his set which incorporates Autechre/Aphex style skewed beats, skweee noises, wobbly dubstep basslines and even the occasional vocal. Millimetrik is quite hyperactive and managed to break his visuals by jumping round and thumping the table so much that DVD player gave up the ghost.
Sometimes going to electronic gigs can make feel like you are watching somebody working out sales projections on a excel spreadsheet while the stereo is turned on rather loud. Not so with Port-Royal, I think I can quite safely say that they turned up with some of the best visuals I have ever seen, cinematic, it felt like a watching a film rather than watching a gig.
Port-Royal have some great song titles, my favourite being "The Balding Generation (Losing Our Hope As We Lose Our Hair)" not that it is all great visuals and titles and no substance, their music is spot on too, that track for instance starts off as a slowly shifting soundscape before the arpeggiators slowly build up and then drums kick loose and it turns into a full on banger.
There's also some crowd interaction through the use of typed on screen messages, not sure what these were all about, slightly bonkers broken english. "We used to say we were scared to dance, no we say we will die quietly" or something like that (maybe I should make notes, ha). There was a bit of a false ending, not really an encore, some visuals of St Petersburg, some grey looking countryside and an abrupt finish.
Great music from all three acts, shame there wasn't more people attending, hopefully Millimetrik and Port-Royal wont be put off by it being quiet on a Tuesday night and will come back and play here again.
Oh and I got free CD which is always good. And a good free CD it is too.
http://www.port-royal.it
http://www.millimetrik.net/
http://www.myspace.com/arcvel
Here's Some Amniotic Music.
A mix of warm Sunday evening music. Lots of drones and pulses and more than the occasional beat. I'm quite proud of this one even if it is probably the worse thing you've ever heard.
Big Rich Mix Number 3 by st00ka
Warm Ambient Mix for Sunday Evenings.
Maps and Diagrams - Navel
Logreybeam - Opiate for the Masses (podgrinder remix)
EXurban - Seelenkinder
XYCID - Gingy
Plakto - Souled Out Seasickle
Erissoma - Dream of Rain
LPF12 - The White Room (Apparent Symmetry Remix)
Geotic - The Animal
adamend.age - Whiteout
Geotic - I Find Your Warmth Infectious
Big Rich Mix Number 3 by st00ka
Warm Ambient Mix for Sunday Evenings.
Maps and Diagrams - Navel
Logreybeam - Opiate for the Masses (podgrinder remix)
EXurban - Seelenkinder
XYCID - Gingy
Plakto - Souled Out Seasickle
Erissoma - Dream of Rain
LPF12 - The White Room (Apparent Symmetry Remix)
Geotic - The Animal
adamend.age - Whiteout
Geotic - I Find Your Warmth Infectious
Yet Another Mix
I'm not sure how this mix ended up sounding like it does? Probably something to do with compiling it while waiting to go to the boozer.
The tracklist:
1. This Morning - Noboru Watanabe
2. Final Frontier from Beyond K's Remix - Wahn
3. Dubreak - O (Vocodered)
4. Dubreak - O
5. SL-1 - Duskky
6. Strange noises from the wardrobe - So Shy
7. Tetchong - PierrotheMoon
8. Glatze (live) - Glatze
Big Rich Mix 2 by st00ka
The tracklist:
1. This Morning - Noboru Watanabe
2. Final Frontier from Beyond K's Remix - Wahn
3. Dubreak - O (Vocodered)
4. Dubreak - O
5. SL-1 - Duskky
6. Strange noises from the wardrobe - So Shy
7. Tetchong - PierrotheMoon
8. Glatze (live) - Glatze
Big Rich Mix 2 by st00ka
Alpha-Ville Festival
This weekend I travelled down to London for the first day of the Alpha-Ville Festival at the Whitechapel Gallery. Described as a online and live platform for digital arts and culture the night was to host a range of attractions from 3D film (with old skool 3D glassed) to AV mapping demonstration plus of course some pretty decent music too.
The festival hadn't taken over the gallery completely and access to it's exhibitions was denied which meant the site was a little cavernous and maze-like and meant that the two distinct music areas seemed quite separate. To complain about this would be nit-picking. I will complain about the warm brew dog lager taken out of the top of the bucket and not from the bottom where it is obviously going to be cold though. ;)
Overlap between the acts meant that I got to see a fair proportion of everyone playing that night with the exception of the Boats. Listening to Bola and Scanner playing their musical soundscapes and chilled out head nodding beats in a sweaty loft-like room with a pretty cool cityscape as a backdrop is something that everyone should get the chance to savour. Who needs visuals when you have the City of London as a real-life attraction?
Something a bit more upbeat in the tiny bar room of the gallery, Subeena and Actress played a mixture of house and dubstep. Actress at times was in danger of verging onto full-on detroit techno at times.
I think that because most punters had opted for Actress and because of their laidback slow glitchy start, the room for Kettenkarussel was a little thin on numbers. But an excellent set was in store for those that hung around with everyone in the room dancing by the end.
I'm glad I made the journey down for the Alpha-Ville Festival, it is exactly the sort of night/event that I don't think could take off in drum'n'bass obsessed Birmingham. I was disappointed not to be able to stay for the live cinema night the following day but will definately be back if the event takes place next year.
The festival hadn't taken over the gallery completely and access to it's exhibitions was denied which meant the site was a little cavernous and maze-like and meant that the two distinct music areas seemed quite separate. To complain about this would be nit-picking. I will complain about the warm brew dog lager taken out of the top of the bucket and not from the bottom where it is obviously going to be cold though. ;)
Overlap between the acts meant that I got to see a fair proportion of everyone playing that night with the exception of the Boats. Listening to Bola and Scanner playing their musical soundscapes and chilled out head nodding beats in a sweaty loft-like room with a pretty cool cityscape as a backdrop is something that everyone should get the chance to savour. Who needs visuals when you have the City of London as a real-life attraction?
Something a bit more upbeat in the tiny bar room of the gallery, Subeena and Actress played a mixture of house and dubstep. Actress at times was in danger of verging onto full-on detroit techno at times.
I think that because most punters had opted for Actress and because of their laidback slow glitchy start, the room for Kettenkarussel was a little thin on numbers. But an excellent set was in store for those that hung around with everyone in the room dancing by the end.
I'm glad I made the journey down for the Alpha-Ville Festival, it is exactly the sort of night/event that I don't think could take off in drum'n'bass obsessed Birmingham. I was disappointed not to be able to stay for the live cinema night the following day but will definately be back if the event takes place next year.
Another Mix
I done another mix for your listening pleasuuuuuure:
Big Rich Mix #1 by st00ka
Tracklisting:
Mister Bibal - Dream Merchant 1
Lennon - Believe
DZA - Uproar in Heaven
Duskky - Scratch
Mister Bibal - Under the Rain
Dustmotes - Aesthetic Principle
Lou Batteri - Mis Pen Freaks
Myown - Suromna
Duskky - Ganja Fiend
Big Rich Mix #1 by st00ka
Tracklisting:
Mister Bibal - Dream Merchant 1
Lennon - Believe
DZA - Uproar in Heaven
Duskky - Scratch
Mister Bibal - Under the Rain
Dustmotes - Aesthetic Principle
Lou Batteri - Mis Pen Freaks
Myown - Suromna
Duskky - Ganja Fiend
An ambient mix .
GMP Podcast 10 by st00ka
1. RYKARD - Bowglide
2. Brunk - Radiostoring
3. Ponytea - Esra
4. Adamned Age - Signs of Repetition
5. Nev.Era - Llegada
6. Heezen - Priphriques
7. Nikka - Agains Citizen
Release/catalogue number: GMP10
1. RYKARD - Bowglide
2. Brunk - Radiostoring
3. Ponytea - Esra
4. Adamned Age - Signs of Repetition
5. Nev.Era - Llegada
6. Heezen - Priphriques
7. Nikka - Agains Citizen
Release/catalogue number: GMP10
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