This was my first IDM night so I was not sure what to expect. When I
finally got there after getting lost in London, I was greeted by the
Boards of Canada (I presume). Their music seemed to have fairly
basic rhythmic structure and I couldn't really get into it with this
little exposure.
Next on was two guys I didn't recognise but from the order of play
I guessed they were Panasonic. They had some sort of
oscilloscope projection that they were tweaking and then they
started playing...
=:-O FUCKING HELL!!!
I was in a numbed state of ecstasy for however long their set was,
I lost track of time. It was totally different to the previous guys. I had
an idea of what Panasonic would be like but they turned out to be
everything I could have ever hoped for. Just droning tones gradually
changing in pitch so amazing overtones were produced that reverberated
throughout the venue. Sometimes a mutation of a beat was brought in
and it all fitted perfectly. I loved seeing the actual waves on the screen.
Much better than just a film in my opinion. If you haven't checked
Panasonic yet, then you're seriously missing out.
I think Autechre were on next, and by the sound of their intro, I thought
they were going to play a version of the second track of their Peel
session (one of my favourites) but it turned out to be a new track (as was
all the music I heard). Their whole set was pretty hard (like Second bad
Vilbel) and the tracks went on for ages. This definitely helped since I
had never heard them before. Was anyone else on this list there? It
seemed like they played about four tracks.
Mark Broom's DJ set was another first for me. Very impressive
techno (is it called hardbeat?) and I finally didn't feel out of place
dancing to the music.
Cylob was up next and I was expecting him to be hard as fuck.
Instead the tracks were very melodic and the drums much more
traditional than Industrial Folk Songs or the Vetolin remix. I'd need
to listen to them much more to enjoy them properly. Hopefully
they were taken from Cylobian Sunset.
Later on in his set he played some harder stuff, and I think the
people there were really getting into it. Some nutters were going
insane dancing to it. I prefer to just listen, it's hectic enough
without dancing IMO.
The volume was turned way up the whole night and about half the
people there had ear plugs. Even cylob, mr noisy himself, had
his fingers in his ears during the louder parts. It'l probably be
another two days before I can start to hear treble properly.
Overall, I was very impressed.
Anyone have any dates for Mike Paradinas?
Cheers
-Ed