Boy that was 2 weeks ago! Unavoidably separated from my cyberdesk for two
weeks, and thus only able to review the above from afar.
I think Adam Huffman said much of what need be said about the whole event,
but let's jsut say that this event contained two of the most contrasting, and
enjoyable, live performances I have ever seen.
Jimi Tenor is a true showman, a star who is waiting to be seen. His physical
appearance starts it all - black spangly suit, a mop of shiny blond hair and a
pair of heavy spectacles. Then he pulls down his glitter-covered backdrop
screen and proceeds to play. What is this music? Who knows. But if you get the
chance, go see him. The music is bizarre, funky and hilarious. Jimi plays the
sax, he sings and he just has a whale of a time. The kit he uses produces wild
squawking plasticky tones, and he just loves to pull off this trill sound. When
he sings, he sings about sex, and when he plays, he sings about sex. A few
technical problems interrupted the show, and at the end of his set he literally
walked off without waiting for any appreciation. But appreciated he was.
But then it wasn't long before Mr Squarepusher took over the stage. I was taken
with Jimi, but nothing could prepare me for this. The boy plays a bass guitar
faster than a very fast thing, and he picked it up and started jammin along to
a drum-n-bass track that Chantal was playing just before his set (It wasn't one
of his own tracks as Adam suggested) Then he popped on his own stuff and the
assault began. He was "only" playing off DAT or some similar medium, but at
times he Eq-d out the bass (guitar) and played along, adding that vital
element. But even without that, this music is just so slammin! This is
drum-n-bass taken to the extremes of speed and drum programming. There seem to
be twice as many beats as you "average" d&b track, and the bpm count feels
higher than normal too. I don't know if this is tha case, or if its just the
pure energy of the tracks. And the stuff just keeps coming, blasting away at
your ears, brain and feet until you can take no more. He played the DJ food
remix, but as far as we could ascertain the rest was unreleased, certainly it
was not identifiable from "Alroy Road Tracks" And apparently the guy has masses
of unreleased material of various non-d&b styles too.
This must be seen
adios
J
^
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________.__/_____ _||_/ James Skilton aka Steady J
_[]/_____________[.__\____-_ DJ and Party Animal
| | Part Time Hedonist
|____________________________| Full Time Technohead
|__|-' '-|__| Steady-J@Firefox.co.uk