Last night (27 Nov), I got to see Aphex Twin live in Brighton UK at a
club, The Paradox. Got there about 10:30 (after going to the Cybar, an
internet cafe with a dj mixing some quite good stuff. Didn't recognise any
tracks and the place was quite empty. In fact his set was severely
interupted by the (badly sung) birthday celebrations from upstairs.).
When we arrived there was some guy playing (I guess) live electronics. He
was kind of plumpish wearing a white hooded top. The sounds were okay but
unrecognisable and ultimately uninspiring. Then came a dj mixing a set
that ended up with 80s electro stuff. I caught some Art of Noise,
Kraftwerk and Herbie Hancock amongst the obvious stuff. Very well mixed
though, lots of 32-beat bass drum stuff and handclaps. Almost expected
someone to start breakdancing.
On the dot of midnight... the live bit.
If you can call it that. Couple of roadies placed a pair of speakers on
the stage and then the music started. Couldn't see anyone on stage at all.
It might as well have been DAT or vinyl. Started with some piece of SAW I,
the title of which escapes me. It started as a straight rendition then let
loose with a jungle break over the top of everything which worked really
well and brought the track bang up to date (not that there's anything the
slightest bit wrong with the original). Some noise workouts, some drums
and (not much) bass stuff. Recognisable bits: Didgeridoo (?) might as well
have been the track on Classics playing, nothing new but as good as
expected and Boy/Girl, again couldn't spot the difference to the studio
version. Due to the absence of personnel maybe it was the studio version.
Oh, and a couple of large bears about 8 foot tall, one green and one red,
entered the dancefloor and moshed around for a bit. They seemed to have
trouble getting off the dance floor as everybody pushed them back into the
middle. Who were these bears....?
Whole set lasted about 50 minutes, so I guess he must have applied a bit
of concentration to push that 30 minute attention span.
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Jezz @
http://homepages.enterprise.net/jezz/
Roland D-110 Yamaha YS-100 Casio CZ-101 Boss SE-50
C-Labs AWE-32 Tascam 4 Track Tascam 8ch Mixer
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