I arrived half-way through the set by u-Ziq (presumably missing Luke Vibert
and Broadcast :-(, the whole thing being well under way. I hadn't been to
the NIA Centre before, but this place has to be one of the most unique venues
I've been to for techno music - a big floor for the dancers (there were
plenty!) and loads of really comfy theatre/cinema style seating above, where
all the smokers and chillers flopped. The PA was loud and as clear as a
bell, but because of the size (and extreme height) of the venue, the bass was
swallowed up somewhat. We got the best seats in the house - front and centre
- and sat back..
u-Ziq showcased a lot of new material, mostly very fast, chaotic multi-timing
breakbeats. The dancefloor crowd were having real trouble keeping up with
this. Lots of distortion, lots of EQ sweeps and metallic clashes, this is
some of the best music I've heard from Paradinas yet, and he was playing it
live! It completely overshadowed the older tracks he played, like Phi and
one of the Metal Thing tracks - PLEASE release this stuff soon! Upon
finishing, he quickly scarpered backstage before people had a chance to
applaud!
I'm presuming it was Weatherall who DJed after this amazing set, it was an
utterly boring and pointless jaunt into melody-free tribal techno beat, which
was laughably out of place. To have such banality after one of the most
electrifying and innovative performances I have ever seen! The funny thing
was, his name was bigger than Aphex's on the ticket, someone had the wrong
idea somewhere.. I had a snooze for half-an hour.
I woke up again on hearing some strangely familiar C-64 music, had a look
towards the stage, and there he was, lying on the floor with all his bits and
pieces around him, a faint light giving him an eerie glow in a completely
dark stage. Then total onslaught! Enormously powerful and dynamic drums
shook everything in the building, with ear-splitting white noise and metal
sounds, tumbling and twisting at a frantic rate - this was new, unreleased
Aphex material - with the high frequencies turned up to ridiculous levels, it
made for uncompromising listening. The acoustic of the building and the PA
were perfect, gladly not swamped by bass, but bristling with detail. How
anyone could dance to this is beyond me, I was having enough trouble keeping
up with the music sitting still. Lord knows what the Weatherall fans made of
it.
There were no pauses, no calm moments, no hiding from this brutal attack -
every track was an overdriven and monstrous headfuck. Even the supposedly
calmer golden oldies like Heliosphan, and the orchestral ditty Girl/Boy were
wrapped in barbed wire noise for this evening. On occasional intervals the
teddie bear dancers were led onstage to wibble about - backlit with harsh
white light, leaving only a furry outline, they looked very sinister indeed.
I had hoped for the female bodybuilders too, but sadly there was no sign of
them.
Digeridoo, in its remodelled form, was something of a disappointment, but
even the original in all its phased and flanged glory would have paled in
comparison to the Stockhausen pop on display here - INKEY$ being the prime
example, and, along with the opening unreleased track, the highlight of the
set, its scatterered sirens, noise and drums given new meaning in this
environment.
As the set ended, I could see many shocked faces, and even though I thought I
knew what to expect, I was taken aback by how dynamic - and just plain
amazing - the set, and the night as a whole was. It was difficult to sit
through, but absolutely worthwhile - a historic performance. We walked back
into the centre of Manchester, through the nightmarish graffiti-covered
derelict flats of Hulme, in a daze. Hulme a dangerous place? On the way
back, we didn't see one person who hadn't been at the NIA centre that night.
Cheerio!
NP - Frames Within Frames - Audiomontage