From Adam Huffman Sent Tue, Feb 3rd 1998, 13:55
From Adam Huffman Sent Tue, Feb 3rd 1998, 13:55
On Sun, 1 Feb 1998, wells wrote: > >Not decided yet whether I'm going to wear my Ae t-shirt or possibly the > >Kraftwerk one. Or even something else. > > > why don't you wear the "namedropper" shirt. or perhaps "i listen to this > band, i'm cool." > It was stupidly obvious that I was providing the information so that any who wished so to do could identify me. Do you really think I could give a flying one whether anyone thinks I'm 'cool', especially people on this list? Anyway, enough of the sourness. I'm not normally prone to hyperbole, but Squarepusher's set was probably the most enjoyable one I've ever attended. First, though, was Chantal, who seemed to be sponsored by Seefeel/Mark Clifford for the night...One of her last tunes was (I'm informed) a wonderful Passarani piece (which in fact I'd heard before). Then Plone live. They'd played the night before in Manchester but suffered equipment problems. This was only their fifth ever live appearance. An odd state set-up, a little reminiscent of Tubeway Army i.e. three blokes behind three keyboard stands, in a row. Unfortunately the PA wasn't very clear but it was certainly an interesting set and I had to admire them for having the gumption to perform live i.e. fingers playing notes, not just selecting sequencer tracks etc. The third tune had a wonderful looping bass line, I remember. Quite hard to characterise the sound - lots of retro analogue elements but not in the usual manner. I'm keen to hear what they sound like in the studio now. Following them was Mr. Scruff. He started off with a load of large-beat stuff, which far from succeeded in engaging me. Inevitably evolved into dnb, some strange hybrid techstep/jazz things were quite interesting. At 2am Mr. Jenkinson appeared, with no facial hair and a new streamlined barnet. Wearing a very desirable Atari t-shirt. He had a microphone. As expected he began with some hardcore business from 1990-91. Right from the start he was flying and he took the crowd with him. He acted as his own MC; that probably sounds really cheesy but his mad enthusiasm came through - "Come on Riders" and lots of other less printable ones. He danced in the DJ booth. Both Powerpill and Trip to Trumpton (?) never sounded so good. At one point he faded himself towards the end of a bar and with exquisite timing said "Hello" before fading back to the music. No doubt much of his energy can be attributed to it being his birthday. So many DJs look so bored when they're performing, but Mr. J. was enjoying himself so much that you couldn't avoid smiling. I could give a long list of quotes but they would sound really stupid removed from their original context. (I think I must sound like one of those rave kids but the fact that I allow myself to do so indicates what a good night it was). He was supposed to finish at 4 but the crowd showed no intention of leaving. "Shall I bust a move?" he said. So he did. Proclaiming himself a bit bored off all this "jungalist nonsense" he went on to spin some very fine acid, only to be cut off at 4.15. I was so happy that I didn't mind waiting for an hour in the dodgy Finsburk Park environs for the Tube to start running again. A small correction to what Steve (Taylor) said about the nights at the Leadmill a couple of years ago: there was one night in autumn 1995 with Panasonic and one in ~March 1996 with Jimi Tenor, Squarepusher and Bruce Gilbert. Sqpr's performance there is still the best I've seen, but as Mr. K.F. said it might have been the sheer unexpected impact. For those able to make it Ae are playing at the Vapour thing this Saturday - can't go myself. adam