From Jonathan Tedds Sent Tue, Jun 23rd 1998, 19:04
From Jonathan Tedds Sent Tue, Jun 23rd 1998, 19:04
Richard wrote a good review of: >Plone, Broadcast, Autechre, Plaid >Queen Elizabeth Hall, London >20th June Hi Richard, I also attended and thought it was only a partial success due to the fact that Autechre were head-and-shoulders above the rest but only onstage for a shortish while. Just my personal bias of course. >Kickoff was 10pm; John Peel spoke very briefly & handed over to Plone. >They used lots of "cheesy" organ sounds, 50s sci-fi noises, and >early-Casio Latin percussion sounds, plus some kicking loops & rumbling >bass. Some pieces had a fairground sound to them; in general less bass- >or drum-oriented than much "IDM" music. Some very good stuff -- overall >a retro feel; a friend commented that it was kind of like a 50s >prediction of the music of the future. They played until 10.45. Agree with your decription but far too retro (even the clothes!). I still remember those sounds and clothes from when i was a kid and my mum made my clothes. Not enough new ideas I felt. Lots of live-playing but felt it to be more doodling than progressive or evolving. There was one track which built up quite nicely.... >In between the sets Warp videos and tracks were played; I was >particularly glad to see "Second bad vilbel" (stunning), "On" and "Donkey > rhubarb". Oh, and on the way in there were people handing out WAP100 >keyrings, stickers, & sweets, and postcards for the new Autechre album. >(But there were no Warp/Autechre T-shirts or other merchandise on sale.) Nice touch by Warp I felt. The cd stall rapidly sold out all of the WAP100s! >Broadcast started at 11 & played until 11.45. They're never going to get anywhere i wouldn't have thought but found them more engaging than Plone at least. >Autechre started at 12 and played in complete darkness for 55 minutes. >It was the first time I've seen them live, having managed to miss them >with depressing frequency for years, but I love all their releases. >I was quite shocked, therefore, to find myself disappointed by the set. >Firstly, it was as if they'd turned the tempo of their sequencers up to >11; the set was considerably faster than any of their released tracks. >(This was particularly noticeable when "Second bad vilbel" was played >after their set.) Secondly -- possibly due to the first factor -- I >didn't recognise a single track (though I noticed a familiar chord >sequence, and some of the rhythm from "Clipper"). That's not to say I >didn't enjoy the set -- just that I expected something very different. >Pieces were long, and used the rhythmic mutation of "Chiastic Slide"; >they were ultra-complex, often loud and discordant, and >always interesting. Are all their live sets like this? I didn't think it was one of their best but to hear the rhythmic complexity on such a good (without being overloud) PA was superb. I love the way you never know what you will get from them live - I saw them do a very sparse set last year in a dark Manchester club (Sankeys, fittingly) but a wonderful set bulging with evolving basslines in a large Leeds venue more recently. Last night, as for the other two recent sets mentioned, included looong versions of Envane - but developed differently on each occasion. There's nobody else even close. Certainly not amongst the other 3 acts tonight. >Plaid played from 1am until 2. and had loads of their mates in the audience who gave receptions somewhat out of proportion to the sounds i thought. Some of the tracks were just getting good but then they kept stopping. I thought that, like Autechre, they were slightly compromised by the brevity of their slots but I think it's better live to develop 3 or 4 long tracks a la Ae than 10 different excerpts a la Plaid. Overall the concert had a nice laid-back atmosphere though. John Peel got a cheer for pointing out that this was a mercifully Britpop-free environment! Cheers, Jonny