Vex’d, µZiq, Chevron, Barry Lynn, Venetian Snares & Shitmat - Corsica Studios, London – 10/5/08
4/5
By: Charlie Potter
I have been to quite a lot of these marathon electronica shows now, and to be honest with you I have my reservations about the way these things are organised. Not being much of a pill head dancer I find it hard to get excited about a show that starts at 10pm and goes on until 6 in the morning, where the running order will most likely not be made clear, and having more than one room means if one thing goes wrong the whole thing is messed up.
Usually at these events it's a comparatively aged crowd with most people around their mid 20s to early 30s mark, but suddenly it seems that has all changed - as we reach the doors, we are shocked to see a huge array of very young looking teens. I have no real problem with this, although at times they do prove to be a bit irritating. Ultimately though it's great for Planet Mu to have this young support who are going to stick with them, and it's all thanks to Mary Anne Hobbs. Well no, not exactly, although her sticking her face on the front of a Planet Mu compilation has worked wonders for both of them. DJing at the show tonight will probably about the coolest thing she ever does, not that anyone in their right minds is going to miss Barry Lynn a.k.a. Boxcutter to watch her DJ.
When we first arrive it is so packed it's uncomfortable - you can barely get in the room where Exile is playing and I end up reluctantly opting out even though it's one of the main things that I had been looking forward to all night. After standing outside with some rather reluctant light-weight friends who are smoking one rollie after another, I get bored and decide to ditch them, which turns out to be the best decision I make all night. I manage to force my way in to see a healthy portion of Vex'd who forcibly make me realise that this not going to be such a bad night after all. The duo play from the side stage of the room, gurning away, and manage to make ultra heavy pounding dub step really good fun. Their set doesn't have a great deal of dynamic to it, but this doesn't worry me or the rest of the crowd as it slowly builds up to an excitement that can only be reserved for the young, and I am again convinced that dub step really has to be experienced live if you are going to make any sort of decision on it, I am pleasantly surprised tonight by this act that I have never been particularly drawn to the recorded sound of.
At this point I am having such a good time I decide to try and save my cancer-bound friends and I end up settling for watching the end of Mike Paradinas' (µ-Ziq) set, at which point I am thinking, fair enough to planet Mu, there are posters absolutely everywhere telling you what is on when. What's more, things tend to run bang on time throughout the night, despite one or two technical problems. After initial doubts I have actually become quite a fan of µ-Ziq s last album, but with the stress of it being near impossible to obtain breathing space and generally feeling like I sort of want to go home, it is not doing a great deal for me live, although it does slowly wind up and become quite intense by the end of the set.
Another thing that often annoys me about electronica shows is that there is no time in between one act finishing and the next starting, which will tend to extenuate the marathon aspect of the situation. This is what they are trying to achieve between Mu-Ziq and Chevron, but annoyingly the treble is not coming out of the speakers our side of the stage, so all we can hear is a low rumble. Chevron doesn't seem to know anything is wrong, so getting increasingly frustrated I head to the bar and hope that the technical hitches sort themselves out by the time I am back. Coming back from the bar with a ridiculously over priced drink in my hand, I return with renewed vigour and positivity - this turns out to be a massive turning point of the evening. Every second from here on in is utterly fantastic, as I rejoin Chevron technical hitches have been ironed out and he is playing upbeat party time acid electro. If that's not enough to put a smile on your face then my advice is work out what you think the most romantic way to kill yourself is, because none of your friends and family love you anyway, you miserable git. From there Chevron takes us through a mystical journey of harsh dubstep, ragasized Jungle and a bit of Gabba to top it all off. In genuinely one of the broadest electronica sets I have ever seen, he also drops the fantastic 'Swimmin' Lessons' from his album Everything's Exactly the Same, which is initially quite exciting but doesn't really go anywhere. The real treat comes when he plays the melodically perfect 'Power of Eternia', by far the best point of the night for me as I've had this album on my iTunes for a while but the playcount for this track is more than double anything else on the LP. I am totally addicted to this track and it works perfectly live, providing the one point of the evening that I am glad that the speakers are ridiculously loud. I think this track alone will be something that keeps me coming back to electronica shows again and again, no matter how demanding they may be.
After this I opt for Barry Lynn (Boxcutter's slower, dub step moniker) over Mary Ann Hobbes, the women who seemingly loves all music but has nothing interesting to say about any of it. Perhaps I'm being too hard on her but as an avid fan of her Radio 1 Rock Show as a teenager I eventually just got fed up of her silly, smug voice. And I undoubtedly make the right choice as Barry Lynn turns out to be a highlight of the night for many of the attendees. Every note of this set has been perfectly and meticulously crafted, even the reverb is precisely mapped out into the room, and Mr. Lynn is having a whale of a time. He is clearly very proud of himself, and so he should be. He also brings a decent live element to the mix, the details of which are a little hard to explain beyond mental knob twizzling. He proves to be a master of that skill these slow electronica DJs have been mastering of late which consists of pulling a beat apart down to almost nothing, and just as you think it's about to disappear, a carefully placed break beat will fit over the top, as if it had had always been there.
After Barry Lynn, Venetian Snares is due to play the same room, which is obviously going to be crammed - this is made even more obvious by the crowds of people that were formerly watching Barry's set with enthusiasm turning to watch Venetian Snares merely set up. Yep, they would rather watch him set up than watch some music that they were previously enjoying. Heeding the signs I stay put and try and keep my relatively good position, and when Venetian Snares starts playing my position is quickly compromised by hoards of people bouncing off of each other. My mosh pit days, were heavily lived out by the time I was 16 (I'm so cool, you're thinking - perhaps not, considering the music I was moshing to), so I put up with it for a decent length of time but decide that I cant concentrate on the set whilst I am constantly having to avoid various sweaty flailing limbs, and end up moving back a bit. I have seen Venetian Snares a few times, the best of which was one of the best shows I have ever seen, the worst of which was tried, tested and altogether a little stale. Tonight is an above average performance from the relentless Canadian pounder. The set started off with some crazy acid stylings which is interesting for Snares to be doing but it was still very much in the 'yeah, yeah, we've heard it a million times before' region. The first corner is turned when he plays the fantastic 'Husikám Rave Dojo' from has last EP Pink and Green, which I think is super and a lot of fun, particularly live. From here the set just keeps getting more and more mental, and it's after about 20 odd minutes that you remember just how very lucky to have Aaron Funk (which he insists is his birth name) in the world. After all, no one really does what he does, because no one can. I am overjoyed when he decides to play something off of Rossz Csillag Alatt Született which then leads back into the fury of a man once again manically nodding his head whilst he turns knobs.
And what better end to a glorious night (or morning if your going to be pedantic) than Shitmat - you know what you're getting with this lad, but it's worth every penny. At 5:00 in the morning after having no illegal substances and only one beer, I can still find it in myself to dance to my hearts content at a 'Boom Shake the Room' mash up. Thank you, Shitmat - you have shown me the wise way to be once again.
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment