September

27/09/02
Not Selling Out, oh no.
Nought gigs are turning out to be like buses. After waiting 3 years or so to see them, they end up playing twice in the same month. Their music is like a ballerina falling down a very long flight of stairs. In amongst all the noses of the guitars, moments of beauty emerges. However you need the noise to be there too, it's just the perfect balance.
They were a pretty strange choice of support for The Fall. They have been around for what seems like forever, but still no other band quite manages to sound like them. For the first time in ages, I felt like I was bringing the average age of the audience down, what with most of them being in their 30s and 40s. The moshpit was a scary sight indeed.
Gig Count: 77
So from one band based around one vocalist to another. Without Lee, Smilex definately wouldn't be as interesting. Spending equal amounts of the set on stage, and finely balanced on anything he can stretch to, it's quite amazing that they haven't managed to wreck any venue... yet.
Gig Count: 78
24/09/02
Not as expected
Trailerpark's getting a bit Spinal Tap. Original support act Tompaulin couldn't play, as their keyboard player had quit th band earlier in the day, so we got a set from Antonia instead. As a last minute replacement, she played by herself, but without her backing band, all the songs sounded a bit plain.
Touring must be boring the Goldrush boys, as they played tonight under their alter-ego, The Maple-lettes. For some reason they were all wearing hats, and looked and sounded like they were trying to do the country era of 70s rock bands. The best song of their set was a cover of Aliyah's More Than A Woman. But in general, better stick to the normal band.
The Butterflies of Love were a total surprise to me. Looking like people who had just come out of the office, their songs had the perfect balance of music and feedback. It was just a shame that there was such a small audience to see them.
Gig Count: 76
23/09/02
A bit of everything
Usually with Trailerparks we get a theme with the bands playing, but there wasn't much of a common thread between the bands tonight. Opening with Flying Machine, from Brighton. Their hometown at the moment is the hotbed of most of the great live groups around, but Flying Machine will have to make up their mind before they join them. They haven't quite yet established their own sound, with each song sounding like it was influenced by a totally different band, from Mansun to Radiohead.
Meanwhile, Chamfer do have a pretty unique sound, a sort of 60s pop vibe mixed with Bhangra influence. When you mention Indian influences it's usually a bad sign (Kula Shaker, Toploader to a certain extent), but it seemed to work for Chamfer.
And The Relationships are as straightforward as you can get, harking back to the days when indie music was straightforward, the time when everyone wore clips in their hair. Almost a bit twee.
Gig Count: 75
20/09/02
Just plug and go
Sometimes there are advantages to keeping things simple. With KTB's set up, she can just go anywhere, plug in her guitar, and sing. She is probably better suited to playing places like bookshops and cafes than proper venues, without the endless chatter of people in the background.
Gig Count: 74
17/09/02

Where's the hairdresser?
I've waited so long for this gig, having read the rave reviews about the headliners, so was it worth it then?
Managed to catch a bit of the first band, Tartfuel, who weren't as bad as I expected (by the usual standard of the first band on at Club That gigs...). The lead singer seemed to be trying to sound like Brian from Placebo, except with a bit more of a macho sound, in amidst all the heavy bass.
Smilex are on a one band mission to bring some humour into live shows. Having seen them so many times, the joke's running a bit low now, but they still beat most bands for the spectacle. Lee, as usual, was running around everywhere, climbing on top of everything, not a bit of the stage was left untouched.
Seachange were rather boring really. They started off sounding like the dull bits of the Doves and the Fall, and ended up sounding like Oasis. All the songs were lost in the midst of the noise, and they all sounded pretty much the same.
There's been loads of reviews raving on about 80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster, putting them in the same 'scene' as Lapsus Linguae and the Parkinsons etc, but anything after the hype would be a bit disappointing. The lead singer spent the set looking like he was half drunk and half stoned. Yup, they are part of the group of bands that are the British answer to the American invasion, but in direct comparison with them, they would be a bit like the Hives, in comparison to Lapsus as the White Stripes.
Gig Count: 73
12/09/02
Sewing My Ears Back On
So Reuben are supposed to be the next big thing then. Not that surprsing really, when they sound like a bit like a more shouty 100 Reasons, and a bit like Green Day. Meanwhile McLusky definately take a few listens to get used to. With every show I see, I'm getting to understand them more. Unfortunately their major unique point, their lyrics, was hidden under the noise of the instruments.
Gig Count: 72
09/09/02
Queercore or something
Tonight, just like the other nights of this amazing weekend, it was the unexpected that turned out to be brilliant. Lesbo Pig were billed as anti-folk, and actually ended up sounding quite twee. Keeping their songs short, they managed to play about 11 songs in 15 minutes. They looked a bit like a lesbian version of Sonny and Cher. Linus meanwhile were a bit more conventional, and continued the twee theme. KTB is starting an unusually busy month. Tonight with just her cousin Lucy for support, her simple songs really showed through. The surprise for the night were the Sewing Circle, as soon as they came onstage you knew they were a bit odd, with the singer wearing a furry hat with ears, and a dress (he was male). They were the strange lovechild of the White Stripes and the Mouldy Peaches, conceived while watching Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
Gig Count:71
08/09/02

Don't Bring Me Down
I shouldn't be surprised really, the result when you get a room full of Truckers and lots of alcohol. Tonight Matthew, lots of Truck related artists are going to be Goldrush.
It was an album launch party for Goldrush, and instead of singing all the songs themselves (something they have done loads of times in the past few years) they got their friends to sing for them, and then sing one of their friends' songs instead. As you can see there was a great potential for it all to go wrong, but it just worked so well.
So Jimmy Crosskey sang a pretty rocking version of Wide Open Sky, followed by September. Rachel Dadd sang Same Picture then 180 Degrees. Lee Smilex and Phill Travolta did a version of Don't Bring Me Down that ended up sounding like Bends era Radiohead, followed by a song that Phill and Robin wrote about Ibiza (or something). The star turn of the night was a drunk member of the audience singing Landscape that looked like it was going to go hip hop at any moment. Will and Mike from Black Nielson joined in to sing Love is Here then a pretty note perfect Calm Down it's All A Dream. Jimmy returned for Best Intentions. Then KTB sang Stop Or Go Slow Man followed by Dream On with her brothers. It's been a long running joke that Joe sings like a girl, but Jamie Dustball matched his singing note for note, for Dead before adding his own trademark abrasive guitars and finishing on Senor Nachos.
So we got to see sides of all these bands we hardly ever see, Goldrush straying into Punk, some other bands going a bit twee. Should we do this again for the next album?
Gig Count: 70
07/09/02

Ears Still Ringing
Alldayers are possibly even worse for your health than festivals. You are couped up all day, and everything sounds much louder, but just like festivals everything ends up in a blur. However to help this year, all the groups playing at Audioscope fell into 2 categories, noisy punk pop or experimental, almost crossing into dance category.
Sunnyvale Noise Sub-Element, consisting of your hosts of the day, put themselves on first (almost applying a Shellac like philosophy to the proceedings). Prefering to take the scenic route, they were the soundtrack to some space journey. They almost make you believe that the computer can be a proper musical instrument.
A strangely early set for Dustball, who I can never tire of watching. After flogging the same set around for the last year or so, there are now some major changes to the set, featuring 3 new songs, and the good news is that they are going faster. With the excitemnet building up for about them, finally, let's hope they get somewhere this time.
Souvaris slowed things down. Taking an almost classical approach to their music, they were like a hybrid of gentle Lapsus Linguae and Sigur Ros
Fighting Red Adair confused me, at times they sounded like the Pixies, with even a member that looked a bit like Frank Black if you squinted hard enough. However there were moments when they verged into punk/metal territory, not that I'll be brave enough to tell them to their face of course.
The noise was carried on by my favourite new band of the year. Cat on Form have so much energy, guitarist Dan spent the last half of the set crawling around and falling over. Maybe the keyword of the day was abrasive, but there is so much more to them than skinny indie kids playing ATDI, and making it work.
After this assualt on your ears it was back down to the twisted country sound of Eeebleee. They played well, but lacked some of that intensity that makes some of their gigs so good. When they're good they can be very, very good, but when they're not so good, they are just a bit average.
Appliance were gently impressive, not that immediate, but they came across as some cross between Kraftwerk and Spiritualized.
I've waited 5 years to see Nought, and it was worth it. Opening with Redrag and Ignatius, they started off with the more well known material, to ease us into this amazing sound of melodic nose. Like half the bands playing today, they didn't say anything, but expressed everything through their fingers. Each of the band members were obviously so talented, it was just amazing to watch.
After all that excitement, the day was rounded off with more gentler stuff from Pram. The unexpected thing was that they actually sounded quite twee, but also like a country and western version of Stereolab.
Gig Count:69

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