Tag: Baconhead

Colour me digital

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September saw our first involvement with Brighton Digital Festival and it came off rather well, three very different facets of digital music.

The 55th Flotilla were kind enough to take a break from their regular Build Brighton night and supply the elektrocreche, with their trademark ships wheel and telegraph, their new large size telegraph is a particular joy.



ian n nick useStarting our evening off was the first live collaboration between Nicholas Langley (Hz, Cosmonaut Transfer) and Ian Murphy (Hobo Sonn), Ian set up in front of the stage (“I like to hear the actual PA”) with his vintage sampler and Nick sat right down on the cobbled floor with a phone. They start with Nick circling Ian’s sonics quite uncertainly, settling into the evening before really starting to assert himself – pushing Ian out of his usual places, before fluttering some phoned in tapped tabla that had Ian bouncing back with some textural drones. Then Nick switched to a fuzzed organ that wound around what Ian was doing for a very satisfactory psychedelic finale.


john wall useJohn Wall had to leave early so played the central slot and turned in a real storming set, wringing every tone from the generous PA that the Green Door Store has, so a special mention to Matt Benzie the soundman for giving him free reign to really stretch the sonics of the room. It was also nice to have John play in an environment where you could see the whites of his eyes as they flick around his laptop screen, totally focussed on what he’s doing. Really abstract but very cohesive, from trouser flapping bass to the cleanest top ends.


baconheadSo Baconhead gear up the proceedings, keeping the bass extended but adding crunchy rhythms. Referencing Panoptica and Derrick May; with extreme repetition, pitch bends and odd sounds it was step on from their set in the spring, uncluttered and unhoodied keeping focus on the dynamics. Head noddingly good.


A return to chin-stroking

For March, normal service is resumed, with an opportunity to drool at some vintage equipment.

TwentyTwenty

TwentyTwenty consisted of a new set of twenty one minute films with an improvised soundtrack provided by Andrew Greaves (SH101), Dan Powell (scrapey guitar), Tony Rimbaud (odd electronic things) and the very tall Richard Miles and his tiny guitar. As such its a much more electric sound than previously lots of beeps, some nice trafficy hums and washes, some clicks and scrapes. Each four minute segment starting on some strange base of atmosphere as they take it turns to lead off and build up into quite a different montage. The whole thing managing to go through a range of moods while remaining quite delicate and considered.

Sonic Roundabout

Sonic Roundabout were a two piece with some lovely old equipment that had been switched on while most of us were eating our tea: the minimoog needed tuning up just before they went on stage, it was a visual reminder of the sleeve notes of all those 70s Moog LPs… As well as the moog there was a rare sighting of the wonderful Lyricon, a clarinet powered synth, and some drum patterns based on old Simmons samples. Marvellous. Naturally it was heavy on arpeggios and warbly leads, wonderfully warm analogue sounds all round. Marvellous. Really. For a couple of numbers they were joined by a singer with a strong Germanic vocal style.

Baconhead

Taking a sidestep into digital synthesis, Baconhead were another two piece, this time ensconced behind Macs with midi controllers and fiercely bobbing heads as they stepped up the tempo, the bass and the harshness of the beats. As suits an act so allied with Wrong Music it’s a playful set, allied to a love of the harder edges of modern music, although not approaching the light-speed of days of yore.