BRISTOL BIG JEFF: CUTTING FROM THE EDGE (NOVEMBER 2010)
Well hello again readers, here we go with another mouth frothing summary of the past months gigs, this past month has been monstrous on the gig going front, there have been some real high flying legends co-horting themselves through Bristol.
First up was KRS One needs no introduction to hip-hop fans as he was one of the true pioneers of the genre in the 80’s; he bounded onto the full-capacity launch of Bristol In:Motion at the Bristol mega club Motion. He was complimented by Skits&Rodney P in support and whole host of djs; this meant that he did not take to the stage until the paltry hour of 2am. Still it gave him ample time to rattle out real hip hop and whoop whoop loads of times.
The very next day I had to play a last min Non Compus Mentus show at Mr Wolfs with me feeling like as if I had been head butting a wall constantly for 7 hours, which for some reason helped me to deliver an ultra intense performance.
Islet, who are one of my favourite live bands of the moment provided a perfectly mesmeric show at the Louisiana, if you have not seen these guys live then just go to one of their shows because their live performances are nothing less than spectacularly engaging and erratic, with various members running off into the audience and screaming in people’s faces. It’s like as if Los Campesinos had taken way too much lemon sherbet and bound around like hyper-active kids.
The Black Angels played the Thekla later that week, and I turned up early to catch up with Kool-Aid Electric Company who I had seen a couple of months before supporting Silver Apples. The last time I saw The Black Angels was two and half years ago at the Fleece, at that gig I remember seeing a massive force field around me (due to my synesthesia), little did I know that this time round my visions would be so much more intense! I mean I saw an eyeball try and eat me at one point, because the mixture of light and sound triggers off certain things in my head.
Both Yuck and Fanzine engrossed me with their take on the American lofi indie sound, both clutching more than a handful of ear grabbing, floor board bouncing tunes. Errors and Twilight Sad did the friendly co-headline tour visiting the Fleece, displaying both their varsity in styles and volume and craft with distortions and the way that both bands built up their songs – Twilight Sad with their epic force and Errors with their more dancey based shoe gaze.
John Peel favourites Melt Banana absolutely destroyed the Thekla taking the lead for potential gig of the year. I have seen these guys two or three times before but nothing can quite prepare you for the sonic speed barrage that hits you when they take to the stage. The technicality of what they play is ridiculous, looping guitars at over 100 mph with crashing beats, sporadic female yelps as well as amazing hydraulic sounds coming from an instrument that looked like a cross between a Theremin and a chaos pad. They did an ultra intense encore squeezing 7 songs in just over 5mins. I could hardly walk because of the bruises sustained on both knee caps! Ouch!
I also got to see the legendary reclusive rapper MF Doom at the 02 Academy and yes the real Doom did turn up, contrary to some of the rumours. The next day saw Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip turning out more of the songs, supported by the bemusing spectacle of the all female psychedelic choir Gaggle.
Wolf People also lead another contender for gig of the year at the Louisiana, they attacked 60’s and 70’s styled psychedelic rock breaking free into jams like early Jethro Tull/Led Zeppelin.
By Bristol’s most prolific gig goer, Big Jeff
