REVIEW: SBTRKT AT BRISTOL THEKLA (06/10/11)
May 2011, Dot-to-Dot Festival, a little known electro dance act is playing Bristol’s favourite nautical venue. A relatively small gaggle of people most too drunk to really comprehend the cacophony of noise being bestowed upon them by the masked magician above, bob and weave and leave mostly satisfied with the experience they have had.
Fast forward five months and that little known dance act has since released an album and drawn comparisons with of the moment contemporaries Jamie Woon and James Blake and has now sold out The Thekla (the aforementioned nautical venue). This is by no means no small feat, yet to perhaps share some of the mainstream attention that Woon and Blake have it’s impressive that the masked duo manage to pack out the same venue Blake has done only months earlier.
Perhaps it’s that SBTRKT offer something different to the mainstream vibe of Blake and Woon a somewhat tribal feel, the heavy deadweight bass is accompanied by chilled out grooves that cause the songs to purr along rather than growl or whimper.
Not that this act is afraid to growl smashing the drum kit with more abandon than precision it only adds to the roars of the rapturous crowd in particular for single “Living Like I Do” though most of the performance seemed to emanate from a laptop, little attention was paid to it and more to manipulating effects through various devices. Though interesting to listen to, not particularly too pleasing to watch. Like watching someone else tell a joke that only they understand the punchline to.
In short it will be interesting to see whether SBTRKT is still selling out these venues in another 12 months, where he and his contemporaries go in this time is definitely going to be interesting.
Words and photo: Laura Palmer
Video: Yatin Amin
