[NO.SIGNAL] PRESENTS :: EXTENSION#6 :: DANIEL A.I.U. HIGGS (LUNGFISH) - GUAPO - ALEXANDER TUCKER

This is another gig review I am re-publishing; no idea why I took these down in the first place, not much of an aspiring Lester Bangs-move though.

----------------------------------------------------- David Borrie, 24/06/08



[NO.SIGNAL] PRESENTS :: EXTENSION#6 :: DANIEL A.I.U. HIGGS (LUNGFISH) - GUAPO - ALEXANDER TUCKER

http://no-signal.net/xtns6/

http://guaponews.blogspot.com/

So it was back to State 51 in Rhoda Street, Shoreditch to see Guapo, an instrumental group consisting of two core members- Dave Smith and Daniel O'Sullivan- drummer and keyboardist respectively, along with a rotating membership of accomplices.

Hewing closely to the math-rock tendencies of Battles or Dillinger Escape Plan, Guapo also sound like they share a spiritual connection with neo-psychedelic acts such as Circle and Ghost. In fact, as they played the references came thick and fast- here a bit of Acid Mothers, there a bit of Can, now some Tortoise. I found myself wondering when I was going to hear something that didn’t have an easy precedent in someone else’s muse, or at least my own record collection.

Their set consisted of very long pieces with heavily rehearsed changes; their playing admittedly was excellent. The bassist and guitarist, both recent additions to the line-up, watched carefully- almost comically, like dogs awaiting a thrown stick- for cues from the drummer at crucial points. The drummer appeared oblivious, ecstatic, pop-eyed and with lips blown out like Dizzie Gillespie as he attacked his kit. This included a three-foot diameter gong which he struck to signal major shifts in tempo, therein reminding me vaguely of The Muppet Show.

These moments lay between bouts of somewhat superfluous guitar-wrestling theatrics- the guitarist, incongruous with his wild shock of dark hair and goth-rockabilly visage, betraying something of a Nick Zinner fetish while the rest of the band looked to be channelling something closer to Amon Duul II.

Their second piece involved some backwards delay effects, with the band-members setting up a loop and then abandoning the stage to wander the audience playing melodicas and banging on fry-pans. The move seemed more a half-hearted attempt art-house theatrics, or maybe piss-take, than out of any real musical intent, and I for one was impatient for them to finish banging the cookware and resume playing their confectionary, enjoyably pretentious music.

Which they did, setting up some impressive heavy metal drones around looping note-clusters from the keyboardist’s Fender Rhodes. Things gradually increased in volume and intensity towards a dramatic final showdown in the last ten minutes, in which the drummer looked apoplectic to the point of turning the sticks on himself, the keyboardist was leaning on his Rhodes like Tom Waits at 5.00 AM, and the bass player visibly bobbed his head. The old crescendo trick seemed to pay off, and after a nearly one-hour set the audience still hadn’t had quite enough.

The [no.signal] event calendar, having it's origins in live electronic performances, revolves around improvised music. This may in part be due to an early compensatory imperative to avoid sequenced compositions on the basis that these pose an existential conundrum to guys who perform while standing motionless behind a computer (e.g., “What the fuck am I doing here?”).

So while [no.signal]'s principal activities have grown to encompass more varieties of improvised music, it was refreshing to see them lay on a heavily structured and rehearsed rock performance for a change. Nevertheless, as pulpy, well-heeled and enjoyable as their music was, it failed to transcend the sum of its influences. As they played, I found myself mentally willing Guapo to just ignore the script and jam.

----------------------------------------------------- David Borrie, 15/03/07