SOTTO VOCE, LONDON, 10 FEBRUARY 2007, FOR THE BENEFIT OF RESONANCE 104.4 FM

I am re-publishing this review, which I took it down ages ago for some stupid reason. The band Aufgehoben since repeated part of this review on their website; it can be found at:

http://fp.aufgehoben.f9.co.uk/live.htm

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



SOTTO VOCE, LONDON, 10 FEBRUARY 2007, FOR THE BENEFIT OF RESONANCE 104.4 FM

http://www.no-signal.net/sottovoce/stage.php?stagenum=2&artistnum=3

State 51 is an old factory building in Shoreditch, with two main spaces in use for performances. For the purposes of this event, room 1 was used for ‘electric’ performances and room 2 for ‘acoustic’, although more accurately this translated to respectively ‘loud’ and ‘quiet’ areas. I arrived at the venue around 8pm; although the gig had started at four, I was there mainly to see Testicle Hazard and Aufgehoben who were to perform later in the ‘loud’ space.

I still managed to catch a bit of performances by Rhodri Davies & Angharad Davies and James Blackmore in the ‘quiet’ space. The first duo performed pointillist, subtle music, using amplified violin and e-bowed harp to render gentle drones and staccato scrapings. James Blackmore played solo 12-string acoustic; reflective, beatific passages of rapid finger-picking and folksy melody. I’ll admit, this kind of music fails to grab me generally which is why didn’t stick around long for either act; so although both performances seemed well-executed, I won’t inflict my opinions on you beyond that.

Testicle Hazard came on at around 9pm. They’re a Scandinavian ‘noise’ electronics duo; although I’m not a connoisseur of this type of music, I’ve seen a few such performances and this one was no disappointment.

One half of Testicle Hazard is Lasse Marhaug, a bald and bearded Norwegian bloke who releases his own material as Jazkammer. The other one is a Finn called Tommi Keränen. Both dudes were set up on separate tables facing the audience. From my position in the crowd, I could mainly see Marhaug, who was using a cheap Behringer mixer, a couple of pedals, and one of these custom-built boxes: http://www.bugbrand.co.uk/pages/sounddevices.htm#weevil

Both of them seemed to be playing what looked like biscuit tins, or perhaps those flat metal canisters that reels of film come in- er, film-canisters, I think they're called. At one point Keränen seemed to be air-soloing on his. Presumably these were contact-mic’ed and run through the electronics, so the performers were able to generate a horrific din by rattling, banging and drumming on the tins while manipulating the gear with the kind of mock strenuousness typical of hair-metal guitarists.

Early on in the performance I felt compelled to use the ratty old complimentary ear-plugs I had salvaged from an Emirates flight – a little while ago I suffered a bout of tinnitus following a Keiji Haino concert and I was not keen to exacerbate the situation.

The general idea behind their performance seemed to be to reference the volume and ferocity of extreme heavy metal, while completely omitting its structure and ‘musicality’. What you’re left with is a kind of subconscious after-image of that genre- rumbling, growling sheets of howling feedback and (literally) metallic distortion, a waterfall of sheer volume abating fairly abruptly after 30 or 40 minutes.

It was quite something to behold live, but I’m not sure I’d bother listening to this stuff on headphones; after the initial shock-and-awe, there’s not much to hold the attention. Interesting though were the responses of the audience; one or two seemed to be moshing, while a couple of drunken revellers attempted to waltz in the midst of the crowd, bumping into people and getting a few dark looks from the other hipsters. I also saw at least one bemused girlfriend being led away by her partner after the first ten minutes- I don’t know why, but this always raises a grin.

After a hiatus of 20 minutes or so it was time for Aufgehoben to make an appearance. All I know about them is that they’re British despite the name, have been around for ages but seldom perform live, and all seem to be at least in their 40s, which is curiously comforting to me as I am pushing thirty myself and suffering somewhat of an under-achievement crisis.

Aufgehoben consist of two drummers, a keyboardist and a guitarist, the latter of which has the sort of proficiency in making non-musical sounds with his instrument which can only come from decades of obsessive practise. Their music can be described as heavily-deconstructed rock- sort of an abstract-impressionist take on the feel and dynamics of the format, without confusing the issue with songs, chords, lyrics and the rest of that extraneous bullshit.

Their music appeals to me a lot, because although its concerns appear similar to the likes of Testicle Hazard, the execution and dynamics allow for narrative and linear complexity, which to me make for a more interesting and less emotionally disconnected listen. For the same reason, I’m a fan of Norwegian band Supersilent, whose music is not entirely dissimilar- loosely-arranged improvisation, live electronics, and two drummers who gradually abandon any attempt at syncopation as the intensity of the performance crescendos.

Aufgehoben were clearly improvising, but following mutual cues of some sort, whether agreed on before the performance or simply a manifestation of the improvising group ‘mind’. About two-thirds of the way in, a slowly building hiss of white-noise was met by a charging assault of thunderous drumming and frantic dive-bombing guitar which raised hackles in the manner of the best idiot-energy-producing music. This took several minutes to reach its apex before ending suddenly; in all they only played for half an hour, but in the best tradition left the audience baying for more. Thoroughly impressed.

----------------------------------------- David Borrie, 14/02/07