A Dystopian Rave For The Posttechno Clubber
Autechre + Soviet France
Barbican
The Trees in the Forest projection is the only light in the Barbican tonight.
Backstage is the long-awaited opening act for Soviet France, a legend of the early industrial scene and the cabaret equivalent of Voltaire.
Mark Warren and Ben Ponton of Durate in Newcastle are close to perfect in terms of their impressive catalog of distorted sound experiments.
However, they opted for a softer and more atmospheric setting than expected, perhaps because they did not want to force the audience to perform until the author had the opportunity to do so. But with only half an hour left before the game, everyone seemed to run out of time after they got used to it. On the other hand, this often happens when titles support performance.
Working in obscurity and without a strict valuation policy, Osher's harsh, mechanical tones begin to echo.
The first impression is amazing. His semi-improvised live performances, many taken from soundboard recordings, have become legendary as electronic music takes a free jazz approach.
There's a glitch here and a ragged beat there, some turning into a staggering wall of sound, others seem lost in the electric ether. This is a dystopian post-tech club joke.
Autechre have always been at the forefront of electronic music, and some say they are the fathers of the so-called IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), the duo of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, which is rightly called "stupid".
Certainly an impressive piece of programming, today's performance is still top-notch and those hoping for more power may leave something to be desired.
Part of the audience stands to applaud, but the thought of someone's vocal art gives me yet another migraine.
