Issue 34 / June 2013

NHK’koyxen (Glyn Akroyd)
Hall, Frances Disley and Dave Evans from The
Royal Standard, brings to life an ambitious and
extremely original A/V setup based on complex
live drawings and elaborate uses of cameras,
mirrors and turntables.
As BANTAM LIONS open the night, the visual
stratum of sketched projections beautifully
appears on beat with the thriving rhythmical
structure. Some very powerful and flawlessly
layered melodies are twisted together in order
to reach the highly authentic sound of Mike
Carney’s solo project. While people start to fill
the Blade Factory out of pure curiosity, the deep,
low kicks which can be heard on every crotchet
are reminiscent of some mid-90s deep house
or Detroit techno artists such as Moodymann
or Theo Parrish. Repetitive but groovy basslines
give a deeper and more minimalistic aura to the
compositions, which reach climaxes through the
medium of crispy claps and breezy synth lines.
Next on the line-up to continue the
experimental night is Upitup’s master ISOCORE
– an extremely proficient musician who expertly
weaves tech house rhythms with glitchy disco
samples. Tremendously progressive, Isocore’s
more abstract take shifts from either very low,
reverberating passages to certain dark breakcoreinfluenced
structures that contain peculiar IDM
elements. Adhering to a looser set of rules that
concern the aesthetics of the genre, his style is
very visually orientated as it stimulates solid
sonic densities and noisy sharp textures.
However, it is NHK’KOyXEN, aka Kouhey
Matsunga, who absolutely deserves the headline
position – having released twice on the iconic
experimental label PAN, his conceptual bass
melodies and repetitive beats elicit influences
of fast tempo and distorted hardcore techno.
Always pushing the boundaries of any genre
in which he appears to be operating, the drops
and frequent cadence shifts create a collective
labyrinth built-up on some heavily delayed minor
chords. Though quirky atonal textures are used
to convey richer themes, it is the manipulations
of the industrial sounds that really stand out in
the crowd – substantial use of sound effects like
echo, reverb or phasing create a certain futuristic
dub or techno feel which is sharply mirrored
by pervasive drones and abstract warping
elements.
This extraordinary collaboration between
two local creative forces proves how electronic
music has the capacity to produce graphic
reproductions of its own sounds. Intensely
exploring the dimmed boundaries of music as
a direct form of art, this fruitful sound-graphic
partnership can be considered to be a cultural
experiment which is instrumental in developing
kaleidoscopic adventures and psychedelic
journeys.
Nikhita Rigvveda / soundcloud.com/killotto
MOSCA
Last Magpie - Ben Pearce – Rich
Furness – Harry Sheehan
Abandon Silence @ The Kazimier
If you entered The Kazimier at 11:30pm the last
time Abandon Silence hosted proceedings there,
you would have walked into a densely-packed
room starting to loosen up to the sounds of Tom
Demac: but this time round, the place is almost
empty save for the promoters and associated
staff. Not a sliver of worry enters the brain,
however. Those who have left it too late to buy
an advance ticket are now competing to attract
the attention of those selling spares on the
event’s Facebook wall, highlighting the fact this
sold out days ago and a mass of revellers are no
doubt en route as we speak.
While many turn up too late to catch a decent
portion of RICH FURNESS and HARRy SHEEHAN’s
back-to-back set, BEN PEARCE, the man who
produced soulful afterparty standard What I
Might Do, is up at the stroke of midnight to
show everyone he has some other tracks they
might like. It is testament to the quality of his
set that it’s almost surprising when his signature
tune finally worms its way into the mix, a mass