Sounds From The Other City
Article published: Tuesday, May 17th 2011
Gig-goers at Sounds From The Other City (SFTOC) enjoyed one elusive guest not often present on Salford bank holidays; clear skies and sunshine. Now Then Manchesters’ Ian Pennington tells us more about Salford’s sun soaked festival.
First off for me was a quick dip into Islington Mill’s ground floor gallery space where Sonny Smith’s abstract ‘100 Records’ exhibition was housed. A jukebox centrepiece holds the results of a project that imagined, designed and storyboarded a century of conceptual musical acts. Inviting artists to design 7″ single sleeves for 100 fictional bands, Sonny worked with musicians to create songs for each record. Browsing the end products of record sleeves and biographies it was easy to see how the lines of fact and fiction may have been blurred; although a cynic could lament the reasons behind it, as opposed to music for music’s sake.
Scheduled as festival starters, but over 30 minutes late, were Dr Mahogany’s Goat Circus. This fluid ensemble, usually pigeonholed as a band under the jazz/world section, have a useful template for eradicating cynicism. There’s an appealing audio and visual synchronicity early in their set. Your eyes fixate on the conga drum-led Images before their grip is loosened between songs such as the Doors-esque ‘Stomping Foot, Clapping Hand.”
From then on there’s a sense of déjà vu as the weapon of choice for our musicians today is the sampler. Synth and drum duo Vieka’s ‘glitch-hop’ with distinctively enunciated vocals were hampered by unwanted amp feedback . They led in with coin-jangling samples similar to Pink Floyd and MIA. Money, another band reliant on synthetic sound snippets, embellish atmospheric guitar effects with backing visuals of their own. Lyrical content with a mortal preoccupation is enhanced by a tortured delivery akin to The Walkmen’s records, while thudding bass à la Joy Division permeates their misty introspection.
Day For Airstrikes is where I head next. Back at the United Reformed Church, the band provide a new soundtrack to ‘Rita, Sue and Bob Too’; managing to pinpoint a climactic ending as the film pauses with the male protagonist in mid-air, leaping towards a bed with Union Jack duvet. Planned or otherwise, it works well. And they’re another succumbed to the lure of sampled structures; replacing post-rock guitars of old, but maintaining their same slow builds towards apocalypse. A stark contrast to local electronica artists Veí, whose downtempo sampling orchestra transforms the Salford Arms into a meeting atrium for hollow glockenspiel clacks, disparate ivories and lonely strings.
Willy Mason’s lure is strong enough to force a one-in-one-out scenario at the packed venue. One punter described the show as “underwhelming”, but that really depends on your expectation ahead of the performance of one man and a guitar. The next stop certainly isn’t underwhelming. Local band Easter have been causing a stir amongst post-rock purveyors and the good old-fashioned axe duelling belittles the need for rhythm guitars as instead intricate noodling harnesses roaring feedback.
Another genre shift back to laptop connoisseur Neko Neko. His squelchy electronic samples solder to Moby-esque ambient soundscapes, while submerged progressions of swooshes and minimal percussive stabs sink indolently before giving way to melodic harp twinkles.
Denis Jones then tackles the Soundtrack stage; an improv wizz in his natural habitat, his act is backed by visuals created from images of objects reacting to sound. Opting for a simple film tracking ball bearing movements, Jones also picks simple, steady loop layering patterns with acoustic guitar undercurrents and gradual introduction of electronic manipulations. The occasional recognisable songs, the typically soulful ‘Clap Hands’ being one, are supplemented by onstage collaborator David Schlechtriemen (aka The Pickpocket Network), who adds a disco remix monotony to the live compositions; the pair facing each other with gadgetry primed, evoking Fuck Buttons or worriedaboutsatan.
The finale is littered with uptempo electro of various persuasions. Capac at Salford Arms and Islington Mill festival-closers Anchorsong and D/R/U/G/S all sail aboard the good ship synth, navigating a sea of processed beats, while sandwiched between them are Fixers and Rainbow Arabia. Firstly, Oxford’s Fixers take on a soundtrack to looped cuts from Mariah Carey’s ‘Glitter’ video by pounding their combined keys, and yet more samples – this time directly influenced by the post-Animal Collective acclaim boom. If SFTOC is an indicator for the sounds from all other cities bubbling under the mainstream radar then there’s plenty more to add to this generation’s synthetic symphonies.
Apt then, is Rainbow Arabia’s headlining jaunt at the Old Pint Pot. Signed to revered German electronic music label Kompakt, the Afrobeat disco duo show themselves to be infinitely more energetic than a jaded and weary crowd; vocoded vocalist Tiffany Preston gyrates between elevated archways as her husband Danny operates a mini electronic orchestra in an engaging spectacle for the Pint Pot’s poky viewing confines.
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