GIGARAMA...
GIGARAMA...
Beleagered by the hallyons...
| When: | Sunday, 23rd December 2001 |
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| Where: | The Empire Musik Hall,
Botanic Avenue, Belfarce, NornIrond |
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| DAVID: | NICK: | |
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| Sound mix by Dee Kyle | ||
Where Irony goes to Die).
| NICK's set | DAVID's set |
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Three whole galleries of photos from KILL A SPYDE (click on the thumbnails below see the big JPEGs in all their glory...)
THE FELINE DREAM + CLONE QUARTET
"Kill a Spyde" at Belfast Empire Music Hall 23rd December 2001After my first painful encounter with Clone Quartet in October I was actually looking forward to this support slot. Let's face it, they have put out a good demo tape which in turn yielded the best track on the Belfest CD ('PSS-80') so they can't be a complete disaster. Unfortunately I don't think that this gig was any improvement on the first time I saw them. They still suffer from a dreadful overall sound which makes their half hour set a very hard listen. Their other problem is that, with the exception of the aforementioned 'PSS-80' (which is great of course) and the two other tracks on the demo (which are OK), their songs simply aren't up to scratch. Ultimately there's little here to connect with or be impressed by, and although this review may seem harsh I'm merely echoing the opinions of a lot of people at this gig.
Well, David from the Feline Dream told me that they were going to play "for ages" and he was bloody right! I think they managed around 90 minutes, which tended to stretch audience stamina a bit. Having said that I was hugely impressed with the whole thing, they put on a far better show than I was expecting. They'd even done some work on the visual side of things—their huge synth rig was connected together with fluorescent XLR cables, the lights were good too. Both Feline's were wearing headset microphones, which not only kept their hands free to operate their many boards of keyness, but also let us hear all the ad-libs and between song waffle.
More impressive than that however, is the realisation that they have some really good songs. In fact they have quite a lot of really good songs! I'm a bit rusty with the titles, but I'm sure 'Little Pitbull' was one of many good new ones they played. (Is it the one with the 'kill a spide' refrain? I'm not sure.) Ditto 'The Doll Squad' and the very excellent 'Crap Layabout', two tunes that hint at more punkier influences than people may have expected. I wish the Fall could manage something as good as 'Crap Layabout' these days, as its repetitive riffing and sneering chorus are the sort of things MES and co used to do so well. Whilst we're still dwelling on the new stuff I have to mention the "world premiere" of 'My Name is Lindsay Carcass', a song dedicated to "Destiny's Child's dead hair" which, unless I was hearing things has a definite RnB influence in the bass synth riff!
This year's cover version was Eno's 'Baby's on Fire' which they do a fine job on. What else? Well, there was the lovely melodic stuff like 'Beachcomber' and 'Twilight', although I did think that the audience was starting to wane during the latter, and the tunes that people really wanted to hear—'Industrial Estates' (which was my highlight of the night probably) and 'People Without Pets'.
People tend to think that bands consisting of two guys and a load of analogue synths has to be a poor live prospect, but the Feline Dream are completely entertaining. This had very little to do with lame 80s synth duos (or Ladytron for that matter!) and a lot more in common with punk, the first four Eno albums and the Fall. I'd go and see them again in a flash.
… The Clone Quartet rocked: I was thinking Her Space Holiday meets lo-fi meets whatever (glib generalisations: why I gave up the whole music journo thing). The Feline Dream headlined. Let me be honest, I wouldn't buy their stuff, but I will gladly go and see them every time I get an opportunity—last night convinced me. It was possibly the campest thing I've ever witnessed. I recognised Feline1 and Feline2 instantly…A review from Strike Sparks webzine.
Feline Dream and Clone Quartet in… Kill A Spyde!The Feline Dream—polemic, provocative, and ironic. They like to cause a stir, to make a scene. None of this, 'keep your head down' stuff. Consequently, when this duo come to town for their annual extravaganza they'll want people to notice.
That's why hoards of angry skinheads were seen around posters throughout December in Belfast. First up were youthful noiseniks, the Clone Quartet. This band combine angry, angular, unpredictable rock, with synths and drum machines. The EP on the band's site is unmissable for fans of original, fresh rock music. The Clone Quartet's exuberance and skill is irrefutable, but their complex, subtle and intricate sound was difficult to reproduce in the live setting. The synths and drum machine were barely audible, and the guitars sounded overly distorted. This is the crux of the band's problems: the conveyance of their frenetic and volatile material, in a live venue. I enjoyed their set, but if I hadn't have heard them before hand, I would have dismissed them as mere noisey passionate punks who just didn't have any tunes. They could be awesome—they just need to twiddle a few knobs (literally).
The Feline Dream, however, suffer no such problems. Their sound is crisp and big. The set, radically different from last year's "More analogue than ever" set, proves that these cats haven't been curled up by the radiator all year. New songs, such as Destructiv/Productiv and Little Pitbull, blur the line between electonica and punk, with vitriolic lyrics set to catchy melodies, and twisted synths and rhythms.
All this considered, tonight was only partially about the music. It is also a show of support for the Portadown News, the editor of which, has recently been forced from his day job by the newspaper The Angrytown—sorry, Anderstown—News. Editor of the Portadown News, Newt Emerson, who preferred to be anonymous before he was 'outed' by the republican rag, rails against the culture of submissiveness, where people are reminded to 'keep their heads down'. The spirit of the night is one of overt reistence against narrow-minded fuckwits like Robin Livingstone, who ruthlessly attempt to quell expression they see as threatening.
Well, Livingstone should feel threatened, because the sectarian, tribalistic dogma that he represents can only be defeated by what was on display at the Empire tonight—fiercely political, feircly non-sectarian, fiercely polemic expression.
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