Donnerstag, 7. Aug 2008, 11:30
This was my first time at The Big Chill festival in Eastnor and there was plenty of music and comedy to get me energised: not chill at all then. In particular, there were three shows that were especially bold and innovative.
For me, the really jaw-dropping part of the festival was the Sensous Synchronised Show by Cornelius and his band. On a foundation of guitars/drums/bass with occasional electronic gadgets, they played through a succession of genres; psychedelia, space rock, disco, indie and ambient in a set that built up to a full-on rock-out. The four musicians were each excellent, and showed a level of discipline that you rarely see. They even sang a melody by dividing the words between them, mimicking the stereo trickery of the records. On top of the amazing playing, there were the visuals, which were precisely synchronised to what happened on stage. I presume the drummer must have been playing to a click track to keep it in sync, but really the music never felt constrained. At the end of the gig the audience screamed for more until we were hoarse. I'd never heard Cornelius before I'm ploughing through his studio albums, which are wonderful, and from now on I'd crawl over broken glass to see him live again.
The festival closed with something extraordinarily ambitious. Improvisational band The Bays (slightly like Orbital plus live drums and bass) teamed up with The Heritage Orchestra (four brass and roughly ten string players). At each side of the stage, a composer sat with a desktop computer and notation software, feeding through to LCD screens in front of the orchestral players. The gig started with a blank score, and as it progressed they gradually built up some notation. The conductor gave hand signals to the strings and brass to tell them when to play what was in front of them. The score was projected onto the screen, so you could see the mouse move back and forth as chords and melodies were built up. This bold experiment paid off with good beats and good tunes: you could release some of the material they came up with as a single and it would be the hit of the summer.
Beatboxing and looping both featured strongly in this festival. UK beatboxer Shlomo had a whole tent going mental with his looped vocal jungle. The man's confidence is unbelievably high, as reinforced by him signing a song of praise to his own mouth. Son of Dave won my respect by giving a main stage gig with a harmonica and microphone in one hand, and a tambourine or other percussion in the other, using loopstation technology to create a surprisingly authentic American rustic sound.
That brings me to the third outstanding act. French singer Camille's backing band was almost entirely vocal -perhaps a Björk influence? The only musical instrument was a grand piano: other instrumental effects, including bass and drum sounds, were created by her group vocally or by stamping and clapping. She even used them as a human loopstation, singing a phrase or rhythm and then pointing at a singer for them to copy so she could lay other melodies on top.
Two of Camille's group were highly skilled beatboxers who provided bass, drum sounds and record scratches for many songs. A highlight of the gig was when these two men were left alone on the stage to beatbox-battle at gabba speeds. For one song, Camille directed her group by running round and round on stage imitating a record; speeding up to speed up their groove and taking a step back to make them scratch. Her own performance was dizzyingly hyperenergetic.
The Mighty Boosh showed that they are a music act as well as a comedy act. They were as surreal and mad as expected, and the audience were even madder. It was hilarious to be near the front, in a crowd of people dressed up as flowers, leopards or as the Moon, singing along to "I took a s**t on your Mum". Julian Barrett is a seriously good musician, and although he avoided a humiliating "jazz attack", he did allow himself a long section of scat-singing/guitar. The rhythm section sounded great as well: I don't know who they were under their costumes and make-up, but they did good work.
If it hadn't been for Camille, the distinction of most eccentric bra-less female artist would have gone to Róisín Murphy who gave a flawless set. The electronics merged well with live instruments, including some of the best bass playing of the whole festival. As well as having a costume change for each song, her stage antics included wrestling the guitarist to the ground, getting into a mock fight with her backing vocalists and twice collapsing on stage, James Brown-style, to stagger to her feet from under a cape. I was already won over by her Overpowered single and having seen her live I think I wuv her.
Robin from Hexstatic gave a storming DJ set that got a huge crowd dancing. When he played Smack My Bitch Up, you could feel the atmosphere getting more excited, and when it became a double-time gabba version of the track, the crowd went mental. I reflected that for the Big Chill crowd, with many of us in our thirties, Smack My Bitch Up is a cultural marker in the same way that I Want to Hold Your Hand was for a previous generation.
The Blessing: As a Bristol resident, it was pleasing to see a Bristol band do a really good gig, and as a bass player, it was satisfying to see a band fronted by a bassist (in addition, a really good player). They are billed as "jazz/rock" but frankly if they'd been too jazz, I wouldn't have been interested. Fortunately, the rock and funk influences won out.
African Head Charge: Enjoyable gig, but I was expecting something more intense and more experimental than this quite ordinary reggae. I've got to respect anyone who can shout out "Jah Rastafari!" without a hint of irony.
Comedian Adam Buxton showed off some recent innovative music videos, including Battles' fusion of rock and loopery, Atlas. It dawned on me that I'd missed out on the most interesting track of 2007, and I've been catching up by listening to it obsessively since. Yes, I should listen to more radio.