It never rains, it pours.
This is what must have gone through David Edwards’s
mind as technical hitch after technical hitch dropped
on Minotaur Shock, from a recalcitrant DVD player to
faulty cables and a laptop crash. ‘It always happens
when the record company people are present’ launches
Edwards at one point with a smile.
Part of 4AD’s 25th anniversary celebrations,
which sees a wide range of activities this month, with
the release of a compilation, a series of special releases
and gigs across London, Kilburn’s The Luminaire
welcomes Minotaur Shock and Magnétophone for
a one-off event.
Although the solo project of Bristol-based Dave Edwards,
on stage, Minotaur Shock becomes a quartet, with Edwards’s
brother assuming bass functions while two sisters friends
are found on cello and keyboards, and flute and clarinet
respectively. Despite the series of problems encountered
during the first half of the set, Edwards never lost
his sense of humour, entertaining the crowd while trying
to fix things. With a set mostly centred around his
latest album, Maritime, his first for 4AD,
Edwards and crew translate the smooth pop-infused instrumental
compositions onto the live environment with brio, with
the recent singles Muesli and Vigo Bay
proving particular crowd favourites, while tracks such
as (She’s In) Dry Dock, Mistaken
Tourist, Six Foolish Fishermen or Somebody
One Told Me It Existed But They Never Found It
show the band working in total cohesion. As the quartet
dig deeper in the Minotaur Shock repertoire, unearthing
tracks from Edwards’s debut album, there is a
slight change of mood, but the transitions are impeccably
managed and appear almost seamless, even for the die-hard
fan.
After forty or so minutes, the band retire on Edwards’s
promise to not bother with a computer or technology
next time. It is to be said that, if the Minotaur Shock
sound is very much the result of a subtle blend of electronic
and organic, which works impeccably on records, the
band appear to be able to manage perfectly well without
the assistance of computers.
After a short interval, it is the turn of Magnétophone’s
Matt Saunders and John Hanson to get on stage. Accompanied
by Sonic Boom on electronics and King Creosote on additional
vocal duties, Magnétophone do not waste any time
and launch themselves into the first in a series of
extended and turbulent versions of songs taken from
their recent The Man Who Ate The Man album,
with Saunders providing the majority of vocal duties,
King Creosote intervening primarily on the majestic
A Sad Ha Ha (Circled My Demise). While renditions
of And May Your Last Words Be A Chance To Make Things
Better or Without Words remained pretty
close to the originals, the hypnotic Benny’s
Insobriety especially takes a whole new dimension
live, its clunky beat formation developing into a raging
post-industrial machine-like groove, with Saunders’s
vocals only reluctantly emerging from the dense cloud
of noise served by Sonic Boom.
In between the fully formed tracks, Magnétophone
insert a series of recurring interludes, which at times
develop into more structured compositions, while at
others simply disappear in the background, only to resurface
later in a different form.
With both bands definitely set on different paths,
with Minotaur Shock focussing on delicate pop-infused
constructions while Magnétophone engage in far
more complex and experimental grounds, this evening
remained before all true to the spirit of 4AD, a label
which, despite being primarily recognised for having
carried acts as prestigious and influential as the Cocteau
Twins, Dead Can Dance or the Pixies, has always supported
electronic-based music, from M.A.R.R.S’s legendary
Pump Up The Volume to the electro-infused work
of later Wolfgang Press, the cold ambience of Clan Of
Xymox and the hazy beats of Thievery Corporation. While
Minotaur Shock’s subtle breezy pop-influenced
electronica appeared to develop in new ways with his
band, Magnétophone, who execute their set in
completer real-time, making the most of their samplers,
sequencers, effect box and electric guitar, demonstrate
here incredible control and maturity while remaining
totally entertaining and enjoyable. |
