DEAF WHIP + TAIPAN + BIRDFEEDER + BIBLE CLUB + COWBOYY + LEGSS
@alpaca.presents
by Brandon van der Berg @vdb.brandon
Our second total takeover event at The Crofters Rights since our first on the 29th Of April earlier this year, which was the date we launched our first piece of publication! However again, due to overlapping set times and my unfortunate inability to be in two places at once we have had to miss two bands. Being Birdfeeder and Bible Club who the other members of our team recall, unsurprisingly, amazing performances. Please follow them using the hyperlink to catch them at another show! Please read about their performances below, they all brought it hard and showed us a lot of that well-received variety that Bristol is known for. A really consistent night with no weak links and some real, authentic expression and art. DEAF WHIP Unsettlingly ambient, passionate, and somewhat existential. From the moment that echoey reverb on the vocal hits your ears it invites you into something deep, dark and secret; those underground nightclubs in Vin Diesels ‘XXX’ come to mind in the same disjunct, uneasy sin that feeds through your bones. It's as if the occult became super into guitar tones and a good single malt. Speaking of, a really good focus on tone and arrangement; The bass and guitar’s thick mellow distortion work wonders together and that SAW’y synth sound from the keys player is greatly used to enhance the arrangement, It blends in really well, but doesn’t muddy anything up and is there to accent and push the band dynamically. In short, it sounds HUGE. Where the music lacks in general variation of sound it makes up for in its consonant, high octane, and dynamically focused approach. You don’t feel fatigued listening and there is always space left to punch you with a vocal line, drum hit, bass line or Synth sound. The band aren’t performance-heavy on stage. Although, I wouldn’t necessarily say that is a downfall unless you’re only there to see 4 whippets playing instruments. They never seem nervous, the bassist at times has a somewhat unsure look to him but generally, it’s consistent confidence and real immersion that I think really suits the music. The frontman especially uses this to his advantage. Glueing himself to the mic; intensely posed and totally sunken in the moment. The way they use pedals and effects to use harmony to elevate transitions is electrifying; for those moments I felt like I was a part of the Halo franchise, every muscle fibre in your body dances up your spine to try to catch up with the goosebumps on your arms. For Fans Of Metz and Crows Find them on Instagram or Spotify TAIPAN *Bluntly circling the empty front of the crowd with expectation* “What’s all that for?” worked like a charm that It's very Soft Play/IDLES. The guitar is there for emotional structure; a stagnating melody behind the rolling punch of the bass and drums. The way they play with dissonance in the rhythm is elastic and the droning shouting vocal is great for getting your eyes to widen that little bit extra. Each song seems to take on an entirely new perspective; the instruments trade places constantly in the spotlight of the arrangement which is designed to isolate and emote. They dip their toes in your typical thrash progressions and then start zapping the water like when Homer teaches Bart to fish with a mosquito lamp in ‘The Simpsons Movie’. The breakdowns are original and interesting and the songs lack repetition in a “f*ck that we can do something better” kind of way and they still make each section catchy and memorable, no easy feat. God damn, there was this part where they stab and scream “I NEVER, I NEVER”. I almost sh*t my pants guys. That was some stellar songwriting and it donned onto me that tense smiling grin-like face of pre-rampage chimpanzees. It is absolutely full of momentum and regardless of their use of dissonance and tension, it is always carried through with intent and to a great resolution. For Fans Of Soft Play and IDLES Find them on Instagram or Spotify COWBOYY This was the craziest thing I have ever seen, music or not. I don’t even know how to put this into words and the idea of trying to is making me sweat a bit. But here we go. This was a space-age fusion of LSD, math rock and R2D2’s circuitry. As if the random, erratic freedom of Mike Myre’s character from “The Cat In The Hat” stuck a fork in a wall socket and then kept running back to do it again and again. Every time you think you have a handle on anything, you are blindsided by something else. It’s as if the point of this is not the band or the music, it is the experience; what you feel standing head up, jaw loose and slightly faint, slightly feral. Utterly bollocked. The vocalist is straight whiskey. Raw emotion and/or frying static. Although if I said that to a connoisseur while bartending, they’d probably laugh and fall into their turtle neck. I was sure there was an invisible DJ somewhere in the room throwing around every pitch, digital squeal and electronic sound ever made but it was just a quiet musiker on stage with one foot and about fifty different ideas at a time.
The bassist is of course totally here for it and going insane. I dare say gosh darn hectic. He stomps around the stage like he’s trying to break an old Nokia that’s strapped to the back of an eager-to-live rat. This band perfectly encompasses the childlike freedom to make WHATEVER you want, WHENEVER you want to and if you’re trying to make sense of it, you’ve probably already missed the point. Or the very real possibility that I am just too daft to wrap my head around it. “Sorry just getting the settings, this is our last song” beholds the most insane piece of f*cked up noise you’ve ever heard while they test out the “settings”. The drummer is fantastic and, not that you would notice a mistake amongst the amalgamation of noise, but played flawlessly for the duration. A lot of the space between songs was spent riffing between each other and the drummer held nothing back in showing off his chops during and in-between songs, of which there is a substantial amount of years behind it. In fact, all of them were, on a technical level, very impressive players which to a certain extent I believe is necessary for the kind of creativity they are employing and the reactions they elicit. For Fans Of Delta Sleep and Bombay Bicycle Club Find them on Instagram or Spotify LEGSS The performance of LEGSS is self-soothing and deeply unsettling. “I HOPE THAT LIFE DOESN’T GET TOO MUCH IN THE WAY OF DEATH” Dynamically they cradle you; right up until you feel the long-awaited concussive resolve. The stage is split. Half totally immersed and somewhat unconsciously detached; between the vocalist and the guitarist, Max, these players create a very desperately expressive and engaging atmosphere. The other half is focused and a stoic suave that speaks in tandem with the attentive, well-crafted rhythm section that never breaks out into such a large performance as the singer and drummer, but they don’t need to and that isn’t their job. They look GREAT on stage and they move well and comfortably and it allows the others’ performances to look as big as they do. Dynamics in the performance are very much there. Cinematic as it is; it feels like the frontman has taken a method-acting approach to their performance. Whatever upset, confusion or rage they exhibit, it’s passionate and drawn out from a part of them that is seeking to entertain but remain genuine, and there is an air of charisma buried inside his breathy delivery. That is, until those select moments where they snap, clenching their jaw, spewing anger, heartbreak and throwing hands in a loose power in the air while his eyes demonstrate the ability of the human body to become unbroken and air-tight, pinched closed. Something I noticed is the percussive use of vowels, and the quieted; smoothed consonants. It made for a very interesting vocal delivery. He seems on stage deeply troubled, lonely and wholly loving. The guitarist’s monotonous, stale and inexpressive face contrasts greatly with the fusion of confusion and profound emotion echoing around him and thundering from the thrusting spasms of power and presence he hits and pounds into the ground performing. A deeply unique form of self expression. I’m not entirely sure when it came in, but this again is another example as to why using a backing track will enhance your live set drastically, it’s almost essential. Towards the end, this synth-stabbing chaotic backing track kept slipping in and out and it was fantastic, it added a seriously dysfunctional level of crashing energy to the mix.
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