2007年 Jul 16日 Monday, 8:07

Sun 15 Jul – Pharaoh Overlord, Alexander Tucker, Stargazer's Assistant

If any of you lot who organised this are reading, start a little earlier ;) Doors: 7pm First artist: 8:30pm(ish)

Three very interesting and pretty damn varied offerings were on show.

Stargazer's Assistant were a three piece for most of their 'set'. With Alexander Tucker, Daniel O’Sullivan, David J. Smith and Jussi (from Circle). They produced a mix of looped (and fucked with) percussion, the sounds almost 'collected' by the microphone wielders before they exacted their imprint on it and added it to the soundscape. Ending up with interesting loops of percussive sound with vocals, again, looping over the top. Finished off by a giant of a man arriving on stage, and growling something indistinguishable for the next while.

Cig break time.

Then Alexander Tucker (and his army of pedals) took the stage and did something quite similar to Stargazer's Assistant but less percussion and more complex guitar and vocal loops. It was interesting again, but doesn't entirely hold interest I find.

By this time it was getting on to quarter to eleven, and Pharoah Overlord stroll onto stage, each with a piece of BM 'spiky stuff' draped rather unconvincingly (though comically) over some part of themselves. It was remarked as the time, 'Oh my god, more than one instrument on stage,' for there were three guitarists, a bassist and a drummer (who had the cold, dead eyes, of a killer - Bernard Black). Lush, slow rich sounds and rhythms then filled the small room under the arches. The essential bits of much rock and roll has been distilled into a lumbering sound which, while repetitive, manages to pull the listener into the thick, mong inducing depths.

After leaving early (shit tubes dont'cha know), we managed to catch the last bakerloo line northbound and it was at piccadilly circus that my luck ran out. Westbound train, gone, eastbound (that my companion needed), waiting at the platform. Cue a wander round central london for a little bit, before arriving at Trafalgar Sq. and my bus stop home.

Ever so slightly disappointing night, if mainly because of the tube situation and the lack of any real bass bar Pharoah Overlord, but worth the seven quid no doubt.