» Loop Festival 2008 review
Nick Alwinckle reviews this year’s Loop Festival in Brighton
From the looks of it, this second year of Brighton’s very own electronic music festival has ironed out the few teething problems from last year’s event. The stages have been opened out, with bigger tents to let more people see the bands and the first event’s evident sound problems have been eliminated. The only thing that could spoil things, then, is the acts involved.
Bristol rockers Turbowolf **, unfortunately, are a less than perfect band for the early afternoon, starting proceedings shakily.
Transformer
Providing big riffs and some punkish energy, their sole qualification as an electronic band is in having a keyboard player providing the odd plinky-plonk flourish, though this is disjointed and wholly separate to the main musical body.
Their songs simply aren’t strong enough to make them last in memory after the set, and things can only get better from here. Brighton boys Transformer ** are next up and have a lot on their shoulders.
They supported the big-name Aussies Cut Copy earlier this year and at first listen sound similar, though ultimately like a pale imitation. They have a huge following of local fans and their poppy blast of nu-rave is initially infectious, but sloppy vocals and repetitive songs soon consign them to Loop’s also-rans. DJ Henron ***, of cult electro club night Somewhere In The Universe There Must Be Something Better Than Man, provides a nice alternative to the somewhat bland live acts so far with his trademark sleazy sounding dirty pop play-lists, but the mood’s killed for now. A bit of liquid medication’s in order before the late afternoon’s performance.
Cut Copy
Photo by Beast Love
Back from the beer tent and the perma-touring dance innovators The Bays **** have taken the stage. As reliable as ever, the improvisational four-piece, fusing ambient, drum and bass, techno and basically anything that takes their fancy are electrifying. This sense of freshness is wholly due to the fact they never record or release any of their music. Every one of their shows is unique and it certainly feels that way. The party’s finally started.
Over in the smaller tent, The Filthy Dukes ***, the men responsible for Fabric club night Kill ‘Em All, who have supported LCD Soundsystem, genuinely evoke the spirit of James Murphy and co. Funked-up pop with trancey moments, a smattering of New Order and a full-on party spirit keep the blood pumping until Canada’s sixties-inspired Caribou **** take the stage. Psychedelic, space rock meanderings and Mercury Rev style-ethereality are the perfect punctuation mark between the bill’s heavy bias to high-octane dance. There’s little electronic input in this live band version of main-man Dan Snaith’s transcendent haze, but unlike with Turbowolf, it really doesn’t matter when the music’s this good.
After Transformer’s sub-standard approximation of Cut Copy’s **** pop-rock format, it’s about time for the real thing. Despite a slow start, the Aussies don’t disappoint. Building slowly to a gallop of songs from latest record In Ghost Colours, the spectacular set is one of the night’s highlights. Speaking of highlights, whilst Cut Copy are blisteringly in your face, Kieran Hebden, a.k.a Four Tet ***** does something altogether more subtle though undeniably brilliant elsewhere.
As one disgruntled passer-by mutters, ‘I have a problem with ambient’: ambient music is often dismissed as empty, derivative coffee table fodder. Four Tet stretches the limits of the genre, ploughing Aphex Twin or Autechre-style experimentation into the mix to make something overwhelmingly powerful, noisy and confident. Pushing the ambience out of the background and into the fore, the dance-floor’s set alight. An outstanding set and the best act of the night.
You’d think Four Tet would be a hard act to follow. Skint Records co-founder Damian Harris has been away from his Midfield General *** alias for a while now, having been concentrating on running his and Norm’s label, but his DJing expertise is second to none. Keeping up every bit of momentum but turning it to a more concise, bass heavy sound than Four Tet’s complex arrangements, this pumping club beat is just right for this time of night.
A choice now between New Young Pony Club and Holy Fuck **** now is easily made. For two songs, Tahita Bulmer (sporting a new blond ‘do) and co play shambolic, mundane electro-pop ready to sap the energy and drain the life from this vibrant tent. Still, two songs isn’t a fair judgement, so we’ll leave that show rightly behind and focus on Holy Fuck’s storming set. Hyperactive, quirky and most of all, devilishly danceable, the Toronto mad scientists of noise turn otherworldly bleeps and scrapes into something gloriously accessible.
New Young Pony Club
Holy Fuck have been held accountable by the Canadian government for dropping its funding of new bands (because ‘Government money shouldn’t go to inappropriate or offensive bands’, apparently), which is ironic considering what great ambassadors for Canadian music they are. There’s no contest, then, as the night is theirs. A strong day of powerhouse DJ sets, dancefloor rock and bravado electronic experimentation finishes on a high as the tents make way for some more traditional, but no less innovative clubbing indoors.
