Peoples Republic of South Devon

…//Cafe Concrete gets bleary and rainy\\…

February 28th, 2008

Tuesday morning I sat bleary eyed looking at this computer screen while these words appear, my mind flicks back like an excited elastic band, to the events of the previous night. (Had to past tense it because I didn’t get round to posting it yesterday….)

Monday the 25th February was relaxed at . Amidst a rainy Plymouth evening, spectators recline on the sofas while I supply nineties-esque breaks and the best of funky electronica; Depth Charge’s “Bounty Killers III”, Clark’s “Dead Shark Eyes”, Dark Globe, Tarwater and Supercollider, amongst others, smoke their way around the space drenching everyone in a rumbling shade of bass.

Then on goes ‘Lime Green Receptionist’ - Matt Coombe’s (or should that be ) new stripped down endeavour, sounding rather like J. Saul Kane’s: The Octagon Man, utilising the pinnacle of the technological apex: a Yamaha Portasound keyboard and some effects. Needless to say, Mr. Coombe, as ever, (or should that be the Lime Green Receptionist – the Fall???) deftly weaves complex textures that are at times clearly an old keyboard and at others shockingly danceable, the Lime Green Receptionist makes its debut and what a time it was…

During this whole head nodding extravaganza, we are furnished with a bespoke animation by Rachel Dobbs, one half of Low Profile. Clearly her brain trying to battle with the codes and conventions of modern life, the phrase that stood out most for me was: “19. You (a female) are at a disco and are asked to dance by a young man whom you don’t like the look of…(what do you say and how do you say it)”. The animation program then moves on to two other works by Rachel, “My so called life (Parts 1 & 2)”, the first part exploring her obsession with gradually disappearing telephone boxes and being gradually eaten by a Pacman clock while doing the ever growing pile of ironing in part two. The program finished with “Ya Will, Ya Will (Tea Dance)”, suiting Matt’s Lime Green Receptionist to a tee (tea?).

Next is a sound work by Hannah Jones (“101 ways to say I love you”), the other half of Low Profile, with her ever speeding delivery as she battles to recite a series of song titles on an answering machine. Finally she does but the delivery is lightening…

/Hip.P/Buckaroo’s “The Liono Café Concrete Incident”, Music inspired by Beast (Café Concrete 21/1/08) appears in the speakers directly after, and is generously handed out in CD form to the audience. This is their homage to Liono’s Beast performance that appeared at the Café last month () and features breakcore and gabba-esque ‘remixes’ of Liono’s clucking. He is clearly already becoming a legend.

And finally on the bill, works out his circuit bent toys and Amiga 500 to create beautiful soundscapes and beats that seem more like Prince of Persia. This was a stunning debut performance that warrants further interest, keep your ears on this – I promise you won’t be disappointed…

As an addendum I include a track off ‘The Liono Café Concrete Incident’, and hopefully this will become a fixture… (Advisory! Contains some swearing!!!) here.

Thanks to Rob (Contort) for the photos.

Entry Filed under: Society