By: The second Independent Venues Week sees the iniative quintuple in size, with a staggering 85 locales hosting gigs, compared to a mere 17 at the inaugural event in 2014. Hannah Morgan of Rumour Cubes spoke from the stage about the desire to “make IVW as important an event for small venues as Record Store Day has become for independent record stores”. The Good Ship in Kilburn, a bastion of North West London’s indie scene, hosted three consecutive nights this year, with Rumour Cubes joining AK/DK and a wealth of other talent for the venue’s personal culmination of the festival, on a bill put together by post-rock record label and promoters Nice Weather For Airstrikes.
In spite of being first on the bill, The Slow Revolt drew a curious crowd from the bar and toward the small, tiered performance area. Early gigs saw Joe Mirza using his guitar and pedal to create live loops, around which soulful, introspective vocals would wrap themselves. The current incarnation of his live set is much more streamlined, using a controller with Ableton to shift between sections of his studio compositions. This allows Mirza to liberally add live guitar and vocal effects to his quirky and original electronic beats.
There’s a confidence to the delivery that allows his bluesy, distinctive voice to shine. This is evidenced from the off, Mirza moving around the stage and adding a dramatic melancholy to his remix of Patten’s ‘Peachy Swan’. ‘Dark Matter’ shows off Mirza’s songcraft, with snappy beats and a kaleidoscopic soul feel combining whilst he jerks his leg to the rhythms. A couple of unreleased gems, ‘Proximity’ and ‘Still Not Born’ demonstrate an increasing maturity, before a smooth, lonely take on ‘Never Get Close’ provides a danceable end to a short set exuding style and class.
On a night of memorable performances, South-East London’s Birdman Culture fail to reach the heady heights otherwise attained, although their psychedelic overtones received a warm welcome on a cold evening. Their brand of garage rock music is well executed but lacks a distinct personality to this reviewer’s ears. Praise be to the sound engineer who ensures that each part of the four-piece is clearly audible and well balanced – a feat he manages for each of the 5 acts on the bill.
Fresh from supporting Sólstafir, Rumour Cubes take to the stage a few minutes later than planned, following some “technical difficulties” relating to drummer Omar Rahwangi’s headphones. Once resolved, the 6-piece draw heavily on their second album Appearances Of Collections, and Terry Murphy’s viola and Morgan’s violin are haunting from the opening bars of “Hiyat”. Joe Bartlett’s bass joins the fray and the piece becomes a reminder of how funky post-rock can be in the right hands. It’s a giddying set, with each tune excerpted from the new album providing an emotional journey in miniature.
Once in full flight, Rumour Cubes are a force to be reckoned with. We’re treated to one song from the band’s début The Narrow State, with Steve Willey joining the proceedings to add his poetic touch to ‘The Gove Curve’, which soars this evening. The band close with a devastating take on ‘Research and Destroy’, moving up through the gears as Jay Malhotra and Adam Stark really let loose on guitar. The only shortcoming is that we’re forced to lose a song due to timekeeping.
Written In Waters take to the stage and all eyes fall on Beth Cannon. The quintet’s vocalist is a bewitching stage presence and has the voice of a diva, at once controlled and expressive. The band seem to take a little while to warm up, but before long they hit their stride. Bassist Lawrence Jenner looks like he’s dressed to take the stage with The XX, but the rest of the ensemble’s appearance, particularly guitarist George McKenzie, marks them out as a progressive band. Sure enough, with multiple time signatures for drummer Bill J Burns to ably attend to and a complexity to match their sense of suspense, their music leans towards prog rock, with McKenzie’s virtuoso playing a joy, particularly on the metallic ‘The Burial’.
By ‘Love In Exile’, the crowd are so enthralled they wait politely until the very last note has faded out before whooping and cheering the band on. It’s the last of their four tracks that makes the biggest impact on the night. ‘The Fall’ opens with a twitchy 5/4 audience clap along, before unravelling into its gothic verse. Cannon’s voice is an instrument in its own right, of course, and isn’t drowned out as the unit thunder into the tracks mighty refrains, with each of the sudden pauses timed to perfection by the whole band. If anything, you get the impression Cannon’s power hasn’t diminished and in fact she’s been holding back for this climactic curtain closer.
Unlike AC/DC, AK/DK may not use conventional instrumentation, but their set rocks 10 times harder than the washed up Aussie’s does these days. Using some analogue synthesisers, a modular sequencer, Kaos pads and two drum kits, their set-up is almost as unique as their sound. ‘Maxwell’s Wave’ becomes recognisable out of seemingly improvised sequencer parts, demonstrating the degree to which the duo can improvise. Once they hit their drum kits, it’s as though Add N to (X) have sabotaged their head-nodding, Kleine Elektronisch Musik and given it CPR. Each dual drumming episode ensures the dance floor is a throng of flaying limbs and smiling faces.
There’s great versatility to AK/DK’s sound, and a track utilising the modular unit is hypnotic as well as frenetic. The synthpunk aesthetic allows them to move between genres willingly, and an attempt to create afrobeat allows Ed and G’s jazzier side to show through. They close with ‘Battersea’, a tune that’s basically analogue happy hardcore with the crowd chanting “hey hey” along with the band. It’s a riotous and fun close to a set that’s teetering on the brink of greatness, and the announcement that day that they’ll be performing at ArcTanGent should ensure that AK/DK will be playing to bigger audiences than this before too long.
