shop | mailing lists
musicOMH
Facebook Twitter
music: gig reviews
Magnetophone
upstairs @ The Garage, London, 18 November 2000
Starting very late and with no support, Magnetophone had their work cut out from the start with an audience of around 100, some of whom were trance-dancing their way through a DJ set long before alcohol kicked in.

I'd already taken a peek at the assorted wires, boxes, pedals and keyboards bedecking the tiny stage, observing in just how many ways it was possible to use a BOSS Delay Pedal and a Yamaha PSS 480 keyboard. I have new hope for my GCSE Music equipment now.

Matt Saunders and John Hanson produce a curious form of electronica; not as far out as Max Tundra, not as trippy as Aphex Twin, but somewhere in between. One of them looks like a farm hand and the other looks like Jesus. On they came, nattering, to the stage, while the DJ set carried on.

Initially we were unsure if they were roadies or the band, but the resonant tones of Oh Darlin' put an end to speculation. Watching them jack in and unplug various wires throughout, twiddling guitar pedal knobs wired to keyboards and sequencers, was a strange experience. People unfamiliar with the music appeared somewhat bemused, but the performance was close enough in sound to the new album I Guess Sometimes... for recognition in some of us.

Smatterings of applause for the first track were replaced by whoops of delight for the stand-out track Air Methods, which was aired second; then the band played much of the rest of the album and few tracks from earlier releases. There was no encore - somehow it just didn't seem appropriate. It wasn't that the band weren't deserving of one - it is just that on a stereo late at night they are engenders of mood, but in this venue they were.... strange.

share

now in music
Somerset House Summer Series
GIG REVIEWS
Somerset House Summer Series
Gil Scott-Heron, Mystery Jets, Noah And The Whale, The Temper Trap
Devo
INTERVIEW
Devo
Jerry Casale on reunion, capitalism, strategies and de-evolution
more live music reviews
    1. Tomorrow, In A Year - feat. Hotel Pro Forma and music by The Knife @ Barbican Theatre, London
    2. Holly Miranda @ Westminster Reference Library, London
    3. Wild Nothing @ Audio, Brighton
    4. Dracula, The Music and Film featuring Philip Glass and the Kronos Quartet @ Hackney Empire, London
    5. Taraf de Haïdouks @ Hackney Empire, London
    6. Regina Spektor @ Academy, Leeds
    7. Allo Darlin' @ Luminaire, London
    8. School Of Seven Bells @ Scala, London
    9. Soul II Soul @ Somerset House, London
    10. Bombay Bicycle Club @ Roundhouse, London
    11. The Divine Comedy @ Somerset House, London
    12. Florence And The Machine @ Somerset House, London
    13. Gil Scott-Heron @ Somerset House, London
    14. Tired Pony @ Forum, London
    15. The xx @ Somerset House, London
    16. The Temper Trap @ Somerset House, London
    17. N-Dubz @ Somerset House, London
    18. Noah And The Whale @ Somerset House, London
    19. Air @ Somerset House, London
    20. Mystery Jets @ Somerset House, London
    21. Arcade Fire @ Hackney Empire, London
    22. Foals @ Roundhouse, London
    23. Delorean @ Lexington, London
    24. Janelle Monáe @ Hoxton Square Bar + Kitchen, London
related articles
[an error occurred while processing this directive]


  more live reviews...



musicOMH
about us
contact
copyright
home
elsewhere
Twitter
Facebook
Last.fm
Soundcloud
MySpace
© 1999-2010 OMH