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Friday night saw the return of 'The Beat Thing', York's premier experimental music night.
When I accepted this mission, I was a little apprehensive. The word 'experimental' when applied to music can range from life-changingly good at one end of the spectrum to life-ruiningly awful at the other. Thankfully, the night turned out pretty well.
The first band we managed to catch was D'Silva, a brilliantly indescribable trio of alto sax, steel acoustic guitar and vocals, although I use the term vocals only in the loosest sense; tortured growls is more apt. Their sound is cacophonous, avant garde, like listening to Sun Ra's Arkestra playing a Schoenberg greatest hits set. The songs were frenetic and technically impressive with heavily percussive guitar parts and atonal sax runs. A fine start.
Next up was a duo called Electro Narcosis (or Electro Narcolepsy as a spectator cruelly Christened them). They were two shoegazers, a guitarist and a bassist who created feedback drenched soundscapes over an electronic drum beat, a bit like Sonic Youth at their most experimental. It was effort music, the kind of thing which required a particular mindset to appreciate and unfortunately, I just wasn't in the mood.
I was certainly in the mood for the next act, JFKKK, an absurd band with an equally absurd name. The band came onto the stage clad in black, the lead singer wearing nothing but a pair of briefs (stuffed with socks according to his mate in the crowd) and a torn cloak. His female compatriot had a heavily reverberated mic in one hand and predictably enough, an inflatable penis in the other while musical accompaniment came in the form of an Apple Mac. As a spectacle, it was one of the best things I've seen in a long time. A loon with a microphone spouting out Ginsburgian political rhetoric over a brutal, industrial soundtrack. Their song titles weren't bad either. Take Ahmadinejad Ahmadinnerjacket for example.
Matching JFKKK for energy and bombast is not easy, especially when you specialise in the more minimalistic fields of electronica like Robokid. His Kraftwerkesque beats made perfectly good background listening, although an encore of Iranian Nuclear Sex Death would have pleased this reviewer an awful lot more.
This night is not for everyone. If you think you have a diverse taste in music because your collection consists of everything from The Stereophonics to Moby, then this music might seem about as appealing as listening to a cat being punched in the face. However, for the more progressively minded, and those who want to diversify their music experience it's a great way to spend a Friday night. A friendly, knowledgeable crowd, only three pounds entry and a welcome escape from the rabid squaddies and hen parties outside. Something you just need to try for yourself!
For more information on Basement Bar gigs check out their MySpace by clicking here
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