Bilge Pump @ Brudenell Social Club
By Maria Pinto-Fernandes
It may be Friday 13th, but as someone who as of yesterday is free from the clutches of academia for 3 months, I am most certainly not going to let that stop me from having a top night; and judging by the line-up, a little superstition isn't going to get in the way at all.
Nicely settled in the sanctuary of carpeted loveliness that is Brudenell Social Club, Tigers! kick off proceedings with their own brand of Prince-inspired screamo. Songs like 'I Do Kung Fu On You' and 'Dicko Rides a Lady Bike' smack of a sort of awe-inspiring energy and thirst for life that seems to be missing from a large proportion of music made today. What's even more impressive than the theatrical dimension of the show, heralded by the gold-sequinned costumes and signature wrestling masks, is that Tigers! seem to do the impossible and render screamo accessible, even to indie fiends like myself. The band succeed from all points of view by propelling their unsuspecting audience to another, altogether more frantic world as they revel in their location, that they're off stage and on ground level and consequently able to engage more intensely with the punters. And believe me, the band exploit this to its full advantage as they throw themselves around the performance area like rabid dogs, and in the world of screamo this is only a good thing. I am left thoroughly shaken and stirred by Tigers!'s performance, and you know what I love it!
Solus Locus are the next band to take to the stage on an evening which has so far left me pleasantly surprised. It never ceases to amaze me that these guys are more or less my age, yet are making music that far belies their individual years. Current single 'We Can Go Home' which is being released by their record label and hosts of the gig Salt the Wound Records as a split single with The Velvet Orchestra (more of them soon), stuns the audience. It transports us all to another level where everything's much clearer than in the real world and where one can think things over in a new ambience. Solus Locus' music transcends genre boundaries, and that's what probably marks out this gig from the rest, that each band who plays as if genres never existed. In short, they genuinely play out their hearts, for the love of music alone. 'Satellites' and 'Squidward Would' also make an appearance and it's thrilling to witness that older material still comes to life as much as it did when it was first aired. Solus Locus leave me in a completely different frame of mind, but with the assurance that with talent like theirs, they're going to be around for a long time especially with such a headstrong record label at the helm.
The Velvet Orchestra quite possibly represent everything that anyone could want in a band, with male falsetto vocals and arrangements that are noisy enough to knock around between the posts of indie and harder rock. Facing inwards, towards each other, all four members seem to successfully channel their collective energy as best they can so as to create a beautiful musical fusion. What intrigues me most about their set is that it seems to come together seamlessly as each song slides into another perfectly without their set dragging in the slightest. In a way, it's almost refreshing that there aren't conventional pauses in between songs; and this is arguably what maintains their infectious energy as the band go from strength to strength as the set progresses. The Velvet Orchestra are to me doing something that no other band has conceivably done before in the sense that their music is ambitious and far-reaching, in that even at this early stage it would sit more than comfortably both in intimate sweaty venue like this one and stadiums alike. You need The Velvet Orchestra in your life.
The honour of bringing this delightfully noisy and chaotic night to a close goes to Bilge Pump who I could only describe as The Young Knives after a run-in with rock. Anyway the point is that this trio make a fabulous sound that manages to incorporate words that aren't included in songs enough these days, like 'conspicuous' which crops up in 'Budda'. 'Thank You Very Much' is a mischievous ode to a pretty lady from a cocksure perspective as 'I know she's set her sights on me' seems to suggest. Bilge Pump manage to conclude the evening superbly, riding high on the crest of a multi-genre wave but ensuring that their performance cuts the mustard and retains our collective attention after 3 bands of equal merit.
On balance, my congratulations go to Dan Brader and Anthony Wright of Salt the Wound Records who have managed to put on an evening of music that despite any superstition was pleasing in every sense of the word. Watch out for their collaboration with Matt Reid on the first Lonely Hearts versus Salt the Wound Records in early September. If tonight was anything to go by, it's gonna be a highly memorable evening indeed.
