womb at king's arms, salford sat 2 july
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Womb's latest gig was at the King's Arms in Salford. They were supporting Monster Island and headliners Ghost Outfit.
Unfortunately being first on they played to a fairly sparsely populated room - although one that gradually filled up. They also suffered from a problem with the pedal for the bass drum that meant it was effectively out of commission for most of the set.
Despite that they gave a really good performance. At times I found it a bit shaky - especially around the changeover of drummers that happened twice. But the music built - often through abstract and angular shapes - to something hypnotic and propulsive around three or four times.
There was an interesting mix of sounds with most of the structure this time coming from keyboards, synthesizer and an Indian instrument with a similar action to a sruti box, but which looked larger and seems to do more.
The group started with light rhythms and noises coming from the not-sruti box, singing bowls, chains, and other stuff I actually can't remember. Then bass, keyboards, synth, guitar and voice were added in - coming and going as the volume grew and the music got more intoxicating.
I don't think there was an audio recording of this set which is a shame - because I'm certain there was a lot going on that I simply missed. The sound was actually pretty complex at times.
The last ten minutes of the set were amazing and almost made me feel like I was levitating. The group wound down slowly to very little and then they were gone.
Once again I was a little too self-conscious to bounce about quite as much as I wanted but had a great time.
I'm not going to talk about either Monster Island or Ghost Outfit in much detail because neither band excited me much. Monster Island were preferable - their volume and energy were quite infectious - but I found both a bit ordinary. Monster Island had the more interesting sound, with echoes of post-punk.
Ghost Outfit were competent and energetic with decent tunes but for whatever reason I simply couldn't warm to them. Part of me wanted to dance but a much bigger part said 'Meh' and left me going through the motions with no enthusiasm.
After the gig a large group went to the studios where Womb recently did some recording. What they produced is excellent - and forthcoming sometime soon. The afterparty seemed to split in two with Womb, friends, and a few others jamming in one room - and DJs in another.
I spent my time jamming in the first room - and think we probably had the better time. Despite having no talent in that direction I must have spent around 3 hours drumming. The first hour was messing about with various beats after spending some time joining in on the Hammond organ and singing off-mic (drowned out by everything else).
Then there were 40 minutes on one rhythm followed by an hour and a quarter on another while different people rotated on guitar, bass, Hammond organ and vocals. None of it was recorded, which is probably just as well in terms of my contributions, though everyone else was great. Nevertheless it was a lot of fun and I'd happily do it again.
Shortly after that it was coming up to 5:30 in the morning. Most people got taxis home but since I still felt energetic I fetched my bike from Islington Mill about 10-15 minutes walk away and cycled back. Only the fact it was already light and I wanted to spend time on tamlyn 11 during the day stopped me going for a long ride on the way - it would have been fun to go down the water park in the dawn.
Womb's latest gig was at the King's Arms in Salford. They were supporting Monster Island and headliners Ghost Outfit.
Unfortunately being first on they played to a fairly sparsely populated room - although one that gradually filled up. They also suffered from a problem with the pedal for the bass drum that meant it was effectively out of commission for most of the set.
Despite that they gave a really good performance. At times I found it a bit shaky - especially around the changeover of drummers that happened twice. But the music built - often through abstract and angular shapes - to something hypnotic and propulsive around three or four times.
There was an interesting mix of sounds with most of the structure this time coming from keyboards, synthesizer and an Indian instrument with a similar action to a sruti box, but which looked larger and seems to do more.
The group started with light rhythms and noises coming from the not-sruti box, singing bowls, chains, and other stuff I actually can't remember. Then bass, keyboards, synth, guitar and voice were added in - coming and going as the volume grew and the music got more intoxicating.
I don't think there was an audio recording of this set which is a shame - because I'm certain there was a lot going on that I simply missed. The sound was actually pretty complex at times.
The last ten minutes of the set were amazing and almost made me feel like I was levitating. The group wound down slowly to very little and then they were gone.
Once again I was a little too self-conscious to bounce about quite as much as I wanted but had a great time.
I'm not going to talk about either Monster Island or Ghost Outfit in much detail because neither band excited me much. Monster Island were preferable - their volume and energy were quite infectious - but I found both a bit ordinary. Monster Island had the more interesting sound, with echoes of post-punk.
Ghost Outfit were competent and energetic with decent tunes but for whatever reason I simply couldn't warm to them. Part of me wanted to dance but a much bigger part said 'Meh' and left me going through the motions with no enthusiasm.
After the gig a large group went to the studios where Womb recently did some recording. What they produced is excellent - and forthcoming sometime soon. The afterparty seemed to split in two with Womb, friends, and a few others jamming in one room - and DJs in another.
I spent my time jamming in the first room - and think we probably had the better time. Despite having no talent in that direction I must have spent around 3 hours drumming. The first hour was messing about with various beats after spending some time joining in on the Hammond organ and singing off-mic (drowned out by everything else).
Then there were 40 minutes on one rhythm followed by an hour and a quarter on another while different people rotated on guitar, bass, Hammond organ and vocals. None of it was recorded, which is probably just as well in terms of my contributions, though everyone else was great. Nevertheless it was a lot of fun and I'd happily do it again.
Shortly after that it was coming up to 5:30 in the morning. Most people got taxis home but since I still felt energetic I fetched my bike from Islington Mill about 10-15 minutes walk away and cycled back. Only the fact it was already light and I wanted to spend time on tamlyn 11 during the day stopped me going for a long ride on the way - it would have been fun to go down the water park in the dawn.
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