l'Xl’l Nix/ll NlAl .l l l (ll?«’()l\.‘i(:/\ BURNT OUT FESTIVAL Cottier Theatre, Glasgow, Mon 22— Sun 28 Oct.
Remember the story about the MIS spy who left his laptop behind after lunch in a Soho brassiere only to reveal matters of great national sensitivity to the unsuspecting benefactor? Well, if you happen to chance upon an abandoned laptop in the West End of Glasgow anytime soon, you may just discover the secrets of any of the inaugural Burnt Out festival participants, so prevalent is the electronica ‘instrument’ of choice. From Germany’s To Rococo Rot and Schneider TM to the eccentric local talents of Future Pilot AKA and Sputniks Down, hard-drives of various powers and capacities will convene for what should prove to be the first great festival of the
To Rococo Rot get Burnt
21 st century. The celestial oasis that is The Cottier Theatre plays host, and bearing in mind the religious fervour with which some treat the missives of Andy Votel or Bola, it seems the logical
venue.
Among the most anticipated performances is that of To Rococo Rot, ably assisted by their part~ time backing band, l-Sound. Garnering plaudits from all corners as remixers for the likes of Leftfield, Appliance and Mira Calix, and as producers of Saint Etienne’s last record, their most recent album of indolent genius, Music Is A Hungry Ghost, blends the heartstring-tugging atmospherics of Brian Eno with raw untreated electronics and beautifully layered live strings and fluid bass. How they pull this off live remains to be seen, but chances are there’ll be a laptop or two on display. Fellow German Schneider TM purveys a similarly somnambulant form of electronica, and is responsible for the greatest cover-version of all—time (well, for this week at any rate) — an emotive, vocoder-driven take on The Smiths’ ‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out’ that provided
the centrepiece of last year’s Binoku/ar mini-album.
Local hero Sushil Dade (otherwise known as Future Pilot AKA), takes a break from his successful driving instruction sideline to bring his unique brand of West Coast psych, Indian ragas, blasts of freeform jazz and unrivalled hunger for collaboration to the stage. Everyone from Belle & Sebastian to the Two Lone Swordsmen, The Pastels to Scanner and The Delgados to Kim Fowley have appeared on a Future Pilot record, but with few credible ‘names’ left, how far away is that S Club 7
collaboration?
The climax of the weeklong laptop-fest comes with Manchester’s Skam Recordings celebrating its tenth year of trading. The label that provided a launch pad for Boards Of Canada bring their figureheads Bola, Gescom and the splenetic terror of Team Doyobi to Glasgow for an evening of crunching bassdrums, gliding melodies and the odd splutter of static interference. It would seem
wrong to end the festivities any other way. (Steven Clark)
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ELECTRONICA LAMB Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Sun 26 Oct.
Electronic duo Lamb have come up With a novel way of breathing new life into their music — they split up the band. After a storming eponymous album in 1996. Andy Barlow and Louise Rhodes struggled with that 'difficult second album' syndrome. the result being the fractious and oblique Fear Of Fours.
It was clear that things weren't going well in the Lamb camp. and the creative tension between Rhodes' traditional songwriting ethic and Barlow's “beats and bleeps' dance ethos was reaching breaking point. They decided to call it a day. and the resulting weight that was lifted from their shoulders led them to get back together again almost straight away. Strange world. innit?
“The fact that we Split and then reformed the band. that really gave us a whole new start.‘ says the band's honey-vetoed singer Rhodes. ‘This album's got a freshness to it that I think we maybe lost along the way.‘
The album she's talking about is the newa released third Lamb long player. What SOL/lid. Displaying a much more asSured and accessible attitude. it sounds like the two band members are back on speaking terms at least.
Rucking marvelous
“When we listen to Fear Of Fours. we marvel at the state of mind we ll‘tlSl have been in.' says Rhodes. ‘because it lllSl feels so dense. complex and angular — it's really, really inaccessible. I'm not saying we've just made a pop album or anything but on Fear Of Fours we put a barbed wire fence around ourselves. and this time round it's like. “Come on in, the water's lovely".'
Another new feature of the Lamb set-up is a taste for collaboration. with What SOL/nd featuring contributions from the likes of Spearhead mainman Michael Franti and Doves' Jimi Goodwin. and string arrangements from Wil 'Massive Attack' Malone.
But don't go thinking that it's all hippy love and peace from now on for Lamb. they still enjoy the odd ruck now and again. “There's still plenty of room for creative conflict. but it's constructive instead of destructive.‘ says Rhodes. ‘Now we respect each other instead of beating each other up.‘ (Doug Johnstonel
18 Octal Nov 2001 THE LIST 51