Caught in the Crossfire

London Forum
12/5/06

The Sounds Of The Underground tour, described as boasting ‘all the passion of hardcore mixed with the brutality of metal’, certainly lives up to its name – in that none of the acts involved in this UK leg have been afforded the ridiculous levels of hype and over-promotion that have plagued several of their peers (and in some cases, labelmates). It’s therefore pleasing to see that they’ve managed to pull a decent-sized crowd; with the downstairs standing area of the London Forum teeming with (mostly tattooed) punters eagerly awaiting the heavyweight thrills on offer tonight.

ALL THAT REMAINS reside more towards the metal end of the metal/hardcore spectrum, largely thanks to lead guitarist Oli Herbert’s elaborate soloing, which lends the Massachusetts quintet’s slamming riffs an extra dimension. However, it’s still early in the evening, and hence songs like ‘Tattered On My Sleeve’ and frontman Phil Labonte’s boundless enthusiasm are rewarded with little more than a small pit and a smattering of applause.

Like the sonic equivalent of a savage beating, TERROR provide a lesson in how to utterly dominate a stage. “I wanna see people on top of each other!” roars vocalist Scott Vogel, as his band whips the pit into a maelstrom of flailing limbs. The LA hardcore quintet’s no-frills hardcore may sound somewhat generic on record, but in the live setting they get by on sheer brutality and bullish aggression, pounding the audience into submission with some sickeningly heavy riffs and breakdowns. For the first time tonight, this show truly feels like an event.

The level of intensity increases with the arrival of UNEARTH, who throw some red-hot riffs and death-blast beats into a hardcore cauldron already at boiling point. There’s no big secret to their success; this is, quite simply, metalcore taken to the extreme and shot through with savage confidence. The malevolent grin on vocalist Trevor Phipps’ face says it all, as the likes of ‘The Great Dividers’ and ‘Black Hearts Now Reign’ hit home like a machete to the senses.

It’s hard to imagine MADBALL as the weak link of a show, but live-wire frontman Freddy Cricien’s constant overuse of the words ‘represent’ and ‘brotherhood’ can’t hide the fact that the NYHC veterans have been upstaged by Terror and Unearth’s punishing performances. Still, old favourites like “Hold It Down’ and ‘Look My Way’ sound suitably huge, and keep the crowd going in solid, if unspectacular fashion.

There’s a disconcertingly long wait for CHIMAIRA to take the stage, but the Ohio bruisers don’t disappoint tonight. The return of former drummer Andols Herrick to the fold has clearly strengthened the band’s renowned live power even further, and it’s a beautifully brutal sight to behold as ‘The Dehumanizing Process’ and ‘Salvation’ incite utter carnage in the pit. They barely pause for breath during this all-too-short set, and by the time live staple ‘Pure Hatred’ has tested the Forum’s foundations like never before, it’s clear to anyone with so much as a passing interest in metal that Chimaira are at the peak of their powers. An awe-inspiring end to an impressively diverse and heavy bill.

Alex Gosman

Bonde Do Role
The Old Blue Last
18.05.06

Upstairs at the Old Blue Last pub isn’t big. In fact, it’s about the same size as my living room and kitchen combined. But when its completely packed and the bar to the side is heaving under elbows so you’re sweating before anything has even begun, you know you’re going to be in for an energetic night. After the brilliant opening djs, the first of whom wore a cap that was in fact Donald Duck’s head and played some awesome dancehall and bashment and then was followed by an 80s throwback in tight yellow jeans mashing up classic old tracks [I’m talking “Uh Oh” by Shampoo here] with random house beats, it was time for the main support – Bonde Do Role.

The Brazilian group consisting of a DJ, a male vocalist and a female vocalist, were introduced by Diplo who has considerable interest in Brazilian music [check out his Favela Strikes Back album], and then all hell broke lose. They sample The Darkness, they throw in AC/DC riffs and they throw up metal horns every chance they get. They have the loudest carnivale style drums I’ve ever heard, and when they let rip, it was literally impossible for me to not throw my hands up and scream “aaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiaiaiaiaiaiiiiiiii”. It was like a carnivale from Rio was inside the pub and the female singer’s head thrashed from side to side as she screamed and shouted her way through the entire set.

I couldn’t tell you where one song ended and the next began but in all honesty it didn’t make a blind bit of difference because I was so caught up in the drums and fuzzy guitar sampling that I was just dancing right until the very end without a care for who was around me. As soon as their last song ended, and the female singer was throwing herself into the crowd shouting to be carried all the way to the back, Diplo was on the decks.

Now, I’m a huge fan of Diplo, for his hip hop work, his grime track with Kano and his Favela album [we’ll ignore his work with M.I.A] but this set was unlike any I’ve ever heard. He opened with the 60s golden oldie “Wait A Minute Mr Postman” before launching into a mix of Soft Cell. His set never stayed in one place for more than 2 songs at a time and during the set we were treated to the sounds of Madonna, a heap of crunk music, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Beenie Man, more Favela tunes and much much more.

By the time we’d hit the mid point of his set, the crowd were dancing like pill heads to every single beat dropped, whether it was fast house, slowed down crunk or even the super jungle he threw in, and when everyone was jumping and dancing in time with the music, the floor was creaking and moving. Did we care? Did we fuck, it was time to dance and that was that. Diplo is without the master of mixing in completely random shit, as proved by his Fabric mix, when he coupled Le Tigre with grime producer Jammer, Cat Power with Yaz and all roads inbetween. This was one of the best nights out I’ve had in years, absolutely amazing.

Abjekt
[Photo by Kim Norbury]

The Garage, London
16.05.06

What justice is there in a world where James Blunt can sell out every venue under the sun yet the Garage is less than half full tonight for what is arguably the best psychedelic pop band to swoop this earth since Syd Barrett’s Pink Floyd tuned in and dropped far out? We shouldn’t be surprised. In a world where only the lowest common denominator will suffice, it’s hardly surprising that a band as wilfully strange as Swedish quartet Dungen would go over people’s heads. Plus, they have the guts to sing in their native tongue and aren’t afraid of damaging their commercial potential by not singing in English. And in the same way that some people won’t watch films with subtitles, some people won’t listen to Dungen, despite the fact that they write what are very odd, but very brilliant pop songs.

None of this matters one bit. It’s their loss. Throughout their hour and a half set tonight Dungen are classic seventies heavy prog-rock (‘Panda’), blissful fuzzy pop (‘Gjort Bort Sig’) and freaked-out symphonic exotica (new single ‘Festival’) and carry each shifting change in style with ease and confidence. The can swing from being crushingly heavy to achingly beautiful in a mere breath and look almost as good as they sound, coming across like extras from the Hair Bear Bunch with a Rick Wakeman look alike on guitar!

Proof of Dungen’s brilliance is in the fact that not once during their lengthy set tonight do they lose grip on our attention, sucking us into their twisted world they don’t let us go until the bitter end before spitting us out on the floor in a heap. “Fucking brilliant!” screams a clearly blown away fan from the front of the stage. “I know,” replies bassist Henrik Nilsson with a knowing nod. Dungen know how good they are. They’re just waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.

James Sherry

www.dungen-music.com