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One
night with Sinfonetta, Squarepusher, Jamie
Lidell and others - London Royal Festival
Hall - March 12, 2004
By:
Mike Whyte
Produced
as part of the Ether Festival (an annual
London event promoting the best in contemporary
electronic music); which this year also
consists of a rare live showing from the
grandfathers of electronic music; Kraftwerk,
along with such acts as Plaid and Luke Vibert,
it was easy to get excited about this evening's
event. It didn’t disappoint either,
with the two worlds of classical and contemporary
seeming to smack headlong into each other
in what must be one of the most interesting
and genuinely exciting events I, and from
the sound, at least three quarters of the
audience, had ever seen.
Split
into two segments first we were treated
to classical renditions of composers such
as Reich, Varese and Antheil, alongside
full orchestrations of Squarepusher and
Aphex Twin tracks; it was amazing just to
hear such a thing being done. This was then
followed by a thirty minute Squarepusher
set, which from his arrival in top hat and
tails to his gentlemanly bow on leaving,
was an exercise in sheer noise terrorism.
Breathtaking!
Following
the break (which included a reworking of
the seminal Flex video and rare videos from
the likes of Chris Clark) we were treated
to more of the Sinfonetta and a live set
by Jamie Lidell, who managed to steal the
show with a staggering improvised set of
pure electronic and vocal trickery –
if there is one artist to see this year
it is this man! You have seen nothing until
you have seen this one man tornado and his
stage show; thoroughly deserved the standing
ovation given to him at the end of this
set.
Finishing
with an amazing classical reworking of Aphex
Twin's classic “Polygon Window”,
complete with eight band members walking
off stage and into the crowd with drums
for the finale, it is quite easy to say
that the standing ovation given at the end
of the concert was not just for the concert,
but for the festival as a whole –
this festival just grows in strength year
by year, and can proudly now take its place
alongside Barcelona’s Sonar as one
electronic festival you just cannot afford
to miss.