WARP 20 - Battles / Flying Lotus / Nice Nice / Broadcast

WARP have put together an interesting mix of old and new artists for their 20th birthday bash tour, showing off the mix of talent on their label. With a series of live acts and DJs it was set to be a good night.



The venue is split between the main theatre style room and an upstairs small dancefloor area. Heading for the main area I was greeted by the psychedelic sounds of duo Broadcast. A video screen displaying trippy visuals split the members either side of the stage with James Cargill on the left playing distorted guitars and vintage synths while Trish Keenan on the right sang rhythmic 'oohs and aahs' and used samplers to produce various sounds. While never building up much of a beat they were interesting to watch but never quite managed to capture a coherent theme.



Next up was another duo, Nice Nice, but instead of psych, this was live techno. With one half on drums and various samples, the other played guitar and various synths and keyboards. Moving through standard four to the floor, 16 bar progressions it seemed fairly straightforward but the unusual rhythms and unusual samples (a kazoo!) added some imagination. They managed to get more of a reaction from the crowd but never quite won anyone over. Tonight was all about Battles.

Never speaking to the audience, no introduction, Dave Konopka the guitarist from Battles strolled on stage moving straight to his sampler looping short guitar passages. Not sure whether everything was starting the slightly puzzled crowd cheered half heartedly till the rest of the band came on stage and everything seemed to come together. With each member of the band layering samples on samples, building up a bigger and bigger sound while the drummer, John Stainer, beats out the rhythm with a relaxed style. His oddly high High-Hat gives a celebratory feel every time he punches the sky to hit it. The band give a feel as if they're just jamming in a studio, only interacting with each other and barely stopping between songs before starting their layer upon layer process once again.



As the set went on, the tempo increased building to the fans favourite 'atlas' blended seamlessly into the end of 'race : in'. Everyone in the audience finally let go and started dancing as if it was a breaking point, but it was almost too late as the band left the stage straight after the song. With no encore, many were left disappointed and decided to leave having seen all they wanted leaving the venue half full for Flying Lotus. The bassy breakbeat, drum and bass mixed with hip-hop beats had a far darker feel to anything else on the bill. Despite being a 'one man and his laptop' set it felt the most creative of the night.

All in all, the WARP20 birthday seemed more like a glorified international Battles tour, but I'm not complaining as they are a unique band with their own concept of how to create music that's not just interesting to listen to, but good fun too.

FUTURE GIGS