What could be better than spending a cosy Sunday afternoon in a living room with some of the hip & wonderful on the Dutch alternative scene and see a couple of gigs?
Sub 071/WOTNXT Live in a Leiden Living Room: 25/01/09 Featuring …And the Bloody Hand and Roy Santiago
First up: big apologies to Roy Santiago, I’m so sorry, but I really had to go!
Yup, if Foals can do it, so can WOTNXT (but much better obviously). What could be better than spending a cosy Sunday afternoon in a living room with some of the hip & wonderful on the Dutch alternative scene and see a couple of gigs? Yet again WOTNXT keep on with the lo-fi, can do approach. Forget your common or garden squat gigs in a lumber room; that’s passé. I’m expecting gigs down the swimming baths next.
After tea and biscuits (really) and a lot of plugging in of guitar leads, …And the Bloody Hand (otherwise known as Melvin Wevers) decided it was time for noise. Negotiating some space amongst the plethora of leads, keyboards and pedals, …And the Bloody Hand sat down in front of the laptop and began to conjure a set out of that veritable Black Box of an instrument.
The music makes is commonly described as electronica, though to be honest rambling on about bleeps and samples wouldn’t really do justice to this set. It was more orchestral, and its intent similar to the sound-scapes David Holmes was creating 10 years ago, sampled voices included (apparently the set was inspired by his wanderings out in the States, just like Mr Holmes in fact). Notes were caressed from guitar and keyboard and then morphed into a lush, wide-screen setting by use of the laptop. At times it got into Rodelius territory. But it was never less than a classical, almost symphonic take on the genre. A great gig and I recommend his CD; (Yankee Merzbild).
After this it was a bowl of soup and chatting to Pien Feith about her new record and then off to a Burns night do, sorry Roy!
Words: Richard Foster