Jon and Libby

  Right in the heart of Chorlton's wealthy and bustling Wilbram Road, Dulcimer Bar is a trendy drinkery with an eccelectic cliantele and, more importantly, a fully equipped venue upstairs complete with bar and all the sound gear an EMOM night could want, including a selection of active DI boxes.  Yes, after a short hiatus to find a new venue, Spacenoodle is back! A short walk from the excellent Totally Wired night at The Lloyds (which returns early in 2025 when the new upstairs venue is finished), these two nights will perfectly bookend the main strip through Chorlton. This was a slightly subdued, almost soft relaunch to the mighty nights that used to happen at the cavernous NIAMOS Centre in Hulme. The inestimable Heaton Norris Light Vessel Automatic had to pull out at the last momennt so there were only three of us to grace the stage that night. This was a pity, because his sound is sublime and deeply emotional. First up was Mythical Brewery, delivering their trademark semi-i...

It's a sign! A sign of a terrible few weeks!   C19. The 'Rona. Sniphilis. Call it what you will, but this year's covid 19 strain is a virus very much trying to stay relevant with a raging sore throat, choking mucus, and extreme fatigue that lasts for weeks. Becasue of this, I've been somewhat necessarily quiet while I recover. Trust me to land a dose just before I was due for my yearly jab. So, here's a brief catch-up. We had a great evening at the lovely Derby EMOM in late October, as livestreamed here . Lee Gratorex has branched out from streaming the Derby EMOM to take in other events, the frist of which was the October Electric Tentacle in Stoke. This is a really good development, bringing the evenings to a wider audience. It's like the scene has its own live TV show! Next up for us was the inaurgural Wrexham EMOM, hosted at the Ty Pawb arts centre. This is an excellent venue. The audience was the public, and was very much up for hearing some new stuff. Ever...

Conwy Brewery, all set up and ready to play. Just add acts...   A couple of weeks ago, we braved the Sunday drivers on the North Wales Expressway to pay a return visit Modulate TV's North Wales EMOM at Conwy Brewery, just south of Colwyn Bay. This time, I believed Marjorie the sat nav when she directed me down an unassuming single track lane, and we arrived in time and without a hitch for a diverse afternoon and early evening of live electronic music. First up, we had Jaques N' Their Box. Layers of soundscapes, industrialia, drones, chanting choirs, live sources from a small mic used percussively, and existential angst courtesy of live vocals. Etchasketch is an established EMOM performer and was also acting as host for the night. His rig consists of what looks like an IXO One controller feeding into an insanely complex modular rig with lots of live tweaking possibilities. I'm not a modular synthesist, so any modular setup looks insanely complex to me! His sound has a distin...

  Hymns For Robots is a revered EMOM-style night that everyone in the community seems to have heard of. Curated, so not quite a pure EMOM, the night is currently into its third year according to my calculations (though I may be wrong), and we were lucky enough to get a slot at HfR #40. There were only four acts this night, and each of us had a 25-minute slot to really show what we can do. So, up the M60, M61, and M6 for a couple of hours we went, and by twilight we were pulling into the car park opposite the venue for what would be gig number 25 on this strange musical odyssey of ours. First up was the curiously named GnomeFoam, complete with an excellent Ernie (or is it Bert?) raving hat. Good vibes, breakbeats and DnB were very much in evidence. He did mention to me before he went on that he sometimes gets nervous, but I think he has a great act and the audience loved it. No need for nerves when you get that kind of reaction!   Next up, we had Sylvia And I. This was a beguil...

PP Roy being announced by host Tom.   It was back to The Lloyds for Totally Wired #4 last Thursday, to do battle with once more with the unquiet ghost of Martin Hannett. Maybe he was bored tormenting the performers, or maybe there was a priest in the audience, but the new PA was superb, and it was good and loud! First to the tables was PP Roy with his unique blend of beats and 60s lounge music. This guy must have one heck of a record collection. I get a chilled St Etienne vibe from his work. See what you think... We were up next and after discovering that we could play for longer than planned, the set list became somewhat casual. Being behind the speakers wasn't the best for recording sound, but it went down OK on the night.   Rollmopski took to the stage next, with their unique blend of Prophet 5, modular, Theremin and slide guitar creating a sound that was in turn bouncy and plaintive.   Next, we were in for an interactive treat courtesy of Thunkist and his special padd...

  As I wrote in the last entry about NIAMOS, Hulme, like the rest of Manchester, is in a constant state of renewal. Hulme isn't "Hulme" any more. It is filled with culture, and an involved community. Gone are the dreaded "Crescents", replaced by smart housing association properties with gardens. There's even a bike hire stand! All that SpaceNoodlr needs now is support from the EMOM community to come down and make a night of it, because it really is a good night. The space is BIG, the PA is loud and robust - you literally can't hurt it - and the people are always welcoming and learning as they go. It just needs more people playing in that big space. Last week, we were treated to truly diverse sounds, not least of which was LIEI and her melifluous integration of Theramin and Japanese-inspired music. Great to chill to, with a gorgeous Moog Theramin looking like it was straight out of The Jetsons! Take a listen, and also look at that stage. When else are you...