Sonicstate Bath EMOM #4

An unexpectedly cold night, but snuggled up at home with a glass of slutty Merlot to keep me company and the promise of a live stream from the Sonicstate Bath EMOM #4, I was planning on staying put.

The format for the evening was pre-recorded interviews with each act chatting about their influences and sound, followed by their live performance. This is an excellent technique that I hope that other livestreamed EMOM organisers follow it because it allows the viewer to understand where the performers are coming from before they play.

However, the first act needed no such introduction as it was the one and only Martin Christie. The man we really should call the Creator, Originator, or Founder. Without Martin, it's likely that EMOM would still refer to a form of tortuous interval training. He began the movement as a reaction to having to perform at "normal" open mic nights, surrounded by dreary acoustic guitars and depressing sets of moribund noodling. His brand of poésie concrète tonight encompassed loneliness, alienation, loss, and weariness, but with an underlying energy expressed with extreme vocal manipulation courtesy of a Roland VT-4 and Chase Bliss Habit pedal. 

The man himself, Martin Christie subverting the notion of playing synth on a table!

Next on the table was Sciaman (pronounced "Sheeaman" from the Italian for shaman) with a journey into chilled-out dub. In his pre-recorded interview before his set, Tony said that for him music is a meditation, and I can see his vibe going down very well in chill out rooms across the nation and at festivals.

Sciaman setting a mellow vibe with his dub-inspired set.

Caroline McLavy is a new name to me, but not to the EMOM scene. She's on a ten-date EMOM tour! Into synthpop since she was a teenager, Disco Ego describes the feeling as the terror kicks in waiting for her set and overcoming it with her disco ego. Clever stuff. Her sound is lots of fun, with big energy and subtle backing vocals. Listening to her, I got the distinct vibe of Vile Electrodes in their popier moments. This was Caroline's seventh gig in her tour. Catch her when the final three dates are announced by following her website.

Caroline McLavy putting on her Disco Ego

 

Gun Boiler seemed like a normal everyday person until the green strobe and intro music began, when he suddenly reached for a massive spiky wig and sinister white facemask. Joysticks lit, what followed was the stuff of DnB nightmares: fast, furious and underground. Reminiscent of Underworld, but so much faster, like a steam train shovelling coal into its own boiler and speeding unstoppably down the track. Very accomplished stuff. I needed another hug from my good friend Merlot after that, and luckily there was a 30-minute break for drinks and therapy. 

Gun Boiler. Brilliantly frightening vibes from the man behind the mask!

Lifeisfeedback began his set with abstract reverberated sounds, through which a beat gradually emerged. The sound quickly became funky and very danceable. If the pioneers of EBM and industrial had access to Ben's kit, they'd have thought they were in heaven, and for an old EBM head like me, it really was. Finely wrought distortions, live sonic manipulations and that underlying Afrika Bambaataa  funk feel all drive the sound forward. Lovely stuff, and a great anti-fascist sticker to boot!

Excellent EBM-infused sonic distortions from Lifeisfeedback

Sometimes, you have to hear what an EMOM act sounds like just from the name. Taken from a short story by Haruki Murakami, Dave Harrison's Super Frog Saves Tokyo is no exception. I got distinct Berlin School vibes from the opening number, but somewhat heavier. Displaced in the second half of the set by heavier 303 burblings and a driving beat, his sound is extremely danceable in the vibe of The Chemical Brothers.

Intriguing name, intriguing sound - Super Frog Saves Tokyo

With a backing of birdsong and other environmental samples, Technomadic's set contained a truly epic kick drum. Even to my tin ears, through my M50x headphones it sounded thunderous. I detected a lot of influences in his set, from Tangerine Dream and Jarre circa Magnetic Fields, to the Berlin School and The Orb, all rounded off by a banging, bass-heavy number followed by double bass and even a Casio VL-1 samples to bring the set to a close. A very polished and accomplished sound for a set that was written with a week's notice.

Technomadic showing what's possible in a mere seven days

 

Let me say up front that Andy And Grace, who closed the show, rock! Stalwarts of the EMOM scene, they almost immediately had the crowd up and on its feet. Some shots on the stream were obscured by people grooving away. Andy and Grace's sound is planted with both feet in the techno tradition. Banging beats, screaming 303s, samples and complex arpeggios. What's not to like?

The perfect closer to a banging night - Andy and Grace!

 

I don't know what it was like in the room, but over the live stream the evening was a triumph, with very high production values, not just on the stream, where the video mixer really knew what he was doing, but also in terms of the sound and the visuals in the room. I'm looking forward to the next stream, but I'm looking forward even more to the day Libby and I get to play there.