By Jase Walker
A rare occurrence with being in Manchester is the (technical) opening of a new venue, and today it’s The Lodge, a lower floor area of The Deaf Institute, is hosting a headline show for CLT DRP. Along for the show are Oorya and DEAFDEAFDEAF, both of which are new to me so let’s see what a nice warm Friday night in Manchester has to offer…
Oorya, as in “Who Are Ya”, gets things started tonight complete with an interesting array of electronics and a Beelzebub styled horn adornment. What began as a droney intro suddenly breaks into an off-kilter bouncy electro beat while they jump between climbing vocal lines and biting spoken word parts. Admittedly I’m quite bemused by this bizarre and unusual style but not in a bad way by any stretch! I adore this sort of level of artistic expression by a one person show, the sort of music that has a strong anti establishment message but also revels in its quirkiness. The in-between songs banter is nothing short of hilarious as well, easily matching the quirky and somewhat awkward vibes of the music as well.
This sort of unusual performance reminds me so strongly of Tiny Tim bizarrely, the mix of left field humour and genuinely solid musicianship is a fantastic mix and I couldn’t describe my mood as anything but lifted by this set, well that and having them run off stage to give me a hug because I struggled to do it myself! I also don’t think I’ve ever seen someone use a plastic pipe for musical effect at a show before either!
Second tonight is DEAFDEAFDEAF, changing up the vibe a bit with a full band performing something a bit more indie rock/post-punk oriented. The venue is steadily filling up now, for a decently sized room it feels a lot more cozy than the upstairs at Deaf Institute. Their singer opting to get off the stage into the crowd, and he’s a big fella, comes quite close to knocking my pint but that’s punk innit? Strong Manchester vibes from this one channeling a lot of Joy Division in many ways.
This is one of these occasions where the drummer is really standing out to me, he’s playing some really bloody tasty grooves that catch my ear a lot. The band on the whole is sonically interesting though, the guitars almost exclusively occupy the high register, there’s no big heavy riffs here, it’s all light melodies while the bass focuses on building the floor of the band’s sound. Again another really enjoyable set to build up to the finale but by no means being something just to fill in the time, thoroughly enjoyable.
And finally, CLT DRP to smash out their headline set, time for some angry electro punk. I’ve got myself right to the front for this because I’m gonna make the most of a show like this! Their mix of prodigy style synth meets feminist punk is already getting the floor bouncing under my feet. I genuinely can’t think of anyone that sounds quite like CLT DRP, and seeing them pull off this sort of thing live, especially with their guitarist’s massive pedal set just makes it all the more impressive! CLT DRP groove every bit as much as they go hard, each song saturated with rage against misogyny and bigotry.
The diversity of noise that a three-piece like this are able to make, especially without backing tracks, is an experience to behold in its own right. Their singer, Annie, oozes attitude and ferocity not just in their vocal performance but in how they conduct themselves on stage, stomping around while screaming at the crowd. One of their newer tracks gets a live debut tonight as well and it’s a ‘banger as well, feeling a lot darker than most of their released stuff but goes every bit as hard. As we get towards the end of the set, clearly everyone’s fully cutting loose as a pit opens up right at the front of the crowd. This has been the audience response that CLT DRP have absolutely deserved, a band that has tirelessly worked as hard as they have should see crowds that respond like this.
A very eclectic and varied night that ended with a brilliant finale of CLT DRP smashing it as hard every bit as massively as they have every time I’ve seen them. I live for this sort of thing, a great crowd for great music, what a brilliant way to spend a Friday.
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