By Jase Walker
With the dust barely settled on the festival season finishing with ArcTanGent, I’m off to Leeds for a northern mini-ATG at one of Leeds’s best known venues, The Brudenell.
I got caught in a bit of traffic on the way which means I’m a slight bit late for the first act but thats just how it goes sometimes when you can’t walk to it!
Upon arrival I find that Hey Colossus have had to drop out due to illness so that’s actually knocked back the starting by an hour anyway so it’s good for me as I’ve arrived on time for the music to start, shame about the band dropping out. Anyway slightly later than stated, Real Terms take the stage and it’s time to kick the day off!
I’d not heard of Real Terms before but I hazard a guess that they were possibly math rock aligned, which was reinforced seeing the guitars of choice they had on stage. I’m glad that this was actually a solid call as a nice bit of math rock to start the day off and get you in the mood, especially like what these lot are playing is great. Upbeat and melodic, switching gears back and forth between more intense sections and dreamy quiet parts. Some real tasty guitar playing here too, featuring harmonics, tapping, and some noodling along with nice drum fills to fill in the sound.
I’ve had to sneak a couple of closer looks at what their drummer’s doing as opposed to the guitars because he’s knocking out some bloody interesting grooves. As their set progresses, I’m more and more enthralled by what they’re doing, it’s so wonderfully laid back and easy to listen to. Another great find for me but I am fixated on their drummer, I’m usually fixed on the guitars or bass in this sort of music but their drummer has really got my attention above all else. File this one under “see again at any opportunity”.
- Real Terms support tricot at Future Yard in Birkenhead this Sunday (18 September).
As with most dual stage shows, I’m back in the main stage area for Graywave who I’ve heard a lot of good stuff about but missed several chances to see. Kicking off they remind me immediately of Slow Crush with their massive atmospheric wall of sound and haunting, reverb laden vocals. Somewhere around that Post-metal, shoegaze sort of music, that snare is just a tad loud though. The band’s sound is thick and heavy and surrounds me like a warm blanket, although that could just be the heat of the main stage area because I’m sweating just standing here. Admittedly it’s not quite gripping me as I find this style can be a bit hit or miss, but that’s not the band’s fault by any means, I generally don’t gel well with long songs that rely on extended ambient sections. Ultimately they sound fantastic barring the loud snare and they’ve got what they’re trying to get across down well.
In a complete shift of gears, next on is CLT DRP with their noisy discordant electro-punk vibe. The crowd pours in bang on time and their unique sound fills the second stage area immediately. The actual setup for CLT DRP is a bit odd too with just a singer, guitarist and drummer making all this mad noise. The guitar doesn’t even sound like a guitar, it’s just insane bassy synth all the while their singer screams at the audience through a massive vocal range. CLT DRP are not your average act but the crowd is bobbing their heads along all the same because as with a lot of Arctangent-aligned crowds, people love weird shit. It’s still early in the day but the audience has drawn in right up to the front of the stage for CLT DRP which is great to see!
During a brief strap malfunction, I can hear other band’s members near me flapping about to find a strap for them just in case, which is really wholesome too. This band is incredibly unique in the way they fuse punk, EDM, metal, and noise rock all into one atypical package that people are clearly keen on. The raw energy of their live show is unbridled for the entire set, utilising loops, synth effects (drums and guitars both), all the while their singer stomps around the stage like they own the place! Their singer standing on the shoulders of giants of femme rock such as Beth Ditto, Karen-O and Joan Jett and emulating their massive stage presence. They’ve packed out the second stage and rightly so, a force to be reckoned with and amazingly executed.
- CLT DRP are currently on tour with De Staat.
Next up today is Gallops, another band I’m not fully familiar with but have been told they’re similar to Carpenter Brut and Perturbator which has sold me on it almost immediately. They start off just as I get into the room and I’m already getting that synthwave vibe and I’m already into it! Yep, we’ve got the 80s synths, groovy drums, the chorus saturated guitar and I am fixated on what Gallops are doing – how have I missed these before!? There’s so much more than just synthwave in here, there’s bits of Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk’s ‘TRON Legacy’ soundtrack!
I’m actually finding it a bit hard to remind myself to keep typing notes because I’m so incredibly engrossed in this set. I’ve legitimately just sent out several messages to people I know essentially ordering them to listen to Gallops right now. The grooves they’re kicking out along with enthralling melodies that almost seem like they’re paying homage to chiptune/keygen music of the 90s and early 2000s as well as contemporaries like Leftfield is truly engrossing. I’m genuinely almost at a loss for how to get across how much I’m sucked into this set, watching Gallops with my mouth agape and wide eyed. If you’ve even got a passing interest in synthwave or electronic music in any capacity, you owe it to yourself to stick them on immediately and get lost in it.
- Gallops play Forgotten Futures, alongside Nordic Giants, Orchards and many more, at The Y Theatre in Leicester on Saturday 3 December.
And now, for the sixth time this year (I think that might be something of an ÜR record – Ed), it’s time for Heriot. It’s hard to overstate how much I’ve come to love what these lot do and considering I’ve feverishly returned to see them this many times speaks for itself. Ethan and Julian oversee the audience as their intro track plays out and they get right into it with Debbie screaming down the microphone like it’s got hell to pay. Julian meanwhile is absolutely beating the shit out of his drums as Erhan grimaces while shouting along to the songs. The sound they’ve got today is so much more raw than the festival appearances I’ve seen them at the last few times, being in a room with them translates the nuances of what they’re doing incredibly well.
During the ambient sections Julian stands up periodically to stare down the crowd as if he’s about to grab one of them and smash their heads into his kit. All along the set Jake provides the rumble by ragging his bass and periodically supporting the vocals with his gravelly shouting. To say I’m swept up in the warpath that Heriot has been carving out this year is a bit of an understatement. They’re making their mark on the Brudenell with their signature sound of what a car crash might sound like if you randomly sped the video up and slowed it down and the crowd is lapping it up.
With what comes from seeing a band so frequently in the space of less than a year, you get a feel for how consistent they are and Heriot are most definitely that. They’ve had an insanely busy year and the fact that every time I’ve seen them this year, they’ve given 120 per cent to every show is testament not just to their skill as musicians and performers, but to the bottomless endurance they have to put this much into every show. Believe me, the buzz about them is not unfounded in the slightest, Heriot are on fire and there’s no signs of them letting this momentum go to waste.
- Heriot support Zeal & Ardor in November.
Switching gears again in terms of sound, it’s time for Physics House Band who I’ve been chomping at the bit to see live again since Arctangent 2019. What’s not to love about a bit of prog with sax thrown into the mix? The moment they start the main stage room immediately sees a stream of people ushering their way in. With riffs that you’d expect to hear in YES’s more intense numbers and a sax that’s got harmonising effects layered over the top, we’ve got a real interesting sound being kicked out by just three people on stage. So while the melody instruments strut their stuff, we’ve got the drummer blasting out grooves behind all of it as well!
Are these a prog band or just jazz? Who knows? Whatever it is, tasteful guitar licks, mad sax melodies, random bits of synths and ever busy drums, it’s bloody entertaining! Definitely not a band to start a mosh pit over unlike some of the other bands on today but as the audience demonstrates, a band to cross your arms and bid your head to while maintaining solid eye focus on the live show. I mean it’s a showcase of how much of an intense show three people can put on, the thunderous sound fills every nook and cranny in the venue and continuously shakes my legs. The Physics House Band excels at constantly moving through sections of beautiful melodies and interesting soundscapes. While on stage they’re very much focused on keeping the moving parts going at the expense of rocking out visually, the live show is very much about the music rather than the band. No doubt I’ll be seeing these later this year alongside Delta Sleep…
On that note, after a bit of a break to give myself a rest and actually eat some food, I’ve returned back to the main stage for another favourite, Delta Sleep. After seeing these at ArcTanGent, I wouldn’t hesitate to see such a wonderfully pleasant band again so soon. With mic stands and amp stacks adorned with what appears to be vine leaves, this just adds to the wonderful appearance of the band themselves in addition to the music. Delta Sleep personifies a lot of what I have come to love about math rock; the music may be busy but it’s so easy to listen to and get lost in. Seeing them in such close proximity as opposed to a massive festival stage like I mentioned earlier gets you so much closer to the nuances of what they’re playing.
Their melodic prowess really shines through when everyone gets together to sing at the same time as well, another brilliant facet of Delta Sleep’s knack for creating truly beautiful music. These serve as proof that you needn’t be a “heavy” band to go hard, some of the more intense sections work as a build up to a fantastic release. It’s been great to sit and watch Delta Sleep in a much more intimate environment as it feels like you get a much better feel for their intensity, also probably because I spent most of the time of their Arctangent set laid out on the floor with a pretty stinking hangover. Great set, great band, great music.
- Delta Sleep tour again in December, with dates in Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester and Southampton.
For the final act of today, weirdly it’s the second stage with Bossk.
I’ve heard a lot of friends talk these up so I was quite interested to see what they’re about and initially I have to admit I was a bit disinterested from the start which seemed fairly middle the road death metal but later on it feels they’ve switched gears to more melodic stuff which has piqued my interest a bit but the moment the singer starts again all that melodic stuff just disappears. I mean you’re not going to please everyone at a variety show like this and it’s not really working for me honestly. The more interesting melodic bits get completely overshadowed by the more intense heavy bits with the singer, which has lost me. I’m glad I know for sure whether I like them or not now I suppose!
Oh the whole it’s been a fantastic day, great variety, mostly incredible from the bands that have really gotten my interest going and a couple of great finds. Can’t wait for the next one!
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