volcano! @ Luminaire, May 30 2006

volcano! / Tape / Greg Davis + Sebastian Roux @ The Luminaire, Kilburn, May 30 2006

Naturally, everything’s running late. As we arrive an hour after doors, found-sound collagists Greg Davis and Sebastian Roux are amusing/bemusing the audience with static bursts and lapping water. Despite one or two swamping crescendos that threatened to engage, this isn’t their crowd, and the constant chitter-chatter that bounces around the venue neuters whatever atmosphere they might have hoped to create.

The chit-chat persists through Tape’s short set, which is a shame, since this Swedish three-piece are clearly onto something good. Their blend of chiming guitars, swirling organs, and laptop trickery produces long, winding dreamscapes that, at their best, evoke a psychedelic beauty shot through with a shimmering sense of menace. Et in Arcadia ego, or something. Sadly, these moments are undermined by an occasional lack of direction, and they receive a tepid, distracted reception.

But the main attraction come on to the first hush of the night, and immediately lay waste to all that preceded them. Words cannot do justice to the phenomenal dichotomy they achieve: a fearless approach to sound and instrumentation allied to a staggeringly tight set of songs. But what shines through most about the live set when compared to the record is the craftsmanship that goes into these slices of sonic dementia. Every static squall, every spastic beat, every seemingly random clank and groan and squeal is perfectly located.

From the driving eruptions (hey!) of ‘Easy Does It’ (introduced as “the psychedelic national anthem”) to the wailed “Fafafa!fafafaf!fafafafa!” of ‘Red and White Bells’, every moment is equally arresting and challenging and brutal and beautiful. Their treatment of Otis Redding’s ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)’, the b-aide to 'Apple Or a Gun', does what all great cover versions do: they take an already nailed-on classic, deconstruct it, reconstruct it, and then brutally take advantage of it in a neon-slashed back alley.

Dazed and enthused, we leave (after a very cute ‘aw, shucks, you guys!’ encore) into the cold Kilburn air, to find that we’ve missed our train. And then we get on the wrong bus. Inside my head I’m toying with rock equations – Merzbow fucking Muse wearing Blixa Bargeld’s hat? Radiohead as hallucinated by Philip K. Dick? – but none of them come up to scratch: there’s something very special and unique fading in my ears. Suffice to say that volcano! are one of the most extraordinary bands I have ever seen: a heady blend of artistry, showmanship, courage and sheer torrential noise. They’ll be back, and they’ll be brilliant. I’ll be the one grinning like an idiot. And so will you.

cgEye