Alternative Dubstep Orchestra + Malpas @ The Hare & Hounds, 6th January 2011
‘If music be the food of love, play on/Give me excess of it.’
Delicious it is when live musicians are a bubbling and a cooking. What a delightful dilemma it is when two bands vie justifiably for being headliners. It was Twelfth Night, and the epiphany of all together embracing damn good music and engaging fine company was hugged in to The Hare.
Malpas have been referred to as ‘Experimental/Future Folk’, epithets they may not necessarily agree with: synth-empathic dream-scapers perhaps? These labels of affection, not affectation, serve a purpose because, less than pigeon-holing them, they let fluttering, romantic doves of imagination fly. They’re an exceptionally gifted ensemble of multi-instrumentalists with synths, mandolins, violins and dulcimers all weaving a rich tapestry of quintessentially British timbre and, though comfortable at the Hare, they could equally blow the big top off at any festival Chai Wallah tent.
Frontman, Ali Forbes, in aesthete, Jarvis Cocker, appearance, has a studied, but never precious, presence and commands with polished falsetto vocal cadence. They draw on eclectic influences be they oriental, Celtic or even the ambient land/seascapes of Benjamin Britten and Vaughan Williams. Add to this the sculptured counterpoint sometimes even abstract dynamics of drummer, Jim Macauly, and what more could you ask for?
The set opened with ‘Under Her Sails’ with violinist, Libs Poole’s pizzicato filigree cameos set amongst ethereal glockenspiel ambience. They really get to you this band. ‘Where The River Runs’ had an insistent, melancholic pulsation that recalled vintage Eurythmics that broods with crafted, passionate elegance. Streaming live to Rhubarb Radio (honest!) ‘Charlemagne’ rose to its titular grandeur with a Bond like theme and flute riffing mystic crescendo. Closing song ‘Promise’ was a laden with expansive, truly trouser trembling, bass booming gravitas with keyboards, Danielle Perry, and guitar/samples, Tim Hancock, stoking the sonic furnace. Picture, if you may, Pink Floyd and Hans Zimmer, doing a club remix of the Inception soundtrack after a night on absinthe.
Setlist: Sails, River, Green Light, Us Afloat, Charlemagne, Lyon, Promise.
Re-arrange the following words to make a sentence. Mad/barking/combo/dubstep/brass/mayhem/cooler than the icebox in Mr. Frostie’s fridge/bravado. Actually, they stand as they are. Wiki describes dubstep as ‘… a genre of electronic dance music…Its overall sound has been described as tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals’.
Well, Alternative Dubstep Orchestra have certainly taken this to heart and lung with gusto and swamp the stage with an avalanche of samples, horns and bass bombing and even a dude in a cap conducting with a baton. They’re an experimental collective with an ever flexible ensemble of musicians and DJ ‘turntablists’ and they just live and breathe the dubstep groove. I was naive enough to ask the delightful vocalist, Mish Elle, if there was a setlist. She smiled sympathetically, ‘A what?’ Fair enough. Outstanding musicianship, channeled anarchy and sort of Mystys Big Adventure in sonicspheric congress with The Specials. Couldn’t stay for DJ set Aries as Nanny was calling me back to reality. Full marks and thanks to promoters, The Honeycomb Club, for their incisive vision and faith in West Midlands artists.
Review – John Kennedy
Photos – Ian Dunn