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The London Sinfonietta, Squarepusher, Jamie Lidell The London Sinfonietta and Warp Records collaborated at last year's successful Ether Festival hosted by London's South Bank Centre, which the Daily Telegraph described as "The beginnings of a quiet musical revolution". They played versions of works by Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Mira Calix and Boards of Canada, together with pieces from the 20th Century's greatest composers such as György Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage, Conlon Nancarrow and Charles Ives.
The mix of classical and contemporary experimental music was always an interesting proposition, so it seems inevitable that the London Sinfonietta and Warp would collaborate again for this year's Ether festival.
A curious mix of people made their way into the Royal Festival Hall, a venue more used to hosting classical concerts than music from the darker edges of clubland. The stage was a mass of percussion instruments, pianos, computers, electronic equipment and mixing desks, with a huge screen at the back, onto which was projected a mixture of Warp, Pleix and Chris Cunningham videos and visuals commissioned for the event by Flat-e and Bluespoon.
The evening began in a low-key fashion with Aphex Twin's Jynweythek Ylow and hy a Scullyas lyf adhagrow played on a prepared piano, followed by percussionists from the London Sinfonietta playing a charged version of Edgard Varèse's Ionisation. An interesting arrangement of Squarepusher's I Wish You Could Talk, from his Go Plastic album, and Conc 2 Symmetriac, from his Do You Know Squarepusher album, by Fraser Trainer and Sound Intermedia was next, generating rapturous applause from the eager and appreciative crowd.
Squarepusher himself took to the stage in a top hat and a beard now verging on the biblical and sat down at a computer to play a solo set of crunchy drill and bass. The screen at the back of the stage showed a representation of Tom's computer monitor with the frenetic timelines and samples chopping and changing in bright pink and blue. It was awesome, hypnotic stuff and when it finished, once the applause subsided, an enthusiastic audience member just behind me shouted, "Have a fuckin' bit of that!"
Mine and the audience's thoughts exactly.
The London Sinfonietta returned to play a masterful version of George Antheil's Ballet Mécanique (with the accompanying 1924 black and white film by Fernand Léger, Dudley Murphy and Man Ray). The music and visuals were perfectly synchronised, with the piece ageing astonishingly well: it seemed fresh, exciting and vital and was one of the highlights of the evening.
After a short intermission, Clio Gould arrived on stage to play the first of two Steve Reich compositions scheduled for the evening. Violin Phase, written in 1967, is concerned with the sonic interaction of violins playing variations on a melody, slightly out of phase. Gould played along to a previously recorded version of the parts while the screen showed an overlaid video of her playing multiple violin elements.
It was during this performance that a small minority of the audience spoiled the enjoyment by carrying on a conversation as if propping up a bar somewhere. One audience member became so frustrated that he turned round and shouted SHUT THE FUCK UP! at the top of his voice to one particularly chatty pair just behind him. He only said what most of the audience were thinking, and Gould was not phased in the slightest, if you'll forgive the pun, and drew justified, animated applause for her solo recital.
It seemed inspired to segue from Steve Reich to Jamie Lidell, who played an amazing live set consisting of looping his vocals live like Bobby McFerrin on acid and put through the Warp wringer. Wearing a suit made out of audio cassette tape, Jamie jumped from computer to effects to analogue synth to mixing desk turning his vocals into hardcore electronica. A couple of audience members scrambled down to the front and began dancing in an esctacy-fuelled fashion, completely throwing the security who wondered if they should leave them be or take them down like punks. Uncertain what to do, the dancers were left alone to flail and hug each other, grinning from ear to ear.
Jamie's set was nothing short of awesome, a testament to cut and paste funk, helped along by the live 70s style Top of the Pops video effects playing behind him. Edgy and threatening to unravel at any moment, it was held to together by Jamie's adrenaline and spontaneous musical nerve.
The audience was blown away by Lidell, and the London Sinfonietta had a tough act to follow, but came up with the goods with a 1-2-3 punch consisting of John Cage's 1939 composition, First Construction in Metal, Steve Reich's Six Marimbas (one of my favourite Reich pieces, up there with Sextet, Electric Counterpoint and the seldom performed Four Organs) and a brilliant arrangement of Aphex Twin's Polygon Window.
Polygon Window was transformed from a slice of bedroom techno to an overpowering tsunami of percussion thanks to the arranging skills of Kenneth Hesketh and the enthusiastic conducting of Jurjen Hempel. The piece closed with all the percussionists playing a rousing snare rhythm, some of the players even venturing into the audience! It was an impressive and fitting finale to an evening of musical experimentation in every sense.
The only disappointing aspect of the evening was the minority who insisted on talking to each other during the performance, or even carrying on loud phone conversations, mistaking the RFH for a club venue. But although annoying, they couldn't really detract from the inspired programming that brought together an eclectic mix of music and visuals that worked better than anyone could have imagined.
People who would never have otherwise heard and appreciated Varèse, Antheil, Cage and Reich were exposed to this rich vein of 20th Century music and could see how the work of Lidell, Jenkinson and Richard D James fit into this cutting edge musical tradition.
Let's hope that there will a third collaboration between Warp and The London Sinfonietta at next year's Ether music festival.
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