Loop festival - the inthenews.co.uk review
Loop festival - the inthenews.co.uk review
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By Adam Leveridge. |  |
Tuesday, 14, Jul 2009 03:50
Mark Pawlak finds inclement weather failing to dampen a well-organised and exhilarating event on the south coast.
Loop 09 was planned to take place outdoors and bring a little of the summer festival spirit into Brighton, however a change in weather prompted organisers to go with plan B.
Instead of grass and water, ticket holders got the bricks and mortar of three of the town's best venues: The Corn Exchange, the Pavilion Theatre and Dome Concert Hall.
With so many acts all taking turns at three locations it was never possible to take them all in, although revellers were quick to work out programming gaps and dashed between venues grabbing refreshments on the way.
For me Loop kicked off with the Sian Alice Group. Fronted by Sian Alice Ahern the band remained part players throughout the set. Sian herself lacked presence, preferring to stare off to the side and immerse herself in it all.
Overall the sound was excellent, although most tracks were underpinned by a metronome of either bass or drum. Haunting as her vocals may be, Sian's performance was well crafted but repeatedly sorrowful. One-track wonderful.
Just once she really pushed her range and sounded all the better for it. The backing film of shuttering black and white footage taken from train journeys was in keeping with the tempo of it all, but again lacked variety.
A quick change of venue took me to the pavilion theatre and the thoroughly rewarding Wow and Flutter screenings. A diverse, rapid-fire introduction to the latest in cutting-edge animation, video and graphics - a dense mix of film and animation led the way in Andreas Ketzer's Le Trippin is Fine.
The light-hearted but equally impressive Mexican skeletons of Ritxi Ostariz brought a dash of much-needed colour. Up next were the spinning technical drawings of anti-consumerist Valiza Tools' piece. Hugely impressive helixes blasted over a white canvas at epilepsy inducing speeds and accompanied by thumping techno. Good recipe and well received.
The performances were well edited - lightened again with Will Adams' Terrafarmer - a galactical farmer perturbed at a single green shoot appearing on his moonscape - a refreshing demonstration of just what is possible in our maddening digital world.
Back to the music and back to life thanks to the Invisible. A little soul and a dash of personality were what was needed and the band's opener London Girl brought both. The lead singer Dave Okumu made the first real connection with the audience; where others stooped and sauntered: much appreciated by a crowd now looking for a party. The Invisible would have benefitted from a later billing but rocked out anyway finishing with another dizzying guitar solo.
The Light Surgeons should have been the weekend's centrepiece but failed at the last. With semi-transparent projection screens fronting the four-piece tech collective and an impressive audio and visual setup and back screen, all was set for something special. And that's what they brought - for the first 30 minutes or so. After that the audience tired and by the time I left the entire row had gone. Such a shame, as for a moment I truly believed I was witnessing something quite special. But the polemic of US independence became drawn out and laborious. And it was the 9/11 stoner conspiracy theories that eventually did for the four figures shuffling happily behind their Macs.
Centre stage in all this came Datarock. Four-piece, track suited funksters who whipped up the first real crowd reaction. Definitely the band that enjoyed themselves the most and truly got the party started. Band members postured and pumped their way through their set and dragged the Brighton crew from behind their computers and out into the night. Funkalicious.
Sadly the fun wasn't to last. Fever Ray left her audience waiting so long people started to leave. Her performance did little to satisfy the curiosity of some of the crowd, who bailed after her second morgue-ish number. Die-hard fans remained and helped keep the diva in the manner she is accustomed, others went into the night in search of other talent.
In the end Loop 09 did itself proud. Well-organised, well attended, well received and will be welcomed again next year, hopefully under sunnier skies.
Mark Pawlak