Details
Venue: The Labour Club (Website)
Event: Masters of Budvar present
Location: 95-97 Charles St Northampton England NN1 3BG
Admission: free
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Map
Notes
This is, of course, Mark Refoy's other band, featuring Jon Mattock and Ray Dickerty, his old colleagues from Spiritualised. Their label has landed them a showcase date at the Dublin Castle in London on Saturday 4th December, so it seemed only logical that they take the Friday slot at Masters of Budvar to give them a chance to warm up for that, while simultaneously rocking our socks off.
Admirers of the talented Miss Best, do not despair: The Sunshine Valley Dance Band will be playing for us in the New Year.
The return of Mark Refoy, Jon Mattock and Ray Dickerty. Last time these psychedelic desperados played the club, the joint was heaving with people and the mighty roar of the DREAMWEAPON was in full effect. Now on the eve of a London showcase(Saturday night at the Dublin Castle, London readers) they are back to rock the Labour Club. As you already know, these musicians have the most ludicrous pedigree, involving Spacemen 3, Damo Suzuki, Spiritualized, The Tell Tale Hearts and the Pet Shop Boys. Their skills, their inventiveness and their tireless enthusiasm make Slipstream a must-see.
The Short Wave Set (onstage 9:30pm)
Possibly the most radical act that we have presented at Masters of Budvar. Shrouded in secrecy, conspiracy, smokescreen and black misinformation, the Short Wave Set makes its world debut right here in our little nightclub. Fans of Suicide, Sonic Boom and David Voorhaus, look out. This is pure electronic avant-gardening hell in your back yard.
David Voorhaus, Ron Grainer, Marty Rev, Throbbing Gristle...your boys have taken a Hell of a beating! Here, at what is supposed to be "acoustic night" (Aaaah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!) we present the truly terrifying electronica of the Short Wave Band. An outrage against music, snare drums, all that shit, Doktor Freakbeat's nameless tide of malevolent noise will leave you slack-jawed with disbelief, disgust and maybe even some deviant delight.
Ghost Train (onstage 9:00pm)
Oh, it all looks so sweet and tranquil at nine o'clock as the much-loved lonesome cowpokes of NN1 make their way onstage for another delicious helping of country blues and campfire western swing. Come early, keep quiet. You'll be glad.
Completing a bill of rampant psychedelic mayhem we have the awesome Ghost Train. Influenced by Machine Head, Metallica and The Chambers Brothers and driven by a ferocious cocktail of DMT and PCP, they represent the most brutal, pared-down take on psych-metal since...well, since The Reverend Gary Davis. Only kidding, folks. It's that lovely lonesome prairie stuff they do. Come early and give yourself a treat.
Masters of Budvar - Free on the First Friday of every month. Top quality acts of all varieties from around the globe. There's not much point your missing it.
Reviews of Slipstream’s album Transcendental (Enraptured Records 2003)
Jason Pierce may have been the architect but Spiritualized guitarist Mark Refoy was the labourer who gave 1992’s Laser Guided Melodies its luminous sparkle. A decade on, Transcendental finds him still floating amid Velvet Underground crescendos and twinkling, richly romantic space rock ("Everything And Anything"). Graphic novel guru Alan Moore also makes a surprising cameo, reciting Edmund Blunden’s poem "Clare’s Ghost". A far-flung branch on the Spacemen 3/Spiritualized family tree definitely worth investigating.
****
UNCUT Magazine August 2003
This album drifts dreamily into the consciousness like a love symphony from beyond the stars equipped with the emotions of loneliness and imprisonment as burdened upon Bowie’s ‘Major Tom’, yet possessing a subtle essence of 60’s West Coast pop in its most potent and purist form. ’Transcendental’ is equally warming as it is soft to touch, depth wise it shares a common thread with the Bunnymen’s monumental ‘Ocean Rain’ for simplistic intensity and tender appeal. Weave into that elegant tapestry the insular drone nuances of Spacemen 3’s ‘Recurring’ and Spiritualized’s ‘Laser Guided Melodies’ and you have an album that flutters in a triumphant haze at every given corner.
LOSING TODAY Magazine, August 2003
Credit:
pat
📝 Pat Says
Superstar DJ Willie Carruthers entertained the swelling crowd with all manner of naughty stuff (when was the last time that you heard the "Vision On" theme in a club?) before the arrival of the Short Wave Band. Dressed in a white all-over radiation suit, sporting wraparound dark glasses and a small but powerful electric light attached to an elastic band around his baldy head, clutching a clipboard and ready for action, Curtis E. Johnson (for it was he) set in motion the second and final transmission of the Short Wave Band. Swathed in footage of dying stars on the edge of a distant galaxy, the diminiutive madman unleashed huge, savage waves of concrete sound at the assembled throng. The electronic avant-garde was subjected to the kicking of the month as E-Man manipulated his horrible Alesis Air Synths, stacked up the echo and let the punter deal with the consequences. Two young hepsters, grim-faced and desperate, promptly barged their way out of the club. Unbelievably, the vast majority remained rooted to the spot, watching open-mouthed as the sonic brutality unfolded before them. Arch electronic sound manipulator and friend of Delia Derbyshire, Sonic Boom laughed in disbelief. Welcome to acoustic night.
Superstar DJ Will cranked the music another bluesy notch as the stage was set for the return of Slipstream. With Ray Dickerty sadly unable to join them this evening, Mark Refoy and Jonny Mattock were left to deliver a stunning set of psychedelic pop soul with drums, sequencers, laptop, guitar, organ and vocal harmonies. If that sounds like a pair of flash so-and-soes showing off their dubious skills on a mess of instruments, then I've misled you by accident. These two focussed, dedicated musicians worked effortlessly and with minimal fuss to fill the room with their perfectly balanced, fascinatingly dense and melodic sounds. Their set encompassed tunes from the 2003 Enraptured album "Transcendental" as well as brand new tunes yet to be released, for example the sublime "Burn Till You Die" which somehow manages to evoke Kraftwerk, Spacemen 3 and cheery mid-seventies yob-rock all at the same time. Jon's drumming had Sonic enthusing wildly, while my eyes barely left the neck of Mark's guitar. Well, you live and learn, do you not? Inevitably, the crowd went nuts and encores were duly delivered, including an incredible version of Joy Division's "Heart and Soul" which may or may not have mutated into "Jingle Bells" somewhere along the way. No, it must be my fevered imagination. A truly magisterial set in most every way.
The evening finished up with Will spinning more sides while people got really, really twisted. A smashing night: three great acts, four ex-Spacemen and a man from Detroit in a pink satin Budgie Jacket. Masters of Budvar - all right, it doesn't make sense, but you know you need it all the same.
Next month Joe Woolley headlines with his band The Moon Children, featuring Rob Bray, Misery Wilson and Sarah Spade among others. We have a set from the ever-wonderful Big Tim Sansom and a special guest whom we hope to be announcing shortly. And it will, as ever, be free.
Yowsa and ooshty,
Pat
xxx
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