Review: Zun Zun Egui, Arficeden, Electric Free Time Machine, Voytek the Bear

admin — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:46:35 +0000

Dingo Barracks have provided a great evening once again. The promoter that claims to specialise in Rock, Electronica and Experimental not only kept to its word, but in excellent fashion.
Manchester’s Voytek the Bear kicked things off with their Gomez/ Primus/ Coral/ Police sound.
Hard to define to but easy to dance along to, which the crowd agreed with. With music based on dub, jazz and blues rudiments, Voytek the Bear cannot be described as any one of those styles, but manage to harness their own sound with the driving Drum & Bass sections; courtesy of John Callaghan and Pete Robinson respectively. Vocalist Dan Merryweather (not to be mistaken with the Australian pop star Daniel Merriweather) ties together the rhythm of the 7 song set with a mix of ska/ rock and almost Arabic guitar patterns. Last but not least is Trumpeter Dave Leonard who provides the lead sections for most the songs whilst picking up his axe to add to the heavy; QOTSA inspired, crowd pleaser ‘Ike’.
Voytek, whilst playing a very engaging set, were uncharacteristically anxious during the opening song; with a subtle rabbit in headlight look, but this in no way affected the quality of the emanating music which left the even the most heavy footed of the crowd moving their feet.
Having just self-recorded their new E.P; Bear Tunes, Voytek the Bear will be distributing copies on their (soon to be arranged) UK tour.

Voytek the Bear | Pete

Next on were Kendal’s Finest, Arficeden, and damn they were fine.
A great reviewer once said about this trio “This is how it’s done, watch and learn”. Very true, but almost impossible to do. The song-writing of these chaps is flawless and only matched by their musical technical ability.

Danny & Med | Arficeden

On Bass and Guitar are Stu Metcalf and Paul ‘Med’ Metcalf (no relation) with Dan Payne on drums.
With a sound reminiscent of Hella, they blew the crowd away with Stu’s inch-perfect bass lines, Med’s deliciously catchy riffs and the strobing blur that was Dan’s arms. It’s fair to say that although the night was full of simply genius musical moments, Arficeden’s final song ‘Football’ was the highlight of the night. With a room full of people staring in amazement, banging their heads to the throbbing beat, or trying to valiantly re-enact one of the instruments with eyes closed tight, the atmosphere was absolutely electric.
Catch them in London on the 4th and 5th February or at any one of their many other shows throughout 2010.

Local heroes Electric Free Time Machine were given the task of following all of the above. And in the words of Bruce ‘eerily ageless’ Forsyth; Didn’t they do well!’
The band that most of the punters came to see, Electric Free Time Machine are 4 piece Harv, Dave, Simon and Rob (although you’d be forgiven for thinking that 8 people were on stage). With watertight changes in time signatures and the swapping of instruments between Harv and Simon, their Primus/Frank Zappa/Captain Beefheart sound is both unpredictable and addictive.

Electric Free Time Machine

Any new comer to an Electric Free Time Machine set may have been left bewildered by nutty lyrics and, at times, downright odd song structures, which suggest much of the material came from the wee hours of a morning in a practise room far away. This is to their credit as it is at these times that true innovation happens and leaves at least 50% of each set they play sounding brand spanking new.
Electric Free Time Machine’s are performing up and down the country. The next opportunity to catch this amazing band will be on the 27th February at Doncaster’s Vintage Rock Bar.

Zun Zun Egui ended the night in fantastic fashion.
Hailing from Japan/Mauritius/South-West England, Zun Zun Egui sound like the result of a dance-off between De Facto, Battles and Paul Simon. Their set started as it was meant to carry on and did not let the crowd relax for an instant. If the almost carnival rhythm, underpinned by a rather sinister complexity, almost excruciating in its subtlety, did not have every single appendage in the room being moved by its owner then the crowd were sucked up into delightful washes of sound that sceptics might describe as akin the dreaded jazz odyssey.

Zun Zun Egui

The singer/guitarist is a gem of a man to watch and the rest of the band exude a very infectious enjoyment of the music they are playing. Zun Zun Egui are worth watching at any time of year, any time of day and in any weather. They are playing various dates around the country including The Deaf Institute on the 4th of February.

Many thanks to the sound engineer for a flawless experience and also to Howard Hill for his fantastic photography.

Voytek The Bear » Zun Zun Egui

Review: Zun Zun Egui, Arficeden, Electric Free Time Machine, Voytek the Bear