Review: Birdpen, Hijera + Science of 8 Limbs
Review: Birdpen, Hijera + Science of 8 Limbs @ The Joiners (Birdpen Album Launch)
As I walked to The Joiners I wondered if this was the first time I had actually arrived in daylight?! Probably not, but it still seemed weird that at 8pm St Mary’s Street was yet to be anywhere Jack The Ripper would tread, though as a bouncing wanna be low rider passed me by I realised these wannabe Boys N Da Hood would probably give ol’ saucy Jack a run for his money!
Arriving unscathed I hooked up with Rob and his ever growing lens and preceded to acquire a cigarette from an innocent bystander and we talked through what to expect for the evening. We then proceeded in and I purchased a beer with magic beans, as all my money has been used by members of Parliament to buy floating Duck Houses, and such crap!
By the time the first band were due to come on said beer had been drunk and it was back outside in search of a nicotine fix! As I trod outside, which was still daylight at 9pm, I spotted Adam of the Six Barrels and after explaining to him my financial rape by Parliament he too had been affected by this tragic event as was happy to assist me with not only a cigarette but a light as well. Good times!
I then returned inside to experience Science of 8 Limbs for the first time. I had heard great things about this band and can say after seeing them live they certainly are the tag team champions of sonic assault! Dressed in lab coats and a gas mask (for a bit), there was a split second where I though I was at a KLF reunion gig, but as soon as the guitar cranked in the party began. I’m not usually a massive fan of instrumental music but with tunes that I heard like opener “For The Lost and Unconfused”, “Kevin Spacey”, through to “On The Spot”, “Revitalise” and climaxing with “paws4thought”, S.L.R. (guitar) and MYKKL (drums) certainly have my attention as to what corner they may turn next!
Following a cigarette that was not pointless and another beer it was time to venture in to see the next band…Hijera…
2008 saw the second coming of Hijera, when they retrod the boards supporting The Peth at Soul Cellar. Unlike the second coming of The Stone Roses, Hijera weren’t up their own ass, full of self worth, and completely over produced. Instead the crowd were treated to a magic moment. Months later (ie> tonight), they are even tighter and slicker and are once again riding high on the vibes their music creates. The baggy comparisons are old hat these days, but through an epic intro and through “ctrl alt defeat”, “hekyll and hyde”, and “on a knife edge” you can still hear the influence, but that’s the difference, it’s an influence! They are not just another bunch of knock off wannabe indie shit stirrers (shout out there to The Twang!). There is also a psychedelic undertone that washes out from their instruments and unites their audience into one large shamanic tribe. By the time Hijera cranks out “monochrome” the audience is following, by the time “rhythms on the roof” hits we are in Hijera’s church repeating their sacraments back to them. It’s like Songs Of Praise hosted by Timothy Leary, only with good music, and more tank tops in the crowd. “Pointless Cigarettes” ends the evening and provides the audience with a final release and come down. Everybody is sweaty and looking at each other wondering if what just happened, happened! It did! If you were there you will know what I mean. The bar is set…speaking of bars, time for another pint…
At this point nobody seems to want to risk a cigarette before Birdpen comes on…that means I am unable to seek donations to my weight loss programme. So down the beer and back into to the Birdpen.
Now Birdpen have a massive lighting rig that looks like Johnny 5’s older steroid using brother. I wonder just how many light-bulbs one band needs…I was soon to find out! Now since I reviewed Birdpen’s album (a thesis really! - http://www.mintsouth.com/2009/02/birdpens-adventure-of-realisation) I have become a massive fan. Tonight made me even more so. Opening the night with “Admiral Red”, then hitting “Colony, Colapse, Disorder” and “Man on Fire” brought the audience straight into their unique take on the world. With the light show blazing “Airspace” almost gives you a complete detachment of the senses and taps back into that buzz Hijera left in the room. This buzz grows into a euphoria through “Cold Blood”, “Off”, “Machine Live Like Ordinary People” especially when the light show attacks the room like a pissed off bar-code scanner seeking revenge, by “Only The Names Change” Birdpen have led us to a new land and bar code scanned our soul in their new world order of things, “Thorns” brings the night to a close with a special appearance from Hijera’s Redleif, ending the night in a union that all the fans at the Joiners are also experiencing. William Blake would have had a bonner!
http://www.myspace.com/scienceof8limbs
http://www.myspace.com/hijeramusic
http://www.myspace.com/birdpen
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