Not for the first time, Steve Hillage & Miquette Giraudy bring their ambient techno project Mirror System to The Con Club in Lewes as part of a unique alldayer loosely made up around bands and musicians affiliated with Gong and/or the late Daevid Allen.
Starting the ball rolling is The Gregg McKella Band, playing material from Gregg's excellent new solo album. Onstage, his band for this event includes Martin Litmus on bass and backing vocals - he engineered Gregg's album - Paradise 9 drummer Wayne Colyer, plus violinist Mister Eugene and special guest Cary Grace on modular synthesiser. The band are super-tight and the arrangements allow room to breathe; particularly on their expansive version of Blind Willie Johnson's "Motherless Children". Gregg's songs hark back to his days busking in London in the 90s but suit the weight lent by expanding his material for a five piece band.
Solo synthesist Jah Buddha is up next. It's always a pleasure to catch Bob Hedger at work behind his piles of technology, whether he's dishing out Berlin School, techno or floating ambient with glissando played on his white headless Steinberger guitar (a nod to Daevid, perhaps). Tonight he's playing new material; a construction that instantly energises the room with it's pulsing beats and filigree arpeggios - towards the end of the set he very firmly presses the button marked "RAVE!" but manages to always keep a velvety edge to his machinations.
Due to a vehicle breakdown en-route from Birmingham, there is no solo set from bazouki/guitar wunderkind Shankara Andy Bole. Neither are his intricate improvisations part of Dark Zen Kollektiv's set. DZK comport themselves admirably despite this unfortunate turn of events and assisted by Cary Grace and her magic modular devices. Martin Litmus references Andy Bole's rembetika-laden style momentarily, but the overall effect is one of brutal psych-jam tonight and that's all good. The high point for me was the last ten minutes where after the bombast of their motorik jam, rather than lay down and surrender, DZK presented a sudden, challenging change of pace whereby small noises and electro-acoustic artefacts came to the fore, pushing the audience to listen closely. Very brave and very commendable in my view.
Organiser Paul Woodwright's trio Deviant Amps, fresh from a busy tour schedule over the last nine months or so played super-tight with panache. You can practically smell the enthusiasm with this trio.
Next on were NUKLI, whose fusion-style take on psych-rock really appeals to this listener. They are notable also for being I think the only group to utilise vocal samples on a playback device. Used to great effect, possibly on an old tune if I heard guitarist Kev Hegan correctly; I know they've re-released some of their excellent early (90?) material recently. Worth investigating.
Always a treat are The Glissando Guitar Orchestra who this evening are made up of Paul Woodwright from Deviant Amps, Kev Hegan and Mark Huxley from NUKLI, Bob Hedger and Gregg McKella all using guitars except Mark who is on bass. I've seen this project a few times, sometimes with as many as twelve players, including Kavus Torabi from Gong / Cardiacs on occasion. Initiated by Daevid Allen, it is more therapy than spectacle, you could say.
Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy need no introduction, and tonight they present the flip of their System 7 project; Mirror System. A melange of ambient, dub ambient and techno disciplines, ably demonstrating the skills and finely tuned ears that have kept them at the pinnacle of live electronic music for so many years.
As I mentioned earlier, this is the second of these all sayers, the first happened in the same venue in April of last year. These gatherings are full of friendly faces, people who have been part of this scene for a long time and consequently there's the vibe of an extended family gathering. Hopefully this will continue as an annual event.
