Supersonic Review- now the dust has settled…

By Danny Smith

Last weekend it was my honour to make up part of the team from Rhubarb Radio to cover arguably the most forward thinking music festival in the world. Excuse me if I sound all dewy eyed about it all. I suppose my brain is going through the same post traumatic stress and backwards rationalisation that a front-line M*A*S*H surgeon goes through to convince themselves they made a difference and the war was worth fighting in the first place. Getting to cover the festival was a big coup for our fledgling station and the patchy group of volunteers did our best and produced something more professional and bigger outfits would have been proud of.

Friday was tough; because we needed permission from the individual artists and not all the artists gave us permission to stream their sets, there was the occasional gap – none as big as the gap on Friday. From the start of our coverage at six, till the first act we could stream at one in the morning. For unplanned and improvised chat and a playlist collected on the spot we did a sterling job. Sod that, we did a sterling job for a planned show and it was totally due to the fast thinking of Ritchie Summerfield on the desk and the extensive music knowledge of Justin Casey that kept it coherent even while fighting through the deep resonating doom notes of Sunn o))). When Venetian Snares came on it was a big relief, and that is the first time that that act has ever been described as such (more on that later).

Saturday was easier and although not all of the acts gave us permission to stream them, there was still enough time to run around soliciting more permission, grabbing interviews, small stress related nervous breakdowns and even to check out some of the acts. Food over the weekend came in the form of crisps and drink was smuggled Stella. Sunday was easier still, but it had to be as most of us were running on fumes, although I have since found out that after I left at about nine at night the hard-core stopped extra grabbing more interviews and even exclusive performances.

I am extremely proud of what we produced and listening back the quality is surprisingly high. But like a swan, what you see is slick and elegant but underneath the water we were paddling like bastards.

Here are my highlights;

Venetian Snares – Dark and frantic Drum ‘n’ Bass that was so brutal and so fast that it had more in common with Gabba Techno in some places. The unpredictable overlaid beats relentlessly gave you no pause for breath, intercut with short samples of speech that had to be processed sublimely before the next beat struck. It was a whirlwind of chaos and noise that, like chaos, from the outside had no discernible pattern, but from the inside, made sense. He grabbed the mosh pit and didn’t let go, and I thought he was going to kill some of them – dance them to death like religious dervishes. Little Chris, a far braver and more importantly, drunker, man than I said it was “the friendliest mosh pit I have ever been in” but from the outside it looked like a post apocalyptic gang war rather than the Wiggles concert that Chris thought he was in. Picture a speaker being plugged into an army of robots brains as they encounter humans for the first time and try and download all of our media output for the last fifty years – that’s what it sounded like, but better.

Master Musicians of Bukkake – Wasn’t really that weird at all, unless you think that five gay bee keepers from space creating building musicscapes fronted by the Swamp Thing grunting and screaming into the mic was weird. Then it was very weird indeed. Blurring the line between music and performance art the gig had more of a 60’s art happening feel to it.

Iron Lung – This was the fist act I caught at the weekend that was completely to my music taste. Raw post metal up your arse, Strong and aggressive as a crack smoking pit bull with the best singing drummer since Phil Collins. But not just angry noise, the technical skill of the band lends strength to the sound making it about more than volume and aggression.

zZz – Pronounced as it sounds, like a bee. I know because we were lucky enough to interview them. By far my favourite band all weekend. Playing a criminally early slot they attracted more of a crowd anybody has a right too that early. For a two piece their sound is big and complex, and although they deny the direct influence, the organs, vocals and aggressively sleazy tone all bring to mind the Doors. Ok, so the Doors without the faux LSD influenced mysticism and overt dandyism. What you’re left with is a complicated and, in places, quite dancey sound driven by big pounding kettle drums and deep crooning voice singing laments of loss, sin and ecstasy.

All the listening available here: http://www.rhubarbradio.com/live/events/archive/2009/7/default.aspx