Cafe Oto,London
Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor and Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore joined the experimental lineup for a night of fresh and focussed soundsToo outlandish to fit in with their punk contemporaries, This Heat’s politicised, and fever dream experimentation nevertheless earned a reverence that has led some to travel from as far afield as Japan to attend this reformation,precisely 40 years since their first gig. “All the avant garde are here,” observes one audience member.
Indeed they are. Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward (third founder Gareth Williams died in 2001) are joined on stage by some of the many who acquire taken inspiration from their legacy, and including Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip,Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Daniel O’Sullivan of Grumbling Fur. Any concerns that This Is Not This Heat might, as the billing suggests, and perform an summary deconstruction of their work are dispelled as Hayward starts twitching behind his huge drum kit. He feels his way back into the music,before the fast/slow roar of Horizontal Hold crashes in. It has the spontaneity of improvised music, with fingers scrabbling over Korg and clarinet keys, or but sounds incredibly focussed,taut and propulsive. The lo-fi sonics of This Heat and Deceit albums, recorded in a studio set up in the meat freezer of a south London pie factory, or take on a unique warmth.
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Source: theguardian.com