Review: Damo Suzuki + support, The Exchange

It was an interview with Thurston Moore that led rock music promoter ‘Fat Paul’ Horlick to discover John Coltrane and the wilder hinterlands of free jazz. He’s been a fan ever since and his venues – first The Croft, then The Exchange – have welcomed all manner of avant-garde veterans and anarchic young aspirant improvisers over the years. Lately it seems that the world is finally catching up with him, too, and what was once a rare pleasure is now a regular part of Bristol’s weekly jazz agenda. This pleasingly well-attended gig featured a fine mix of both new and old, wild and structured, and – surely a first? – even a guest appearance by the Hefty One himself.

Rebecca Sneddon and Matthew Grigg

The evening opened impressively enough with young duo of Rebecca Sneddon (saxophone) and Matthew Grigg (guitar) in the Exchange’s bar. It takes some assurance to play free music at the best of times and being up close and personal in a brightly lit space must add to the pressure. That said, these two performers seemed splendidly unfased by the situation, blending free-floating sax with harshly effected guitar in a fine conversation. The music – rarely rhythmic, often abrasive – made the most of their wide instrumental vocabulary and Rebecca Sneddon’s supple use of tone on tenor and alto sax frequently caught the ear.

The Drop Outs see the back of Fat Paul

Inside the venue The Drop Outs turned out to be three stalwarts of the local free scene – Phil Gibbs (guitar), Paul Anstey (bass) and Roger Skerman (drums) – and Fat Paul, back coyly turned to the audience, adding electronic gizmo business. This was a fine frenzy of a performance, Gibbs’ lap-tapping guitar technique making complex threads of rhythm and melody, Anstey’s unpredictable bass sawing and pounding, with Fat Paul unleashing bursts of birdsong and machine-like stabbings. The music roiled and boiled and then, finally, simmered to a close.

Gareth goes apocalyptic

Back in the bar F*ck Authority (aka a bloke called Gareth) was layering apocalyptic bass sounds with a stick bass and pedal rack to create a deep pulsing roar. When he added the deranged ethereal whistle of a theremin the effect was of insane laughter in the face of cosmic doom, ultimately ground down by remorseless machinery – fairly appropriate to our times, really.

Don Mandolin and accompanist

As a solo performer it was easier to maintain the integrity of the music while improvising. Don Mandarin’s songs which followed were almost conventional in structure, albeit accompanied by a spontaneous-sounding guitarist. With Don’s declamatory lyrics offset by jarring guitar electronica it was hard not to think of The Fall, or even The Doors at times, a time-warping echo that laid the ground nicely for the evening’s star turn.

Damo Suzuki – avant garde royalty

As a founder member of German prog futurists Can, singer Damo Suzuki is avant gard rock royalty, a status confirmed by his uncompromised persistence as an improvising performer. He had recruited the Dave Perry Trio and Massive Attack/Blue Aeroplanes guitarist Angelo Bruschini, musicians he had only met that day for the first time, who delivered an instantly ear-rattling noise blast from which Dave’s blurting sax and Damo’s intoned vocals emerged. Double bassist Joe Allen got maximum thrum energy from his instrument, Angelo swiped sharp chords against Paul Wigens precision drum grooves and the music locked together like the well-rehearsed thing it surely wasn’t.

The Dave Perry Trio rivetting away

The music proceeded, unbroken, for nearly an hour. It evolved through hard rhythmic pulses to more ambient narrative patches, surging into electric noise waves and falling back into deeper throbbing periods. Throughout it Damo maintained a fairly level tone, the vocals sometimes making English sense – something about ‘riding into the night’, a recurrent theme of ‘listening to the new born’ – then at other times it was possible he was singing in Japanese or a made-up language. The band , especially Dave and Angelo, perfectly read the pace of his delivery, finding the moments to embellish the music without crashing the vocals. It was riveting stuff, with a strong nod to the Can sound that was surely what the audience hoped to hear and there was almost a collective sigh of satisfaction when Damo Suzuki finally made his abrupt departure from the stage to end proceedings.

More wild and free musical fun can be had with EUH! and others at the Old England on Friday August 19