Music / cafe kino
Review: Iceman Furniss Mixtape launch, Café Kino
The world of jazz is notoriously bad at self-promotion, with the ‘free’ end of things even more so, but even so Harry ‘Iceman’ Furniss must take the biscuit for diffidence: this was the first launch event I’ve ever been to where the product wasn’t mentioned once. There was an orderly array of cassettes on a table by the door, sure enough, but that was it for the marketing strategy. Nobly, he was clearly intending to let the music speak for itself.
Patching up – Impair in action
Things started with the kind of uncertainty only an event like this could offer. Electronic duo Impair began by creating an uncertain barrage of crackles and buzzing but it was the smell of melting plastic that hinted all was not well. There were technical issues, of course, but afterwards an absorbing dialogue unfolded between the slick 21st century sound of an Apple laptop with extensions and the defiantly old-school signal generation of classic synth modules. The resulting sonic dialectic found some perfectly balanced moments, especially when a sort of dub sensibility used the spacious opportunities of looser beats and grooves.
They could be Halladuet …
By the end of the set there was a respectable gathering in the Kino basement for guitar/drums duo Halladuet (I may have got that name wrong – sorry if I have!) who followed. Their sound was surprisingly orthodox, running through rock styles from psychedelia and dirty blues to Afro-grooves and surf guitar, with mesmeric repetition the one constant element. Some moments recalled the laconic jangle of Television’s Marquee Moon, though the turbulent undercurrents of the drumming soon dispelled that tranquility.
is needed now More than ever
Capri Batterie – object lesson in three-way improvisation
Dressed with smart austerity, Exeter trio Capri Batterie pretty much eschewed tranquility altogether. Instead they offered a bracing object lesson in three-way improvisation that had the wisdom to avoid grooves and the skill to nevertheless hold ideas together over time. There was an excellent balance between Tim Sayer’s effected trumpet and flugelhorn and Matt Lord’s double bass as they danced around Kordian Tetkov’s eruptive percussion and the control of dynamics was perfect as the music surged into moments of industrial thunder or niggling trails of scattershot weather. If Lord ever found himself playing walking bass he was quick to introduce a stumble or meander and his colleagues were equally sharp to lead him astray. The final gesture – a 20-second explosion on all fronts that snapped shut in an instant – was the kind of insouciance that the band had earned.
Iceman Furniss mixing it up on cornet
And so it came to the Iceman Furniss Quartet’s headline set, a typical meeting of post-punk rhythm ideas and 70s Miles Davis electric rock experimentation in the IFQ style. Ant Brown’s low-slung bass may have the look of Sid Vicious but his spidering fingers and four-note chords added deeper intrigue to the punkish riffs and sketches around him, with Tom Bryan’s deep space guitar sound fanning out a context for Harry Furniss to explore ruminatively melodic cornet lines despite the busy drumming of Chris Langton. There was a comfortable familiarity to the music, reflecting a band that has come to know itself through free expression and careful listening and some beautiful moments of floating reverb guitar woven with haunting high-register cornet were exceptional. I might even have bought their mixtape but, sadly, I no longer have the technology to play cassettes.
Check out the IFQ sound on their Soundcloud page
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