31st January 2016
Following the success of a similar event last year, Bristol-based Chiverin celebrated Independent Venue Week by putting on three floors of music at The Louisiana. While also paying homage to the Louie, the event was the perfect chance to catch up with the best local talent from in and around the city.
Laying on an event with multiple sound spaces meant that there were inevitable stage clashes, and so it was with regret that Team Fix decided to forgo The Crisis Project, who put on brilliant audio-visual shows, and head upstairs to catch the latter half of the set from New Palace Talkies. The six-piece combine harmonised vocals and War On Drugs-style guitar licks to great effect, with some crafty mid-song shifts in key. The addition of a trumpet, meanwhile, is reminiscent of some of Dan Mangan’s more recent work. When a lady in front of Team Fix leaves the set early after her shoes start lighting up in various flashing colours, the band announce that “now it’s disco dance time”, to which there is a solitary and loud cry of “YAY!” from the front of the crowd. The mariachi funk of ‘New Build’ and ‘We Live Together’, which utilises the lead singer’s Julian Casablancas-esque vocals, close an impressive set.
Team Fix then decided to head back to the ground floor to purchase some refreshments and watch Cousin Kula’s set. The band have an interesting sound – self-described as ‘indie jazz phsychedelia’ – and tracks such as ‘Helios’ and ‘Pace’ show off rhythmic influences harking back to early Talking Heads releases like ‘I Zimbra’. An effective brass section allows for some great instrumental breakdowns and joyous cacophonies, so it is no surprise that the room fills quickly, leaving the band to remark that “everyone suddenly appeared from nowhere.”
Next up on the bill was solo artist Tamu Massif down in the cellar, a man with a voice more mellifluous than honey itself. Playing with a lo-fi prerecorded backing lends the music a strange two-tone effect, seemingly taking its lead from the hauntological. Showing off new tracks, Tamu Massif is surely not far from wider recognition, his voice delicate and tinged with regret without ever becoming saccharine. This is one artist it is definitely worth keeping an eye on.
The final act on the bill was Bad Sounds in the main room upstairs. The Bath-based band are surely destined for greatness, their set already littered with polished pop-funk killers, immediately evoking the likes of Jungle. ‘Living Alone’, with its Daft Punk riffs, already sounds like a classic, as does the Temples-flecked psychedelic rock of ‘Avalanche’ with its neat line “try as I might; I’m losing the fight to get better.” While the chorus for ‘I Feel’ definitely bears more than a passing resemblance to ‘It’s Not Over Yet’ by The Klaxons, it is nevertheless a great track, as is ‘Banger’. The Bad Sounds set is a fantastic way to round off a feast of local music talent.
Conal Dougan