Tone Science concert

There's a chap called Robin Rimbaud, who records and performs under the name Scanner. He has an excellent monthly newsletter, and a while back, he mentioned that he would be performing in Liverpool, alongside some other artists, in a concert based around the Tone Science label.

I bought a couple of tickets, thinking that I would find someone who'd like to go with me, but when there was no obvious candidate forthcoming, I asked the Minx if she'd like to go, wondering whether, after ten years, this might be the breaking point of our 'just say yes' policy.

But she readily agreed, and we sweetened the pill with a trip to Tate Liverpool to see the small Turner exhibition, of which my favourite part was the collection of his notebooks that was on display. (I also enjoyed the soundscapes by Lamin Fofana.)

My first Extra, 'Stormy Sea With Dolphins' perhaps underscores the impressionist nature of Turner's work. ("They're dolphins." "Ah... right you are.")

After that, we walked up to The Vines, which has recently re-opened having been marvellously restored by my good friend, Bob. It's a beautiful building but the interior decor had deteriorated over the years, to the point where it was not a particularly nice place to go.

Bob has done a stunning job with the place, and it was absolutely packed at four-thirty on a Saturday afternoon. We only had time for one drink, but I did get a photo of the skylight for my second Extra. (There were just too many people for me to be able to get a decent photo of the pub itself.)

From there, we walked up to the Capstone Theatre for the concert, arriving just before the doors opened. There was no queue, just a few middle-aged men hanging about, nodding awkwardly at one another from time to time.

At five-thirty, we shuffled inside, popped to the makeshift bar, and took a table in the area outside the theatre. More people arrived, thus allaying my fear that there would only be a dozen of us in the audience, and the atmosphere warmed and became rather friendly.

The performances for the evening were all being conducted on modular synthesisers, and there were five artists playing: Field Lines Cartographer; Nigel Mullaney; Polypores; Ian Boddy (owner of the DiN label, of which Tone Science is a subsidiary); and Robin Rimbaud/Scanner himself.

Of these, I enjoyed the performances by Field Lines Cartographer and Polypores the best. The former I'm already familiar with, and he was excellent live, but the latter was new to me and, well, I'll let my notes do the talking:

initial anarchy, flirting with chaos, moments of calm and beauty, bewildering control of his instrument, extraordinary

On top of everything else, his performance was incredibly kinetic; he was the antithesis of a beard-stroking, considered knob-tweaker. I've honestly never seen anything like it. In fact, for the first minute, I wasn't even sure that he knew what he was doing.

So, if he was the highpoint of the evening, the second best bit was the ensemble performance of La Monte Young's 'Compositions 1960'. Wikipedia states that "These compositions have been described as calling into question the definition of music.", and I'd say that is nonsense.

Naturally, as it has an actual musical instruction - B3 and F#4 "to be held for a long time" - '#7' is the most popular of the thirteen pieces, and even that is just pointless whimsy.

Unless you have five people playing modular synthesisers.

Thus we enjoyed perhaps twenty minutes of the five musicians playing B3 and F#4 while they messed about with the filters, envelopes, and effects build into their modular rigs. It was really very good.

And as for the Minx? Well, she had a very enjoyable evening, and declared it was the ideal concert at which to read one's Kindle. Which I do think she meant as a compliment. (And she did put her book down for Polypores.)