Cutting edge musical medley

Squarepusher, Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Church Street, Friday, May 8

"I GUESS I’m foolhardy – I’m mostly into provocative musical situations – seeing what happens when you create havoc or disruption in the system.”

Tom Jenkinson, aka Squarepusher, freely admits he is the antithesis of corporate-driven modern music.

Throughout his 20-year career he has explored a wide musical canvas, from breakbeat-influenced electronica, to drum and bass to abstract jazz.

“For this project the set-up I used to write the music had to be portable,” he says of his latest album Damogen Furies and its accompanying tour.

“I had to be able to take the set-up from studio to the stage without making any adaptations or cutting any corners.”

The latest album was recorded live in the studio using software and hardware he had specifically designed to avoid the limitations of “off the shelf” technology and keep away from the tech-company driven commercial aspect creeping into the electronic music scene.

The result is a shape-shifting electronic album with a human heart beating at the centre – opening with the anthemic Stor Eiglass.

He is interested in the sonic possibilities one instrument can create.

“I’m fascinated by the fact a voice can start off saying one thing and by the end can say something in a very different manner,” he says.

“A melodic line at the start of a piece of music can become the instrument which creates the drums and rhythm component of the music by the end. It’s a system of morphing voices which is quite a critical part of how I design things.”

The album cover is a manipulated photograph of Jenkinson, which he says reflects how he feels disfigured by the industry.

“People are concerned with making publicity about your work,” he says. “They create a tag-line oriented description, which is against the grain of what I’m trying to do.

“I’m trying to do battle with these processes. The industry encourages you to keep a very consistent brand identity, as in the short term it shifts product – but it destroys your creativity in the long term.

“It’s out of keeping with the particular characteristics of human beings. I’m engaging with different musical ideas as time goes by. When people listen to music their tastes change, they will channel hop between different things.”

Possibly Jenkinson’s biggest stylistic change to date was his third album, 1998’s Music Is One Rotted Note, which saw him ditch the samplers and sequencers and draw on jazz and electroacoustic music influences.

“At the time lots of people pointed to it saying: ‘What’s this jazz stuff?’, that it was self-indulgent, virtuosic crap,” says Jenkinson who much to his own amazement has been invited to play the Cheltenham Jazz Festival for the first time this year.

“These days it’s safe to say it is recognised for its merits. You have got to hang on in there. People are so accustomed to thinking an artist’s next thing should be like their last.”

As well as distancing himself from the industry and tastemakers Jenkinson is also keen to keep a strong DIY aesthetic, right down to the equipment he uses.

“Technological companies are getting to the point where they affect what we do across the board,” says Jenkinson. “Internet communication is being monitored like a spying agency as much as producing benefits for us.

“I have a more old-fashioned and DIY aesthetic – I don’t want a relationship with a technology company.”

His previous project to Damogen Furies did see him playing with some real cutting edge tech though.

The EP Music For Robots saw Jenkinson team up with Japanese roboticists to create five tracks of music played by three Z-Machine robots using familiar instrumentation.

“I was using instruments we are all familiar with, which are ubiquitous in modern music,” says Jenkinson.

“There are a number of stereotypes associated with how these instruments are used – especially with an electric guitar. There are really well-established techniques, and this idea you have to spend years dedicated to learning your craft. I liked saying ‘Here’s a robot, with no dedication, it’s just a machine’. I was engineering that commitment and feeling. It asked how important the music was they were actually playing when you can’t evaluate a performance.”

He sees his role in the musical world – especially in the “safe” electronic music world – as akin to a punk in the 1970s.

“Music is a way of keeping people awake and engaged,” he says.

“Someone like David Guetta’s music feels like a complete aberration. It’s the spectacle of greed and egocentricity – not so far from the excesses of prog rock in the 1970s.

“There needs to be a statement saying ‘f*** you’ to that world. I don’t know if I’m making it, but that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Support from Sherwood and Pinch.

GoGo Penguin, Brighton Dome Corn Exchange, Friday, May 8

"WE’RE happy with whatever people want to call it – but labels can put people off as much as introduce them to your music.”

Anyone who dismissed GoGo Penguin as the token jazz act on the 2014 Barclaycard Mercury Prize shortlist would have received a pleasant surprise if they checked out their album v2.0.

Admittedly based around the traditional jazz trio format of Chris Illingworth on piano, Nick Blacka on double bass and Rob Turner on drums, the instrumental album owes as much to the drum and bass, dub, hip-hop, electronica and pop scenes as jazz.

“We all listen to different music, from all different backgrounds,” says Illingworth on a break from rehearsals.

“When we get together we make music we want to hear – and it has ended up being something quite different.”

Illingworth’s fluid piano-lines are central to GoGo Penguin’s music, but the rhythm section are by no means just supporting players, with Turner’s fast skittering runs held down by Blacka’s solid basslines.

“We avoid that thing where it is each person’s turn to have a solo,” says Illingworth.

“A combination of people always makes something bigger than they could individually. I want to explore that and push it.”

Part of this wider acceptance came from the arrival of Blacka on the scene in 2012, replacing original bassist Grant Russell who played on the band’s debut album Fanfares.

Nick had played with the other two band members in different outfits on the Manchester music scene.

“We were different in our tastes in music and where we wanted to go,” says Illingworth of Russell’s departure, having originally met at the Royal Northern College Of Music.

“It’s an unfortunate thing when a band member leaves, but it was a blessing in disguise.”

Now the trio are working on a projected third album, which Illingworth hopes will be recorded in June and released next year.

“In the last couple of gigs we have tested out a couple of new tracks to see the reaction,” says Illingworth.

“It’s been really positive so far. With v2.0 we spent three months writing and rehearsing and then recorded it straight away.

“With this one we are still writing – there’s a lot of new material coming through all the time. It’s a nice way to work, we can test it and when we get into recording everything will be stronger and we will feel more confident.”

The band is testing the boundaries of what can be achieved in the trio format – something which they try to do live on stage too.

“There are moments when we are writing when I think: ‘Can I physically play this without an extra arm?’,” admits Illingworth.

“It can be frustrating when you have come up with an idea that you can hear but can’t work out how to play. We do push our instruments. We don’t want to add a synth if I can do the piece on piano or add sounds acoustically.”

For the current live show Illingworth has a Kaos pad he plays during Fort, and the band is supported by their sound engineer Joe Reiser who adds effects onto Illingworth’s piano during album tracks including To Drown In You.

“Joe acts as a fourth member,” says Illingworth. “He knows the music as well as the three of us. It’s useful to have someone out front hearing what the audience hears.”

They are now taking their sound across the country playing a real variety of venues – including a homecoming show at the RNCM.

“It was amazing to play there in the opera theatre,” says Illingworth. “In Southampton we were in their big Turner Sims Concert Hall.

“But then on the same tour we played the Hare And Hounds in Birmingham which had a real club vibe. People were standing right next to me singing the melodies as we played them. It was a weird atmosphere going from that to an opera theatre environment where everyone is silent and reserved. It really makes you play differently!”

Anna Calvi, Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Church Street, Saturday, May 9

IN the past when an artist released a covers collection it generally drew on the music from their past which had inspired them.

David Bowie’s Pin Ups was packed with classics from the 1960s London scene he grew up with. Jeffrey Lewis focused on the back catalogue of inspirational 1980s anarcho-punks Crass. Bob Dylan has several albums of early folk and blues covers to his credit.

But Anna Calvi’s Strange Weather EP goes bang up to date from the off – highlighting the work of FKA Twigs, Connan Mockasin and the 2011 title track by cult favourite Keren Ann alongside more vintage selections from Suicide and Bowie.

“Doing covers are actually a way of exploring your own identity,” says Calvi.

“It’s a strange thing to do with other people’s songs, but it reminds you of the aesthetic choices you want to make and how you reimagine a song. It says a lot about what you want to do with your own songs.”

Starting Strange Weather Calvi says her aim was to make the diverse selection feel like a cohesive piece of work through their arrangements.“It was an interesting exercise,” she says. “I went for songs which moved me in some way. I did think it would be interesting to make an electro sonically sounding song like FKA Twigs’s Papi Pacify as organic as possible, and see what it did to the meaning of the song if you take it in a particular direction.”

Mockasin’s song attracted her through its combination of “the funny and scary at the same time”, while she really enjoyed the Motorik grooves of Suicide’s Ghost Rider.

“It has such simple components,” she says. “It just repeats but yet it is so powerful. It really takes you somewhere else.

“As a songwriter it’s easy to think you need lots of chord changes and a big melody. Something that powerful which just repeats can be more effective.”

It all feeds into the work Calvi is currently doing on her third album, the follow-up to 2013’s One Breath which saw her expand her recorded sound to include choirs, marimba and string sections.

“When I did the first album I didn’t have access to as much stuff,” she says.

“I did all the strings myself because I had a small budget. With the second album I was really enjoying having more to play with and exploring different things that interested me to see where it took me.”

Taking those songs to the stage added an extra creative element, as she tried to reimagine them in a smaller band setting.

Her current work with the Heritage Orchestra, and a 12-piece choir as part of Strange Weather collaborator David Byrne’s Meltdown Festival later this year,has seen her explore her arrangements again.

“As long as you have a vision for the songs you can do whatever you want with them,” she says. “It’s exciting to use different palates of colour to see how it affects the meaning of the song.”

For now she is looking to see where her muse takes her on her third album.

“When you write about what is on your mind it always goes somewhere else,” she says.

“It’s the interesting part of doing creative work – it always shows you more about yourself than you realise.”

This Brighton show sees her return to the stage with her band after a short break, and may include one or two of the new pieces she is working on.

“The album is still developing, it’s a bit too early to talk about themes, but I’m enjoying the process of realising what’s going on in my head and documenting it as it happens,” she says.

“The process of just sitting down and playing different things is a way of getting something good. When you start off you often write bad stuff, but you have to write the bad stuff to get to the good stuff – it is part of the process.”