Images by Jenny Moore

Review by Tony Dudley-Evans of Jazzlines

“This was an amazing gig bringing together the energy and anarchy of the punk rock band The Ex with the drive of Brass Unbound, a brass section with Ken Vandermark and Mats Gustafsson on baritone and tenor sax, Roy Paci on trumpet and Wolter Wierbos on trombone.  The sheer volume of sound and the swirling rhythms created a stunning degree of excitement.  Basically it was led by The Ex with weird but wonderful vocals and an excellent drummer.  I am often critical of the limitations of rock drummers, but this one (sadly I didn’t get her name) really drove the band in a very interesting way totally different from what jazz drummers do.  Brass Unbound essentially added riffs that blended very effectively and excitingly with the The Ex rhythms.

I have one fairly major reservation.  As the gig progressed, I began to want Brass Unbound to vary their role more and to have rather more freedom.  There were some solos: a particular good one from Ken, one of Mats’ almost trademark screaming solos, and punchy contributions from Paci and Wierbos, but more would have been nice.

This was, however, another good example of rock and jazz mixing naturally and successfully.  It wasn’t jazz rock as that term has become associated with a certain style that emerged in the 1960s and 70s.  Here it was a rock gig incorporating strong elements of free jazz , but in a very structured way.  And it certainly wasn’t jazz drawing on rock.  We will have to start thinking of new names to capture this important and exciting music.”

This year was a very special edition of the festival, marking our 10th anniversary. We were delighted by so many unexpected moments that made this our most memorable event to date. To see the collective memory of reviews, photos and video footage, visit the Supersonic Festival website

Review by Rebellious Jukebox

Even by their usual high standards, those wonderful people at Capsule have excelled themselves with this show. Tonight they have laid on for us two hours of the finest Krautrock, in one of Birmingham’s best venues. The night kicks off with one of my favourite local acts, who prove that you don’t need to be German to play Krautrock. I’ve been meaning to write something about Einstellung for a while now, and their outstanding performance tonight has finally given me the incentive to do so. I have seen them live many times, but usually in small venues. To witness them playing the Town Hall, with the powerful sound system that their music deserves, is a real treat for me, and I suspect for them as well.

Einstellung’s sound is based on the driving rhythms of 1970s Krautrock, Neu! in particular, but they also remain true to their Birmingham roots by incorporating solid metal riffs that could have come straight from an early Black Sabbath album. This heavier aspect is partly due to the members’ history in a number of local bands, in particular Steve Hough’s involvement with Cable Regime and Godflesh. Einstellung’s debut album, “Wings of Desire”, would surely have made it into Julian Cope’s top 50 Krautrock records, had it been available when he compiled the list. Their second album is due soon and tonight we get a sneak preview as they play a set consisting mostly of these new numbers. The only piece that is familiar to me is the opening number, “Und Die Ruhe Ist Donner”, which also appeared on the recent Audioscope charity compilation.

The first thing that becomes apparent as they begin their set is that their music, which I had always considered to be one of the most powerful live experiences anyway, is so much more effective when played through a big set of speakers. It’s so loud that I actually need to remove my hearing aid as it’s starting to generate feedback. They also benefit from having a larger stage on which they can move around, and I find I can watch each member in turn, giving me more of a feel for who is responsible for each of the individual elements in their sound. Most of the heavy riffs seem to be provided by Andrew Parker, while Andrew Smart adds more subtle melodic elements on top, although I have a feeling they sometimes swap roles when I’m not paying attention. The twin guitars are underpinned by Steve Hough’s bass, which contributes directly to the Neu! feel. It’s easy to forget Si Rider sitting at the back, but his solid drumming keeps the whole thing on track and stops it from descending into a messy free-for-all. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of their live show is how they work together and everyone instinctively knows when to change tempo or move into the next phase of a song, without giving each other any visual cues. Their shows often feature a film projected behind them, which tonight seems to be “Scott of the Antarctic”, and a lot of the sudden musical shifts seem to occur at the same time as scene changes in the film. That they manage to do this without looking at each other or the screen is incredible to me, as a non-musician.

All of the song titles are in German, and the band recently explained that, as instrumentals, the songs aren’t really about anything at all so there is no point giving them titles in English that might impose an interpretation that was never intended. So for once, I don’t feel the need to look for hidden meanings in the songs and instead I can just sit back and let the sound wash over me. The predominant sensation that I get from any Einstellung song is a solid rush of adrenalin that lasts for the song’s entire length, which often exceeds ten minutes. This is how I imagine it feels to take hard drugs. I am grateful to Einstellung for providing this experience in a legal format and without any lasting ill effects on my health.

I could happily watch Einstellung all night, but eventually they have to wind down so they can vacate the stage for Cluster. The duo of Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius have been making music together since 1971 and as they wander onto the stage it occurs to me that they are possibly the oldest performers I’ve seen live. Roedelius is well into his seventies, while Moebius is, I think, slightly younger. They prove that age is no barrier to creativity as they generate haunting sounds every bit as imaginative as their early albums. The music they offer us tonight is the complete opposite to that of Einstellung and also the perfect antidote. I still haven’t quite come down from the buzz of the first set, so Cluster’s gentle, drifting sounds help me to unwind. While Einstellung could be said to represent a high-speed motorway drive across Germany, with Cluster I feel I have reached my destination and am now relaxing by the pool.

I haven’t kept up with all of their releases over the last 40 years so I can’t begin to suggest what the setlist might have been. I believe some of it came from their most recent album, “Qua”, but I suspect large parts of the show were improvised. They play from behind a wooden table and the equipment they have at their disposal is hidden from those of us sitting near the front, due the relatively high position of the stage. I’m not sure if they are using synthesisers, laptops, tapes or CDs. I would guess that most of their gadgets are modern, but it is possible that they have retained some of the vintage machinery that would have been up-to-date when they started out. However, it matters not what tools they use, as the effects are mesmerising however they are created.

Watching electronic music played live can often be a strange experience, particularly to someone like me whose formative gigging years were spent watching the traditional rock band format. It often seems pointless watching someone lean over a laptop and not engage with the crowd at all, and I find that electronica is usually something I choose to listen to at home rather that see live. While Cluster’s performance doesn’t feel like the live gigs I am used to, it’s still a rewarding experience. I feel privileged to be here because at times it seems like I am intruding on a very private moment. It is as if I have stumbled into the laboratory of two reclusive scientists and witnessed their secret experiments. They occasionally exchange comments that are inaudible to the audience (there are no microphones) and smile at each other, as if they have discovered, by chance, the exact combination of sounds that they have been searching for. It is obvious that they are enjoying the performance every bit as much as we are.

Cluster are perhaps better known for their wide-reaching influence than their own music. Watching them tonight, I am constantly reminded of more recent music in my collection that owes a huge debt to Roedelius and Moebius, whether that is their releases as a duo or their groundbreaking work with Brian Eno. A recent show by Murcof that I attended at the Hare and Hounds, the works of Portal that I reviewed at the end of last year, and more underground acts such as Coil or Psychic TV are the most obvious examples to me. Even the shoegazing bands of the early 1990s, despite relying mainly on guitars rather than electronics, have something of Cluster in their swirling textures. Music fans who listen to anything that is remotely “experimental”, even relatively mainstream acts such as Radiohead, will find plenty that is familiar to them here. By the end of the show, I am nothing short of amazed at how much these two elderly men have shaped modern music, while remaining relatively unknown themselves.

The two sets tonight demonstrate the wide range of music that can be filed under the general heading of Krautrock. If asked to define the genre, most people would probably mention the so-called “motorik” rhythm favoured by Neu! However, there are many bands that fall into the Krautrock category without coming anywhere near this recognisable sound, Cluster in particular. If I had been played a few tracks by each of tonight’s bands without being told who they were, and then asked to pick which one I thought was from Germany, I would almost certainly have chosen Einstellung. Cluster prove that Krautrock is as much about having an innovative approach as it is about fitting into a pre-defined sound. Capsule made an excellent choice tonight by putting on two bands who are very different in style, but have similar attitudes towards performing and complement each other perfectly.

Images by Gobinder Jhitta

Review by Duncan Wilkins for Brumlive

There has always been a healthy fanbase of stoner rock in all its different sub-genres and splintered factions in Birmingham, aided in no small part to the sterling work done by promoters Capsule, who have consistently provided a stage for some of the worlds finest artists in this field. After winding down 2009 with appearances by Electric Wizard, Isis and Sunn o))) amongst others, and with a Baroness show in January, you’d have been forgiven for assuming there’d be more to follow swiftly in their wake. But nothing. Bit of IDM, some Krautrock legends. And then, out of the blue, confirmation that Capsule had nefariously been toying with us. Waiting to drop their bomb.

Eyehategod are playing Birmingham.

Eyehategod, godfathers of sludge, playing Birmingham? This was a coup and a half, for real. With a police record as long as the list of bands they have influenced, they have notoriously played few shows in these isles. Certainly over the past ten years at least, the only occasions I can recall were a double-header supporting Crowbar in London, and a headlining set at the Nottingham Morrowfest (in memory of much-missed Iron Monkey vocalist Johnny Morrow), with the latter gig sporting a truncated lineup due to VISA issues, drug problems, police niggles, whichever story you choose to believe or find more entertaining. One thing was a definite though, they hadn’t played Birmingham before. This gig was going to be awesome.

Just as I’d imagined, the Asylum was rammed. The bar staff were seeing some serious action, with 90% of all punters attempting to witness EHG in arguably the most ideal fashion – hammered to the gills. I arrived just in time to catch Totimoshi for the second time in as many months, having been main support on the recent Mastodon UK tour.

As was with the case on that Mastodon tour – or at least the Wolves show I bore witness to – Totimoshi were met with general apathy all-round, with most people content to hover in the beer garden sharing their enthusiasm regarding the near-approaching headliners. Normally this would trigger a vengeful journalistic tirade about people supporting all of the bands on the bill, rather than just the headliners, but in this case it was sadly warranted. To be fair, the impromptu EHG performance in the beer garden on one-man-band gear could have had something to do with it as well.

Whilst there were hints of Melvins and Jesus Lizard scattered around their sound to use as reference points, there was none of the formers eccentric individualism (nor their awesome riffs), and none of the maniacal, edge-of-your-seat skronk (nor maniacal, cock-out frontman)of the latter.

Post-gig, I ruminated on whether the lack of response to Totimoshi on both occasions was due to the similarity in how the headliners on both shows inspire a fanbase of frenzied, almost religious devotion that they were perhaps unwilling to give the band a fair roll of the dice. So, in the name of fairness I’ve given their ‘Ladron’ LP a listen, and subsequently, I’m going with the conclusion that there are a lot more bands in a similar field pulling this off with far more satisfying results. I do love to be proved wrong though, so if there’s something I’m missing be sure to let me know.

Still, if the crowd weren’t into the main support, there wasn’t going to be any such troubles with the headliners. And once Eyehategod took to the stage and bled the first trickle of feedback through the PA, annihilation was the only conceivable result. Initially, a mighty roar came from the crowd consisting of both joyous fandom and delirious relief that the band had finally made it onstage after so many cancelled tours and splits in the past. Once the first chords of ‘Blank’ were struck it developed into some kind of simian roar, which finally erupted into full blown carnage as it kicked in proper and created a huge pit that took out many an innocent bystander with its whirlwind maelstrom of drunken revelry.

aving helped lay the foundations of sludge metal with such genre defining albums as the harrowing ‘Dopesick’ and its predecessor ‘Take As Needed For Pain’ (voted as the #1 sludge album of all time in Terrorizer magazine), Eyehategod’s misanthropic sound blends the sheer might of classic-era Sabbath riffing and a shared love of blues and southern rock with the aggression of such first-wave US hardcore luminaries as Flipper and Black Flag. Part of the infamous ‘NOLA’ (New Orleans, Louisiana) scene that spawned the likes of Crowbar, Corrosion of Conformity and Soilent Green, EHG became figureheads for the sub-genre amid a backdrop of drug and substance abuse, and their sporadic appearances and numerous Chinese whispers and rumours that follow them have only served to make the band even more legendary.

Vocalist Mike Williams, the dishevelled, howling voice of EHG has weathered more storms (literally) than many of us will see in a lifetime, and his performance was the soul of the band tonight. Mockingly clad in a ‘POLICE’ shirt, he acted as a conduit for the nihilistic, anti-authoritarian aspect of the band, blowing snot rockets in all directions and shrieking his tortured, stream-of-consciousness poetry of degradation with all he could summon.

There was also plenty of hero worship reserved for guitarist Jimmy Bower, who having conquered the metal world already with Down (his prior commitments with them being the actual reason for the shrunken lineup last time round), had his own little fan club down the front. With Brian Patton (also of Soilent Green) on guitar, Joe LaCaze on drums, and latest in a line of bassists almost Spinal Tap in number Gary Mader, this truly was Eyehategod in full force, and they were completely devastating.

Having remained one of my favourite bands for many years, this was a performance far better than I was expecting, boasting a setlist that no one could argue with. Classics such as the obscene swing of ‘Sister Fucker’ saw the “burn her” refrain yelled back with glee, and the more uptempo, punk-infused numbers such as ‘Peace Thru War’ were met with a riotous response in the mosh. With overarching walls of feedback permeating every possible gap in the music, it acted almost as a sixth member, and the bands use of it was deft. And much in the same way that I always listen to their albums from start to finish, the feedback helped bring the set together, with many of the songs bleeding into each other.

Other memorable moments within the drunken fishbowl of memories from the night were the always welcome Black Sabbath shoutouts, the brooding evil of ‘Depress’ sounding like Sabbath themselves drowning slowly under a pit of dirty needles like that one in ‘Saw’ and the grotty, twisted blues riffs of ‘Jackass in the Will of God’ malevolently spiralling downwards out of Bowers’ guitar. ‘Kill Your Boss’ and ‘Dixie Whisky’ boast all time classic riffs within the genre, and the middle eighth in ‘Serving Time in the Middle of Nowhere’ could give Chuck Norris a run for his money with it’s all-out badassery.

No doubt about it, this was not a show for the unconverted. EHG’s sound and ethos is extreme, aggressive and unashamed. They write anthems for the sick, for the outcasts and losers of the world; and for what the band lack in the way of financial success or just plain good luck, they take their reward in the love and respect that everyone here threw their way for every minute of the set. And probably a fair bit of drugs as well. This was a show for the fans, and if you own even a single Eyehategod CD you should have been here, it was truly amazing.