For a group that start their set playing Nerd-Tronica to an empty room, Roy’s Iron DNA flex their muscles from song to song, transforming into a burly electro beast at every step. Nice samples and de-tuned piano effects give a summery feel to some of their songs, and Eagles-like slide guitar only adds to this Californian vibe. Imagine some West Coast 70s FM rock band found a time machine, came to 2014, stole some laptops and Autechre records, went back to the 1970s, and recorded some tracks in a beach hut. It might sound like this crazy mash of influences – 70s rock mixed with bleeps, gurgles, detached vocal effects, synth rumbles and 8-bit swooshes.
Jupiter C continue this retro-futuristic vibe with cool NASA / art visuals and a earth-quaking fog horn synth intro to their set. The duo mine 60s psyche rock, with trance like beats and acid-vixen vocals creating a weird, otherworldly, and slightly disturbing sound. They certainly live up to their space themed name, creating music that feels like the soundtrack to a Star Trek Captain’s worst hallucination.
Unlike Jupiter C’s wandering sound, East India Youth (aka William Doyle) creates a laser guided electronic tsunami of emotion. Rapid synth and piano arpeggios crash and smash into orchestrated layers of noise and sound effects, creating a swell of loneliness and a sense of loss. It’s like bit in Bambi where the Mum dies multiplied by 20. But then the drums and percussion kick in, and everything gets euphoric and house music like.
The set continues like this for a while, adding in glacial synths, fizzing bleeps and almost classical arrangements of sound. It all culminates in a heavy track, with hard kick drums, thoroughly modern fuzz synth bass, and a hook that sounds like it is the start up sound to Windows 98 (!?). All the time, the auteur, the director of all this, William Doyle, is bobbing his head so vigorously he looks like a crazed gerbil in a BBC radiophonic workshop styled suit, deep in the moment of controlling his computer. He ends the set by vigorously slamming the laptop shut. Modern day equivalent of smashing a guitar? Maybe, but at least he uses it for more than tweeting funny videos! A dramatic set by a modern day Jean Michel Jarre style figure. Can’t wait for a laser harp to be added to the East India Youth set up. Album two maybe?