It’s a cold and wet evening in January, the post Xmas blues kicking in, penury before the next pay packet (if you’re lucky to have one) and widespread gloom, national suicide day just around the corner – however what’s this, a sold out gig at the Arches, on a Thursday?
Betty had been interested in going to this anyway but enquiries a few weeks ago confirmed this gig was sold out; however, the friendly promoters were able to arrange a guest pass – thanks very much guys, we did agree a wee favour but we won’t talk about that.
Arriving later than the combo was due on (8.30pm, seems a bit early for a headliner at what is effectively a club venue, also there is no club event later that night, do they just want everyone to clear off early – noise complaints from who exactly, Central Station?) and after a stilletto malfunction, don’t ask, Betty was somewhat pleased to hear that technical problems had delayed the start and things were only getting into gear around ten to nine.
M83 have had an interesting history, emerging from France (straight outta Antibes) with a shoegazing tag around ten years ago, then subsequently mutating over the years to a fully fledged pop-rave behemoth, although with a sensitive side as well. Core member Anthony Gonzales has been at it for a good few years, however the tracks played tonight are largely drawn from most recent double long player (what?) Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming and previous effort Saturdays=Youth, a tribute album entirely featuring Saturdays tracks (sorry, that last bit wasn’t actually true).
Playing a large board of effects and augmented by electric guitar (his brother Yann), keyboards (the telegenic and generally easy on the eye Morgan Kibby, probably doing her a disservice here as she is also a very successful solo artist) and drums (the Animal-esque, Keith Moon-like Loic Mauren), Gonzales does a very electric take on effects-driven dance music, many numbers having no vocals but at times he and Kibby ramp up the Karen Dreyer/Bjork-esque weird shouting to good effect.
Themes to the music appear to centre around space (M83 is in fact a distant galaxy, not the proposed new Larkhall to Motherwell motorway), love/sex, and for the most part, partying. Influences going through Betty’s mind during this gig included Jacques du Cont (who Betty witnessed several times as Les Rythmes Digitales back in the day, when she could actually dance straight and the bunions hadn’t kicked in, Darkdancer still the original 80s throwback album, went onto better things with Madonna and eventually outed himself as Stuart Price from Essex or somewhere, i.e. not French at all), Jean-Michelle Jarre (ok, let’s get the French cliches out the way but he will always be the synth-meister to me), Air, and without a doubt Hot Chip. This does mean they are derivative (and they do a lot of remix work and are remixed a lot themselves), just that they are not necessarily the most original combo in the universe.
The crowd tonight were weird, an odd blend of music fans and complete poseurs who talked loudly throughout, very annoying. There were some seriously posh people here as well, mainly Oxbridge reject students Betty thinks, “just returned from Verbiers to do one’s studies, I hear this French lot are very hip etc.” I’d take them around the back and shoot them in front of their unborn children, ok in front of their trust funds, down Betty etc…
The venue and sound system could also have been better, ABC1 could easily have been filled, or Betty’s spiritual home The Classic Grand would have been better as well, watch out for the sticky floor though, but seriously – Betty did not think this venue was ideal tonight, people at the back were disengaged and started chatting, not near enough the music due to shape of the arch – never designed to be a gig venue, it’s a bloody arch, etc. The sound mix though was quite good – M83 have a seriously challenging electronic noise setup but the guitar and drums are very key to the live sound, great rolls of drums and wedges of guitar were going on at the same time as the processed beats, live keyboards and sequencers – not easy to get right, but could have been louder (at ABC1 for example).
The tracks played included ‘Kim and Jessie’ and ‘We Own the Sky’ from the previous album and a whole bunch from the current album. The last song before the encore – struggling to name it as there were no namechecks of songs, just “hullo Glasgow” – included a late sax solo, very ‘Baker St’, and the enjoyable thing about this lot is that they are not afraid of being cheesy.
There was however just one track of an encore, with profuse apologies from Anthony for earlier delays cutting them short (but why the 10pm curfew, what on earth was happening after, bugger all?) but they really went for it on this one, Yann standing on top of the keyboard rack and leading the handclaps, Morgan fronting up to the crowd in an appealing display of mental dancing (and at one point apparently jumping into it). A nine minute pop-rave monster was unleashed, quite simple chord progressions but the sound spot on across all the registers, from Morgan’s piercing screech to the low frequency oscillations which could early be mistaken for the train noises from above.
By ten o’clock, however it was all over, but the crowd went away happy and Betty will certainly be purchasing a few more remixes – they are very good and going up the slippery pole for sure, though not sure if the live set-up lived up to the (very high) standards of band and audience expectations.