A Terminally Negative Review

The other review from the issue of O to the H to the motherfucking M (homeboy) that had no date. Or any writer credits. Embarrassing. But it did have a cartoon on the back of my good chum Alastair (see link to the right) nailed to a cross and talking about Goblin soundtracks and Spaceballs, so it's all good. Can't believe I thought the laptopia line was clever, and as for the summing up...

CATHODE - Oxford Contemporary Music, Modern Art Oxford, Feb04?

This is the latest in Oxford Contemporary Music's latest short series of concerts at Modern Art Oxford, and it promises music and visuals from Cathode. Maybe one day in a dream world (a laptopia?) everyone will carry a little computer around and be able to trigger fascinating audio and visual at the flick of a mouse, but as yet performances of this sort seem to be let down by one of the elemtents.

For Cathode, it's the visuals that disappoint. They're quite pleasant, as a bunch of fuzzily pretty abstracts generally are, but they aren't startlingly original, and don't bear any relation to the music. Never mind, though, because the music has plenty to offer on its own terms. Presented as one continuous track, it covers a wide range of techno and its subsidiary genres. The first piece (or at least the first ten minutes or so) has its roots in the late '90s Warp output (don't they all?), but added some interesting treatments of the style typified by Mego, or Mille Plateaux. High pitched squeaks flashed on the ears like light refelcted from icicles, whilst scuffed clicks nagged the edges. The effect was spellbinding.

Sadly, the next 35 minutes never quite lived up to this opening salvo, being hampered by slightly more obvious rhythmic loops, and mildly poppy keyboard sounds. The worst moments arrived when the fat fours bass drum kicked in, leaving the performer no other developmental options than volume, which became overbearing in the small MAO cafe. Still, if we forgive a handful of lumpy drum machine patterns, Cathode is an artist with a firm grasp of a vast range of textures and sonorities, and one more capable than most of constructing longform musical narratives without getting lost or going in circles. I'd recommend going to see him, or any of the enlighteneing MAO events.