Music / Art Rock
Review: Slate Trio/Cool Quiet, Gallimaufry – ‘Noise, beats and the joy of spontaneity’
OK, so it was back-to-work day after the Bank Holiday weekend, making Tuesday the new Monday, and maybe that explained the sparse scattering of people at The Galli for this excellent gig. To their credit the small crowd didn’t seem to inhibit the musicians, who gave it their all anyway.
Cool Quiet: Tara Cunningham, Jordan Hadfield
It was doubly challenging for Cool Quiet given that their bass player was trapped in Kent by rail strikes, reducing them to an improvising duo of Red Snapper guitarist Tara Cunningham and drummer Jordan Hadfield.
Given the spontaneous music they make, what started out as a soundcheck drifted into a longer evolving piece, Tara’s guitar chopped and slid and threw staccato bursts against Jordan’s drum’n’bass hi-hat, while a looping overdrive grew underneath. Things expanded, cymbal washes gave way to Motorik beats driving pleasing guitar dis-chords and they finished.
is needed now More than ever
“Have we started?” Tara asked, somewhat bemused, and of course they had.
As the set progressed they really found their feet and wove together musically through a shifting set of grooves and moods culminating in an anarcho-soundwash climax that possibly begged the question: who needs a bass player?
Slate Trio: Neil Smith, Matthew Jones, Alex Heane
One answer to that, of course, is: Slate Trio, Alex Heane’s double bass being integral to the sound whipped up with Matthew Jones’ drumming and led by the remarkable Neil Smith’s guitar.
Slate Trio play a set of Neil’s instrumental compositions and, if you’d only heard his work through art-rockers This Is The Kit or Afrobeat band Helele you’d be unprepared for what happens when he’s off the leash. Fans of the excellent Brackish, however, know how brilliantly unhinged he can get given even half a chance. This gig was a whole chance and no mistake.
Slate Trio
Slamming straight into the poignantly-titled Hippies Need Houses the trio set out their stall: hyper-manic guitar bursts, slam beat drumming, sudden mood swings and moments of melodic beauty. It was a formula that ran through the rest of the set, a fine balance between collective interactions, tight scored passages and free improvisation.
Neil has an almost infinite grasp of what the electric guitar can do, with the minimum of pedal effects and the maximum of sheer technique, while Matt and Alex have the skills to go with that flow, keeping a three-way integrity to their sound. And they all had their moments, Matt bursting into a flurry of hard rock bombastics against Neil’s Hendrix-style feedback interlude, Alex slipping an elegant bass solo line over distant guitar and clicking rimshots.
Slate Trio
Two highly engaging celebrations of noise, beats and the joy of spontaneity, then, sadly only appreciated by a very few, very satisfied customers.
All photos: Tony Benjamin
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