Loop -Then
This is a
macho crowd. There are a very few women dotted about, but this is one for the
short-haired older bloke, dressed in black, beer in hand. I fit right in.
This is the
first of a pair of gigs that showcase semi-forgotten stalwarts of UK guitar
rock Loop and Godflesh.
Tonight is
Loop night, so it falls to Godflesh to open proceedings.
G.C. Green
and Justin Broadrick are brutally minimalist and massively brutal. Two guys.
One on guitar. One on bass. A pounding drum machine. That’s it. No frills, just
thump.
The two bands
tonight have some affinity, and have had members in common in the past.
However, the two are very different in approach and it is clear from the
reaction of the crowd stood around me that the reception they receive is quite
mixed. The Loop fans appear underwhelmed by Godflesh. Tomorrow I’m sure the
position will be reversed.
Godflesh have
no embellishments. They thud along to their jackhammer beat. Video screens show
images from Bosch and Bruegel of souls burning in the pits of hell. Godflesh
chug through ‘Like Rats’ and whip up their own inferno.
I rather like
Godflesh. I like their uncompromising nature. They have a sound and they stick
to it. They take no prisoners.
I’m really
excited to see Loop again. I caught them a few times back in the day, most
memorably at ULU in May 1988, when they were just vague hairy figures moving
through a fog of dry ice.
Tonight, the
dry ice has gone, along with much of the hair. But the guitars remain.
They start
off with signature track ‘Soundhead’ and I am instantly transported. Loop have
a way of taking a riff for a walk, building layer upon layer of noise, usually
topped off with a Robert Hampson guitar solo and vocal.
The crowd lurches
and nods and follows the music down the rabbit hole. All the old favourites are
here. ‘Pulse’, ‘Collision’, ‘Arc-Lite’. The guitars squall and even earplugs
can’t prevent the feeling that the inside of your head is being pleasurably cored
out.
What is remarkable
about Loop is not just that they are still staggeringly good, but that they
somehow never got the plaudits that they are due. In an alternate universe it
would be My Bloody Valentine coming back from obscurity.
They end
tonight with a version of Can’s ‘Mother Sky’, stretched out and distorted.
A truly
extraordinary performance. A truly extraordinary band.
Loop - Now
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