Pharmakon
Soup kitchen 28/04/17
A Review of New York noise act Pharmakon's live performance at the Soup Kitchen in Manchester with support from two homegrown electronic acts hosted by the Beauty Witch promotions.
The first act of the night was local noise/power electronic act Uvb-76, a solo project from one half of black/industrial act Caïna. Unfortunately, his music treads much of the same ground I've seen him walk with Caïna and it would have been nice to see him put himself more out side of his "comfort zone". The performance opened with a sample of what sounded to be either a monologue from a film or a poetry reading that built an uncomfortable tension as it went on, as looming industrial sounds seemed build in the distance. Eventually this gave way to the heart of the set. Droning industrial noise and walls of sound were accented with harsh crackles and electronic buzzes as accusitory lyrics were bellowed, echoing from underneath the mayhem of sound. Uvb-76's performance is a very physical and confrontational one and his presence is Intimidating as he pushed his way into the crowd, screeching distorted vocals into people's faces, staring manically into their eyes and getting physical on more than one occasion not afraid to push his way through the audience. Eventually the mayhem wound down to leave the room with the ambient sounds of a bustling street. Ubv-76's sound and performance is one heavily inspired by noise acts like pharmakon and other acts of that ilk, and he seems to wear this on his sleeve. Unfortunately his performance falls a bit short of his inspirations, but I can't wait to see future performances and how his sound develops over time.
6/10
The second performance of the evening is from another local, electronica artist Schoolhouse. Schoolhouse is the only artist from the nights bill that I had seen before and I'm glad I got to see a longer set than the previous occasion. Schoolhouse has a dynamic sound that is ever shifting and evolving throughout a set, never staying in one place for too long sometimes making it difficult to judge where it is going or even keep track where it has been. Rhythmic industrial drones morphed into ever building electronic beats that dominated the room. Layered walls of sound had a thick texture that were ever shifting. But there were also moments of respite with more ambient passages or segweys and less Intimidating beats that sounded almost subaquatic appearing along the way. It's also a performance that felt cyclical starting from a place of ambience that journeyed into more bracing realms and eventually wound back down as it closed. Another very enjoyable performance from Schoolhouse, an act I'd be eager to see again and see what journey of sound I'm taken on next time.
7/10
Finally we come to the headlining act from the evening, New York's noise power house Pharmakon. I was incredibly excited to see Pharmakon's performance and she did not disappoint. The sight of the Intimidatingly complicated table of wires, boxes and technology bathed in red light on the stage set the tone of the performance and her pacing on stage foreshadowed what we were about to see. The performance was physical from the start seeing the music wash over her as gong like drums built into a thick bracing wall of sound and we heard the first Animalistic howls as she paced the crowd like a rapid dog. It was a pure cacophony, Harsh electrifying industrial shocks of sound that cut through pulsating beats and terrifying distorted booms and crashes. the sheer volume of the noise was palpable. Her distorted vocals seemed to morph and change shifting from low gutteral gurgles to high pitch shrieks and chatters, nothing that left her mouth sounded close to being human in origin And the line between audience and performer was well and truly broken, with her spending more time amongst the crowd than on stage weaving in between people even descending into crawling across the floor. Pharmakon was a brief burst of visceral emotion, feeling as though it's gone as quickly as it started conjuring images of a frightening apocalyptic industrial future and brief though it was it left me blown away.
9/10
