A great night! Brilliant to see Ulrich perform live and meet him in person for a chat afterwards. Both support acts also put on a great show

Venue

I have only been to this venue once before in 1996 when I saw John Foxx there and it was just called 'The Social'.  Due to it's micro proportions it's impossible not to get close to the action which has got to be the venues main selling point

Gigs are upstairs where it's pretty much just one small room with a bar and a few seats set away from the tiny stage. It gets very hot in there and the stage lighting is generally pretty basic and if you want to see the stage you have to stand

On balance I probably prefer small venues, they are more intimate and you have a much higher chance of meeting the band at the bar! though every now and again if you can put up with the hassles, a stadium gig can deliver an electric atmosphere

Merchandise

Music for a change! Sonic Cathedral label releases on 7" vinyl, Ulrich Schnauss - Goodbye (CD), MAPS - Region four (cds), Ltd Kyte (CD?) and various airiel releases. Didn't notice anything by Model Morning or any Ltd Edition Ulrich stuff unfortunately. I wish I'd bought the airiel CD's at the gig and got them signed but when I first got there the airiel merchandise wasn't quite set up and afterwards I got talking to Ulrich and forgot to go back!  so all I ended up buying was the MAPS cds.   

Setting the scene

I have followed the electronic music of Ulrich Schnauss since the release of his first album "Far away trains passing by" in 2001 and have always found it to have the hallmarks of genius.

Melodies that remain in your head long after you turned the CD player off and emotion reminiscent of mid 80's Tangerine Dream, the group which has inspired me the most in my life so far and also a group Ulrich is very fond of

It's not just albums either, Ulrich has done countless great remixes (including one for Johannes Scmoelling ex-Tangerine Dream). Pretty much all of them are instantly recognisable as his work within seconds of hearing, not something everyone can achieve

Hailed as a modern hero of the underground electronic music scene but perhaps not so well known by the 'chart buying' masses, Ulrich's music has nevertheless probably been heard by a very wide audience. I'm sure most people will probably have heard his music without even knowing it, as it's often used on TV and has been used in adverts too

I have been lucky enough to correspond with Ulrich by email over the years so was really looking forward to seeing him live and meeting up for a chat after if possible!

I'll be honest, I'd not heard of either support act before this gig but did have a chance to play the songs on each bands MySpace pages before hearing them live and was pleasantly surprised!

My gut reaction to the phrase 'guitar band' is to come out in a rash as electronic music is obviously my main thing. However, anything Cocteau Twins / Slowdive inspired certainly gets my vote as I've always liked the shoegaze scene, very melancholic - thanks yet again to John Peel for introducing me to that genre

1st Support group: 8:45pm 'Model Morning' 

No big entrances at the Bodega! One by one the youthful looking all male band walked onto stage and slowly started setting up their own gear whilst background music blared out.

The line-up consisted of guitarists, a drummer and a lead vocalist. The only visible outboard gear was set up in front of each guitarist, a pedal board packed with effect pedals - no Synths in sight!

Having only just heard their tracks on MySpace before the gig I can't describe the exact playlist, but I certainly recognised a few tracks and the set was great!

The lead singer reminded me of 'Fish' from Marillion, Peter Gabriel and the lead singer out of rock group RUSH.

I know I had played some tracks before the gig and I'm not an expert on the 'shoegaze' genre but I was still expecting predominantly slow, ethereal and melancholic Cocteau like tracks but what I was heard was quite different

The gig kicked off with a powerful track with a strong bassline and signature shoegaze drifting guitars but the fairly traditional song format, fairly loud volume and searing leads also reminded me of rock groups like U2 and Simple Minds in places

I guess not being used to live 'guitar' music it probably seemed louder, faster and more raw than it really was; in comparison to airiel who came on next, the volume was quite tame!

The tracks also seemed to get better as the set progressed, and I think they sounded better live than the studio tracks on MySpace.

All in all I enjoyed the set. It was good melodic, powerful stuff with clear vocals, strong drums and guitars and an overall impression of a professional group, definitely not just a 'local' band gig - I'm sure they'd kick ass in a bigger venue with decent visuals etc.

2nd support group: 9:45pm 'airiel'

A short gap of about 20 minutes was enough for the band from Chicago to set up their gear. Pretty much identical gear set-up to Model Morning apart from the lead singer who also played guitar. I got talking to a girl who was also stood in front of the stage watching the gear being set up. Turned out she was with the band (which explained the 'large' camera!) and said that I should expect them to be 'LOUD!'; they often give out earplugs to the audience it seems - oh dear…. if I was any nearer I would have been inside the PA system!

She wasn't wrong. When the music started it was much louder than Model Morning and probably an increase in the use of distortion pedals too. I enjoyed the set but it was definitely 'blow your head off' city and not really how I remembered the tracks to be on MySpace. It’s worth pointing out that this review should be put into context – I am an electronic music anorak so I don't have any other similar gigs to compare it too!

It's a while since the gig now so I'm having to write this retrospectively (never ideal) but my overall impression remains that the live experience was pretty raw. The vocals were very low in the mix, not sure if that was intentional or not but the studio versions didn't sound like that on MySpace. Could be down to the mixing desk or possibly the fact I was standing almost on stage!

With vocals masked and guitars, drums and effects pumped up to the max what you are left with is basically a "wall of sound" sounding more rock group than shoegaze to my untrained ears at least

For the last track of their set, Ulrich joined them on stage and started to set up his gear. After a short pause, "Sugar Crystals" began (pretty confident that's what it was as I have played it to death on their MySpace player and Ulrich is credited on the album too).

Within seconds you could tell Mr. Schnauss was involved and the whole sound of the group changed, less deafening and more melodic - it was great to see Ulrich on stage at last, even if at that point he was hiding in the shadows to the right of the stage!

It's strange, I absolutely loved airiels music on MySpace (and blast it at great volume) but somehow I found the live set just a bit 'too' loud, I couldn't really hear the vocals or melodies through the aural assault (note to self perhaps move back from the stage a bit?)

Perhaps it's just too far removed from the crystal clear production I normally listening too and strive for myself in purely electronic music. It could also be that one way guitar bands choose to impress the audience live is by blasting their heads off!

Nevertheless, it was a refreshing change to the gigs I normally go to and without this gig I would never have heard their studio work which I will enjoy giving some serious airplay too when I have bought some CD's

The Main act: 10.15pm 'Ulrich Schnauss'

With airiel now having left stage, Ulrich began to rearrange his rig nearer the front but still to the right of the stage - in fact about a foot in front of me :-) How cool was this - he was so near it was like having Ulrich gigging in my front room!

Being so close I got a good look at his live set up and it was surprisingly modest for a man who has some seriously nice hardware at his disposal. Essentially an Apple Macbook running Ableton Live plus controller keyboard, control surface, mixing desk and outboard effects. There was a few more bits and pieces but that was all I could see

I think both Model Morning and airiel had some visuals showing whilst they played, but unluckily the techies couldn't restart them for Ulrich's  set - a bit of a shame, but to be honest I had barely even noticed them as they were behind and to the right of me anyway

Familiar sounds started pretty quickly as the music got going but I would be amazed if anyone could come up with a true set list as this was one long organic mix of different pieces of music, Ulrich has obviously mastered Ableton as the tracks all flowed nicely.

What did surprise me though was how 'upbeat' it all was. Despite people constantly labelling his music as ambient I don't think there was one section without an accompanying rhythm or beat and some of it quite experimental with metallic noises and effects 

It certainly wasn't a 'DJ' set but I think of Steve Roach and Eno when I think of ambient and this was nothing like it. What it did have was Ulrich's signature sounds, chords and superb melodies and lots of great new material!

I must admit I expected a straight rendition of the latest album 'Goodbye' plus a few extra tracks which is the format most gigs take and not something I would have complained about anyway

However, by using tools such as Ableton Live, Ulrich was able to offer a more improvised set which I know he used to praise Tangerine Dream for and also hope to be able to do himself, 'gear permitting' - I think Ulrich should be pleased he achieved his goal 100%!

As far as the volume goes, it was definitely LOUD! - not a way I have listened to Ulrich's music before so that makes a change. The stage monitors were blasting my stomach with bass on more than a few occasions and I'm not sure the PA could handle some of the basslines.

Being a perfectionist, Ulrich said that the sound dropped out in a few places and I did see one of the guys from airiel fiddling with a few wires at one point but it wasn't that noticeable from where I was 

As the set drew to a close the sounds got wilder, more effects and increased in volume - the final hit was a crescendo of sound, then silence - a pretty cool ending

The venue emptied pretty rapidly to leave only a handful of people and luckily after a few minutes I spotted that one of those people was Ulrich! stood at the bar

After corresponding by email for so long it was fantastic to meet Ulrich in the real world! We had a good long chat about music and Synths and he was a really friendly approachable guy, hopefully our paths will cross again someday.

The Audience

It's a small venue and it appeared pretty full once it had got going. There was no one I recognised but already a few artists on MySpace have got in touch saying they were there so I wouldn't be surprised if there were more artists as well as fans there. Certainly a lot of friends of the bands were there though I guess that could have been for Model Morning who are a local Nottingham band

It certainly seemed to be made up of people who wanted to be there and knew who the bands were, unlike bigger gigs where you tend to get loads of people who haven't a clue about the band but will go and see anyone just for a night out!

Despite all that and being packed almost to capacity, there wasn't much of an atmosphere or response from the audience which was strange and no encores by any of the acts. At least there was no hassle and as I was right at the front so no irritations from people being in the way! 

I was kind of in my own world watching all the acts so I didn't take that much notice of the audience but a better atmosphere would certainly have done everyone the world of good on both sides of the stage

Overall Sound Quality

The last gig I went to was Jean Michel Jarre at the Symphony hall in Birmingham so a bit unfair to compare the two! but being honest the sound from the PA and the acoustics wasn't that good. Perhaps if I had stood further away from the stage it would have been better, but it probably didn't help showcase any of the bands overall sound

Summary

All I wanted was to see Ulrich perform live and hopefully meet him for a chat too, I wasn't bothered what the  other bands were like as long as that happened and it did so I was more than happy!

Luckily the support groups were great too which was a bonus and also a change to the sort of groups I normally see live so overall a great night!

Review copyright Mat McKenzie www.hypnoticbeats.co.uk