SPRATLEYS JAPS
Kicking off this commemoration of all thing Cardiacs-related, Zofff’s set of instrumental psychedelia rolls like a multicoloured audio tsunami across a packed venue; space rock noises segue into groundshaking sub-bass pummelling as Richard Gorbutt coaxes walls of sound from his vaguely intimidating twin towers of synth gear and effects. Mainman Bic Hayes and very special guest, his old sparring partner from Levitation, Terry Bickers toss out brain-bending ideas and otherworldly guitar textures. Leitmotifs get developed then discarded, with bass and drums selflessly holding things together. Conventional setlists be damned: this is a deeply powerful and sublime 45 minutes performed to lurid back-projections.
Kavus Torabi’s genre-defying, outré octet Knifeworld rides the positive post-Zofff vibe with an impressive set that veers from the punky-funk of I Am Lost to the 60s psych-pop of High/Aflame with its audience participation vocal drone accompaniment. The three-piece wind section get a little lost in the mix, especially at the start, and the band maintain a dignified equilibrium during the final pairing of Destroy The World We Love and Me To The Future Of You when audience prattle threatens to drown out quiet vocal sections. Torabi is a guitar-wrangling, wild-eyed, manic totem of the challenging and bizarre, and overall it’s a joyous demonstration of what’s possible when bands embrace the unorthodox.
Perhaps embodying the purest Cardiacs flavours and proclivities of the evening, a rare live outing for Tim Smith’s Spratleys Japs (as the back-projection proudly proclaims) allows an almost full performance of their 1998 album Pony. Although frontwoman Jo Spratley is suffering from a throat infection and crowd noise is still a problem, the band don’t disappoint. Spratley soldiers on, giving it absolutely her all – spinning around, clutching at her hair, attacking a small number of percussion bits and pieces next to her, and leading the audience in the spirited “Woos” of Don’t You Ail, Flash The Sea To Steam. The material takes many inscrutable diversions and sometimes, as with the relentless endings of Oh and closer Cabinet, can outstay its welcome, but the sheer love and joy that greets pretty much every note they play trumps everything.
Returning resplendent in radiant white for an encore of Cardiacs classics and joined by combinations of every band on the bill, it all gets very emotional – ex-Cardiacs guitarist and Lifesigns bassist Jon Poole energetically fronts To Go Off And Things, and Oceansize vocalist Mike Vennart leads an 11-piece band for Dirty Boy. Although frail now, Tim Smith, the reason why this evening is happening and why so much of this extraordinary music exists, watches from the crowd, hopefully accepting the weight and value of his legacy as the crowd chant his name.
“KAVUS TORABI IS A GUITAR WRANGLING, WILD-EYED, MANIC TOTEM OF THE CHALLENGING AND BIZARRE.”