Atomic Bomb—Who is William Onyeabor? at Colston Hall 2/4/2014

 

Now a born-again Christian who refuses interviews concerning his mysterious past, Onyeabor is a futuristic music pioneer from Nigeria who harnessed synthesisers to produce a sound not only ahead of its time but enduringly individual and as catchy as anything LCD or Hot Chip ever put out. Damon Albarn calls William Onyeabor ‘eccentric, intelligent and incredibly funky’, and on Wednesday Bristol got a slice of the first time his music has ever been played live in a tribute that was lively (to say the least). The glittering cast of guest singers were supported by an equally shiny house band for the hugely danceable and at times adorably eccentric performance.

The sheer number of key figures of electro on the bill speaks volumes for the influence Onyeabor has had on the face of electronic music: Money Mark (Beastie Boys) provoked whoops from the crowd with his dramatic keyboarding that only stopped short of a gymnastic display, infectiously energetic Sinkane manned the keyboard and vocals while acting as host and leader of the house band, Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip) appeared to have donned an outfit that could only be described as Amish beekeeper chic, an excitable Ghostpoet wore his best blue suit and challenged Sinkane to a closely-run dance-off of which both of them were winners, Kele from Bloc Party got everyone on the balcony moving, a focused Pat Mahoney of LCD Soundsystem provided the beats… not to mention the lesser known but hugely talented house band. It’s enough to make a fan weep, and not just from getting cross-eyed trying to follow what everyone was doing onstage.

“…Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip) appeared to have donned an outfit that could only be described as Amish beekeeper chic…”

Onyeabor’s music translates perfectly into a live show. It’s endlessly clever, fun and filled to the eyeballs with funk. Although the guest singers were obviously great (nothing comes close to the one-in-a-million voice of Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor in my opinion) the best surprise of the night was the one-man hype-machine Sinkane who got the crowd bopping to within an inch of their lives. People in the crowd were actually doing proper dance moves the likes of which you would usually save for your kitchen when you accidentally got pissed on one glass of wine by yourself on a Wednesday. And it was glorious.

Weirdest point of the night came courtesy of the Lijadu Sisters: twins who after having considerable musical success in Nigeria in the 70s and 80s were back to perform for the first time in thirty years. It’s unlikely anyone in the audience knew who they were, and although they were dressed to stun, they seemed confused and needed help from the rest of the band with singing their material.

No matter, however; the sisters just added to the overall theme of ‘I don’t know what is going on… but I like it’. Colston Hall provided the perfect backdrop to the frenetic, colourful, bizarre cacophony of music, clothing and dancemoves; a fantastic tribute to a man whose music has given so much and has so much more left to give.

Warpaint at the O2 vs. Cate le Bon at The Lantern, Colston Hall

Alright, playing these live acts off each other doesn’t seem kosher right off. They’re different. Cate is a dark, innately cool Welsh songstress whose late 2013 Turnstile release Mug Museum is a gloriously spare, melodic wonder. Warpaint are an atmospheric, intense, mood-driven Californian outfit who make the kind of music you can imagine the coolest orgy in the world being staged to. They’re both great, I saw them both in a week; I got a lot out of one and not the other. Why?

I’ve seen Warpaint before, and technically they’re bordering flawless (Mozgawa on drums was especially unbelievable this time round), but some of the material from their recent self-titled release wasn’t cutting it against their proven live hits. Swathes of songs (alright, two or three in a row, but a healthy chunk) were lost on the crowd who during that time either started having a good ol’ chinwag or stared resolutely into the middle distance. Nobody seemed excited by the new stuff, and that’s a shame, cause on first listen you’d think that it’d be even better live fodder than 2010’s The Fool. The best moments of the night were drawn from that sparse first album however: ‘Bees’, ‘Billie Holiday’ and a solo Kokal-voiced ‘Baby’ all sounded killer and the crowd chanting along garnered some needed atmosphere and band-audience connection (despite Warpaint’s seeming nonchalance).

But here we go, the fangirling you’ve all been waiting for. Let me be the one to say it first: thank god for Cate Le Bon. Christ she’s cool. The kind of endless cool that makes you moon up at her with stars in your eyes and sigh, ‘oh lord, where did it go wrong for me?’ and ‘where, oh where, can I get a haircut that sharp?’. While Warpaint were struggling with monopolising their audience’s attention at the O2, when Cate was on, she was fascinating.

‘…there’s a rocky push on her newest effort that makes it feel like a real and exciting expansion’

The spooky, unusual vocals were immediately attention-arresting, and then those earworm melodies came in, taken to the next level with a heavier take on the tidy Mug Museum. Already a sense of reverence prevails: there’s no photos allowed (hence the lack of snaps here) and limited between-song chat (apart from a deeply Welsh and husky ‘sorry, I’m a bit hoarse’) and there’s a rocky push on her newest effort that makes it feel like a real and exciting expansion. If her voice could have extended slightly more- at points the crashing guitar needed more than what she was giving- I would have thrown this down as a contender to the best thing I’ll see in 2014, and as it stands, it was really, really, bloody good. See you again, Cate, ya class act, and hopefully really bloody soon.