Pigs on Poppers: Supersonic 2024 Day 2
What’s this all about? Read my Supersonic preview and review of Day 1.
I was there, and I have no idea what this was about. © James Thompson
It’s only thanks to Laura Snapes at the Grauniad that my Supersonic Saturday began with Do.omyoga, sneaking in under the guise of her partner. But I’ll return to that later – there’s too much to say here about that incredible experience. The yoga, I mean, not the sneaking.
Daniel Foggin of Smote. © Catherine Dineley
If Ian Anderson decided to go doom, he might sound like Smote. No, that’s unfair – Jethro Tull would never sound this good. Promoting new LP ‘A Grand Stream’, multi-instrumentalist and frontman-flautist Daniel Foggin pulled together a live band that replicates the sound of his solo LPs – minimalist composition, maximalist sound – into hypnotic drones and kosmiche rhythms. But lest you think the melodies aren’t merely minimal but basic, a well-timed guitar solo alerts you to how skilful he and his band really are. I had previously seen Smote in the back room of a London bar; they suit the grand stage of the O2 Academy far better.
Back at XOYO, I had a rare bit of downtime. On stage, young garage duo Modified Youth took their first tentative steps into punk rock. There’s not much to say about them – yet. Give them a few years and let’s see how they develop. In the marketplace, artist Maisie Violet Rees was leading an upcycling workshop. Quite apart from their musical curation, one of the things that makes Supersonic unique among festivals is their commitment to making space for the audience’s creativity in ways far more interesting than an open mic stage. Armed with some old crockery, temporary tattoo paper, and sealant, Rees helped me to create a Supersonic-branded plate that might not be out of place in a Fornasetti showroom. This was a lot of fun, and I’d have loved to have stayed longer, but musical majesty awaited me at the Academy.
I mentioned in my preview that Indonesian duo Senyawa were my number 1 pick of the festival, their April 2022 Colchester performance being in my all-time top 5. On the Academy stage, vocalist Rully Shabara, formerly of bonkers math-rockers Zoo, and instrument-builder Wukir Suryadi were promoting ‘Vajranala’, both their latest album and a fire-breathing sculpture they have built in Central Java. (I am hoping to discuss this with them later for In Spite, and maybe one day make the pilgrimage.) The pair have created a unique, almost indescribable mix of traditional and experimental over the last 15 years, and they were in full force in Birmingham. Close your eyes, you’d easily mistake the sound as an army marching into battle. The range of Shabara’s jaw dropping voice – from demonic guttural grunt to falsetto croon – was matched by the incredible sonic scope of the bespoke instrument built by Suryadi, who can create industrial crashes, ominous drones, intricate melodies, motorik beats, and most unexpectedly, grunge riffs, all from what looks like a diddley bow on steroids. And when one didn’t think they could surprise any further, Shabara started rapping.
Rully Shabara of Senyawa. © Robert Barrett
Senyawa are the best live band on the planet. Don’t @ me.
Meanwhile… not since Spinal Tap released ‘Shark Sandwich’ has a band set themselves up for criticism with their choice of name like The Shits. But I’m not going to fall for that.
Emma Ruth Rundle. © George Miller
Back at the Academy, Portlandian Emma Ruth Rundle took to the stage. Though forced to contend with technical issues that she described on stage as, “untenable”, she nonetheless gave a wonderful performance, the dark gothic tone of her guitar working in stark contrast to her beautiful, melancholic voice. Much of her setlist came from 2014’s ‘Some Heavy Ocean’, a deeply emotional and vulnerable body of work that effortlessly enraptured the audience.
Dis Fig. © James Thompson
The Body & Dis Fig. © Alice Needham
There had been much hype in the run up to The Body & Dis Fig’s collaborative performance, hype met by the weekend’s biggest crowd yet. Despite a 25-year history, I was previously only aware of The Body’s collaboration with New York industrial band Uniform, and completely unaware of New Jersey-born, Berlin-based vocalist Dis Fig, aka. Felicia Chen, but murmurs suggested that they would be something very special. Had I heard their 2024 album ‘Orchards of a Futile Heaven’ in advance, I might have already known that. As the trio emerged on stage, shrouded in mist, harsh synths created a psychedelic, rhythmic plateau of noise, while Chen’s vocals transformed over time from sultry to extreme. Later, delay effects mutated her voice into a screaming choir. If this all risked becoming too much, full credit must go to The Body’s touring drummer Zachary Harrell Jones*, whose drumming was among the best and tightest I saw all weekend, bringing everything together perfectly. An unexpected, though stunning treat.
Having suffered visa issues in 2023, Kenyan MC Yallah was finally able to take the mic at XOYO, backed up with beats from Berlin’s Debmaster. I had previously heard MC Yallah do some amazing work with Shige Ishihara, bassist with Seefeel but perhaps better known by variations of the name DJ Scotch Egg, and she was certainly a commanding, charismatic, rapid-fire presence on stage. However, a combination of a muddy sound mix from the sound engineers, and some fairly uninspired dubstep/trap production from Debmaster, left me underwhelmed. Yallah deserved better.
If there was a risk that the night could end with a fizzle after that, Homobloc X FVCK PIGS weren’t told. Backed by DJs repping the upcoming queer festival in Manchester, a group of bondage-clad, pig mask-disguised folks invaded the stage AND dancefloor to gyrate, berate, and lip-sync their way through some disco and rock classics. One of my formative gig-going experiences was seeing Manchester experimental musician V/Vm (co-headliner of the very first Supersonic in 2003 with LCD Soundsystem) donning a pig mask as he mimed to Elton John songs in a church. This show was that, ten-fold, on poppers. Though sonically separate from anything else at Supersonic, it felt like a perfect, hilarious end to the day, and the audience seemed to agree.
Homobloc X FVCK PIGS. © Catherine Dineley
But after a 2-day sonic barrage, perhaps we needed to take things down a notch.
*Edit: A previous version of this article listed Lee Buford as the drummer for The Body. This is true on studio recordings and in the US, but when touring elsewhere they are replaced by Zachary Harrell Jones, who was the drummer for this live show. One Man Underground and In Spite Magazine are happy to make this clarification.
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