BAS 2014:
Mesh/Sinestar/Robert Marlow/EMT
Towngate Centre, Basildon - 21 June 2014
"A
thumping great performance"
So
the Summer Solstice this year found not at Stonehenge or Avebury but in
Basildon, for the Saturday night part (day two) of the BAS 2014
Festival for the
Nu Synth night. The original line up for the night being Naked Lunch (not sure how
they
are new unless compared to Kraftwerk),
Robert Marlow (from the early
80’s) and Sinestar and Mesh. Unfortunately due to Tony Mayo the lead
singer of Naked Lunch falling down the stairs, they had to cancel and
were replaced by EMT (Thankfully Tony is now recovering well).
EMT started off the set with a very poppy and bouncy set – before this the only track I had heard from them was Regret – off of the Bluetown Electronica compilation album – Is It Time Yet, and it sounded great live. They also did an excellent and very well executed version of Any Second Now (Voices) – a cover from Depeche Mode’s debut Speak and Spell album and I very much enjoyed this. Definitely a band to watch. 7/10
Robert Marlow was up next, I have to admit to being a fan of Robert’s work and it was great to hear him belt out some old favourites including Claudette, The Face of Dorian Grey, I Don’t Want to Dance and No Heart. The only down side being that Robert performed to a backing track and it would have been great to have had the music live too. But a very danceable set. 7/10
Photos
L-R: EMT, Robert Marlow, Sinestar, Mesh
Sinestar - a very interesting set, but alas not totally to my musical taste, that said a large chunk of the crowd seem to enjoy it, and a very enjoyable performance. The last track I Am The Rain was taken from a poem written by the lead singers daughter and it was very good. 6/10
Mesh – the headline act but not one that I was familiar with before, they gave a thumping great performance and the audience clearly enjoyed it. For me the songs and sounds were a little bit samey and lacked subtlety. They did a one off cover of Tuesday from Yazoo’s Upstairs at Erics album, and this was superb, and had more depth to the sound and subtlety, which indicated to me they could develop into a very good band. 7/10 but others in the audience might give them 8/10
Review + Photos: Mark Smith
EMT started off the set with a very poppy and bouncy set – before this the only track I had heard from them was Regret – off of the Bluetown Electronica compilation album – Is It Time Yet, and it sounded great live. They also did an excellent and very well executed version of Any Second Now (Voices) – a cover from Depeche Mode’s debut Speak and Spell album and I very much enjoyed this. Definitely a band to watch. 7/10
Robert Marlow was up next, I have to admit to being a fan of Robert’s work and it was great to hear him belt out some old favourites including Claudette, The Face of Dorian Grey, I Don’t Want to Dance and No Heart. The only down side being that Robert performed to a backing track and it would have been great to have had the music live too. But a very danceable set. 7/10
![[EMT]](EMT20141.jpg) |
![[Robert Marlow]](marlow20141.jpg) |
![[Sinestar]](sinestar20141.jpg) |
![[Mesh]](mesh20141.jpg) |
Sinestar - a very interesting set, but alas not totally to my musical taste, that said a large chunk of the crowd seem to enjoy it, and a very enjoyable performance. The last track I Am The Rain was taken from a poem written by the lead singers daughter and it was very good. 6/10
Mesh – the headline act but not one that I was familiar with before, they gave a thumping great performance and the audience clearly enjoyed it. For me the songs and sounds were a little bit samey and lacked subtlety. They did a one off cover of Tuesday from Yazoo’s Upstairs at Erics album, and this was superb, and had more depth to the sound and subtlety, which indicated to me they could develop into a very good band. 7/10 but others in the audience might give them 8/10
Review + Photos: Mark Smith
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