Alex Metric made his debut live appearance last night at The Flowerpot just north of Camden Town. Alex has been releasing music, both original and also producing an astonishing number of fantastic remixes, for a few years now and is currently on the Marine Parade roster.
I approached the gig with a fair amount of anticipation and I have to admit, slight trepidation. It can be very difficult to transform DJ produced tracks into a live performance. When done well, however, it can produce a spectacular show. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the masters, Soulwax, play live several times and their show is unrivalled in the realm of dance acts playing truly live. (The likes of the Chemical Brothers, Justice and Daft Punk don’t count because disappointingly they don’t use live instruments) Consequently, when I arrived to see a full band setup on stage my excitement grew. Not only that but as I left the bar to take my viewing position I nearly walked into the man himself, Mr Metric, who was mingling with the crowd pre-set, incredible!
Alex and the band took to the stage soon after and began with a track that I have to admit I haven’t heard before, I hope that isn’t a huge faux-pas! The track featured a lot of vocal’s from Alex proving that he’s not “just a DJ”. The band then merged into the next track, “Head Straight” which incidentally has an audience of millions as it features on the recently released FIFA 10 video game. Head Straight as a single is very easy to listen to and I did wonder how this would be transformed into a live band performance. The live version was amazing with what I can only describe as a brilliant mini-jam halfway through. (I hope he retains that in the set) Following on from head straight was my favourite track of the night, Alex’s remix of the Splitr track, “All Alone”. It was an inspired decision to include this in the set and on a bigger soundsystem the crowd will go crazy. I’m a big advocate of act’s playing covers, bootlegs and remixes during their live sets so this ticked another box. Another solid performance from the band with “In your machine”, reinforced their credentials that they really can make it work playing live. The throbbing basslines, rapid pace and distorted vocals of “What Now” added a further dimension to the set. The set ended with another track that I wasn’t familiar with that I believe will feature on his soon to be released album.
Alex Metric’s live show may have only just started out but it will certainly become one to watch out for in the future.
I approached the gig with a fair amount of anticipation and I have to admit, slight trepidation. It can be very difficult to transform DJ produced tracks into a live performance. When done well, however, it can produce a spectacular show. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the masters, Soulwax, play live several times and their show is unrivalled in the realm of dance acts playing truly live. (The likes of the Chemical Brothers, Justice and Daft Punk don’t count because disappointingly they don’t use live instruments) Consequently, when I arrived to see a full band setup on stage my excitement grew. Not only that but as I left the bar to take my viewing position I nearly walked into the man himself, Mr Metric, who was mingling with the crowd pre-set, incredible!
Alex and the band took to the stage soon after and began with a track that I have to admit I haven’t heard before, I hope that isn’t a huge faux-pas! The track featured a lot of vocal’s from Alex proving that he’s not “just a DJ”. The band then merged into the next track, “Head Straight” which incidentally has an audience of millions as it features on the recently released FIFA 10 video game. Head Straight as a single is very easy to listen to and I did wonder how this would be transformed into a live band performance. The live version was amazing with what I can only describe as a brilliant mini-jam halfway through. (I hope he retains that in the set) Following on from head straight was my favourite track of the night, Alex’s remix of the Splitr track, “All Alone”. It was an inspired decision to include this in the set and on a bigger soundsystem the crowd will go crazy. I’m a big advocate of act’s playing covers, bootlegs and remixes during their live sets so this ticked another box. Another solid performance from the band with “In your machine”, reinforced their credentials that they really can make it work playing live. The throbbing basslines, rapid pace and distorted vocals of “What Now” added a further dimension to the set. The set ended with another track that I wasn’t familiar with that I believe will feature on his soon to be released album.
Alex Metric’s live show may have only just started out but it will certainly become one to watch out for in the future.
You can catch Alex doing his monthly residency on Thursday’s at 9pm Radio 1.
His live set gets it’s first big outing tomorrow at Brixton Academy supporting Phoenix before he tours the country from mid-November.
http://www.myspace.com/alexmetric
By Chris Haggart
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