At the end of Beak’s headlining set, Beak leader and Portishead producer and instrumentalist Geoff Barrow thanked People Of The North for lending Beak their instruments.
Hardly what you expect one of the biggest rock stars in the UK (pretty big Stateside as well) to be saying to an opening act.
But then People Of The North aren’t just any opening act.
People Of The North are drummer Kid Millions and keyboardist Bobby Matador, better known for the art damaged drone rockers Oneida -a great, great band (try the brilliant Rated O). This year People Of The North released an excellent EP(?) Deep Tissue which seemed to be raging forward towards some form of, I dunno, rockitude?
Or if not on record, definitely live.
There is nothing much to look at unless you get off on sequencers but if what you want is a wild noise? Wooo hooo… Imagine Can butt fucking the drummer of Lamb Of God and you will have a sense of the first song… er track? Sequence? This is to Punk what Sum O is to Heavy Metal.
After the North goes Punk, the North goes Druids with eerie chants and sonic noodlings interrupted with slashes like lightening lashes in an acid flash back. This isn’t about song or texture, rather it is an interlocking spiral of noise where forms emerge and disappear only to emerge again but not so you can say where the musical bottom lies. This isn’t heavy the way rock jams are heavy, it is crackle and smash, it is white not red heat. Too loosely structured to be considered rock, it is a kin to free form jazz, to skronk.
The last song has a beat so hard if you twisted it it would become techno.
A great set. Best opening set of the year.