13/07/2003 @ the Studio, Sydney Opera House
B(if)tek
Telemetry Orchestra
going to the opera house on a cold cold night. the studio on the side is our destination this evening. the place is very red. la de da...
as some rude boys and girls made their way in late, the night started off with the local electro pop stylings of the Telemetry Orchestra. behind these three kids on the little stage was a large projection screen of cartoons not totally dissimilar to the Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie. but with even more mechanical elements.
as was like the last time i saw them (look back to 2ser fundraiser gig last year) they were once again hampered by technical difficulties. but overall, i must comment, they have improved significantly. still not good enough for ben, though. and it ended surprisingly quickly too. barely an hour.
the funky girls of B(if)tek arrive on stage in uniform, reminding me of when we saw Kraftwerk earlier this year. but the B(if)tek uniform, despite being just a white silk tie, black shirt and black skirt, is still way sexier than the Kraftwerk uniform of pure dull grey. i think the same can probably be said of their music. despite Kraftwerk always being mentioned in any article on B(if)tek as their greatest influence and what have you, i believe it's fair to say this is different to, and in some ways, better than, Kraftwerk. sexier. more experimental. cheeky. groovy. heavier when need be.
but they started out pretty chilled out and mellow. even told us to lie down on the floor. don't think anyone did though. it was chilled, but not that chilled.
nice to see the dancers getting in the way of all the rude boys and girls trying to get back to their seats after going away during the small interlude. there were dancers very slowly making their way through the audience at first. they pop up around the place now and again.
as the set began to build up pace and energy, a splinter cell of rebel dancers began to congregate by the side of the stage. with the invitation of Nicole of B(if)tek, they gradually moved onto the stage. the music was getting faster, funkier and heavier. older song "machines work" was twisted into a wicked stomping number. new songs blended into old and back into new. and then it was over.
barely an hour in, they said their goodbyes then finished it off with a soundart style ten minutes long bubbling of dangerously low basslines.
excellent, except for being too short... and those damn tables...
got a feeling i'll be seeing them play out again real soon.
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