Institute of Contemporary Arts

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Date: 22 July 2008

Toby Messer 

When my aged father in law is down; he uses a rather arcane expression, telling one and all that he is feeling brassed off.  But on a sweaty evening in the Mall, we were having none of it, we were all getting brassed up - big time, with Bass Clef and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.  If you thought that the trombone was the preserve of the Sally Army and the Sousaphone belonged to quick-stepping military marching bands - think again.  

To open the proceedings we had Bristol's very own one man ambient, mix master, pirate flag waving, trombone playing maestro Bass Clef.  On occasions a little reminiscent of New Order, a touch of Sun Ra and a healthy smattering of Groove Armada.   And less I was very much mistaken, wasn't there a samplette of Goldfrapp in there too?  It was all accompanied by some ultra heavy bass riffs that rumbled deep in your lower intestine and rattled each and every one of your fillings. The punters who for some bizarre reason chose to sit in the beer slops from the previous night; soon leapt to their feet and grooved as one, with Mr Clef continually upping the ante by saying we were all in for a big treat as this was the last gig of the tour and it was going to be really special.  And by way of a tease, the curiously named drummer 360 (the only member of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble who didn't appear to one of Phil Cochran's eight man brood) guested on a couple of numbers, adding a thunderously percussive finale. 

Then Hypnotic Brass Ensemble bounced energetically onto the stage and everyone went nuts.  And boy could those boys swing.  Left to right, up and down, well drilled and tight.  Undeniably there was a hint of the big band in there but one and all certainly seemed to put the oomph into oompah.  I have absolutely no idea if Miles Davies has been cryogenically frozen or if all the various drugs he ingested have preserved him anyway, but if they woke him up and cloned him - well nine times, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble have it down to a tee.  And naturally they owe a debt to the Godfather, James Brown, name checking him on several occasions and playing several numbers that pay the funkiest homage imaginable.  

There were occasions and - I don't want to tarnish the Brass - when I could have done with less of the 'right side of the crowd, say yoh,' etc. but hey it was the last night so why not?  And still the references with a new twist kept coming and coming, a little bit of New Orleans, a touch of Grandmaster Flash and on the hugely addictive Liquid Bomb, there was a heavy nod towards Blaxploitation movies, or  it could even have been a long lost soundtrack to Shaft. 

And they were funny too.  As the perfect antidote to the glo-sticks of the acid drenched 80's and the the nauseating habit of lighters being held aloft by stadium rockers, one member urged everyone to wave their iphones, mobiles and blackberries in unison. Towards the top of the evening the boys launched into 'I get the party started', which did seem a little perverse as they had appeared to have cracked that one mid way through the first number. 

Bass Clef and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, top night, top brass. 

 

 

 

 

 

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