CiS
Image: Iolair
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| Rating |  |
| Event name | Confusion is Sex |
| Venue | Bongo Club |
| Date | 2 Oct |
Confusion is Sex feels tough tonight. Not only is DJ Dolby Anol banging out hard electro to a crowd of face-painted girls and topless rave boys, Parisian techno-punk duo Aniaetleprogrammeur are lashing out swathes of distortion and tittering rythmns. With an upstairs chill out zone populated by truncated legs and a rockabilly sound-track, Confusion occupies the Bongo Club like a hardcore army of renegade artists falling on an innocent student hang-out.
Promoter Gamma Ray's call to leave the jumpers at home hadn't reached all clubbers: rugby shirts mingled uncomfortably with horse-headed man and tiger-faced women. Yet Confusion represents raw, aggressive music and the effortless cool of The Freaky Brides, taking this beyond the drab nights of pull and puke that dominate city centre clubbing.
If Aniaetleprogrammeur are disturbing and danceable in equal measure, their shards of thumping beats and razor guitar provokes both exodus and manic, brutal dancing. A brief moment of sensual calm comes with Mia Meow's Pulp Fiction-inspired burlesque, before the band and DJ thrust the crowd back into aggressive ecstasy.
When the band close, following stage invasion and a devastating noise finale, Hettie Heartache's Kate Bush striptease raises the temperature, tapping into adolescent fantasies and capturing the raw mixture of vulnerability and sexual confidence that made Wuthering Heights such a perennial video favourite. Holding her own against a braying audience, Heartache is erotic and creative, lining up with the burlesquers who are unafraid to be imaginative and sexy.
Dangerous and vivid, a non-stop party of excess and glamour, Confusion is Sex is moving towards Gamma Ray's dream of punk atitude and sexy safety. By the time the door policy gets in place, and only the weird can enter, this art project will remember the great days of engaged clubbing.
That is certainly not the same night we were at, the details might be the same but the descriptions are far off. For a start, we were dressed up but the woman on the door wasn't exactly friendly, and refused to let us in for the costumed discount. The "burlesque" was dull and really amateur, nothing more than a tame novelty. Yes, ok, the band were fairly good, and gave everyone a good show, and were probably the only savior of the downstairs dancefloor. We retreated upstairs to a room which didn't claim, or attempt to be, anything more than it was; a good solid rockabilly night. It was only a shame that the two rooms were not swapped around, as there was not enough room to dance upstairs, where the idea was simple yet effective, and not the cheap (sorry I mean expensive: £7) attempt at "alternative, punk and sexy" which was halfheartedly presented to you upon arrival. The heart is in the right place, but seriously, it just does not deliver. You'd be better sitting at home in a wig with a bottle of vodka and some german porn.
Thank you for taking the time to comment. I think that there are some trenchant points in your critique, but hope that you don't give up on Confusion for German Porn: we agree that the idea behind the night is solid, and it might just be taste and expectations that divide us.
Please keep commenting: if you go to Torture Garden, I'd love to hear your thoughts.