Five to see at Fat Out Fest 2017

As the countdown begins to Salford's mighty Fat Out Fest, we look beyond the headliners to pick out some of our personal highlights...

Feature by The Skinny North | 06 Apr 2017

Fat Out Fest returns this month with a mighty line-up comprising the likes of Maryland post-rock polymaths Trans Am and reformed London noiseniks Part Chimp, plus Earth founder Dylan Carlson's ongoing collaboration with dubtronic producer The Bug.

Beyond the headliners, however, there's a wealth of new and exciting music ranging from the strange to the scintillating, and you could be forgiven for looking at the programme and not knowing where to begin. That's where we come in: here are five of our favourites to get you started...

Agathe Max

Amazing what you can do with a violin and a loop pedal. Such is the power of Lyon-based Agathe Max's atmospheric compositions that they feel less like mere pieces of music and more like interwoven soundscapes, soaring with narrative possibility yet tethered to a gut-wrenching sense of tragedy. This is worlds away from pop music; its polytonal nature creates something curiously akin to the atonality of drone, but with a starker emotional pull. In other words, it's bloody beautiful.

Classically trained, and a former student of electroacoustic composition at the Bourgoin-Jallieu School of Music, Max is as well-regarded for her many cross-platform collaborations as for her own music, and last year released an album with her experimental duo Kuro for Rocket Recordings. Her varied career leaves plenty of room for exploration (and, inevitably, total immersion), but Fat Out Fest provides an excellent opportunity to see this formidable artist in the flesh.

Housewives

'Post-punk' is a term that's often misused in this day and age, usually in the context of landfill indie bands who've copped a few poses from Joy Division and may have once walked past a copy of Pere Ubu's The Modern Dance. Much more in the spirit of that era are London's Housewives, a quartet who weld dissonance and bursts of wild, squalling skronk with agitated, circular rhythms in truly captivating fashion.

2015's debut album Work saw them widening their sense of texture while furthering their capacity to create something thrillingingly tense from the basest of rock'n'roll materials. Call 'em post-punk if you like – hell, call 'em noise, no wave... whatever you want. Just be prepared to be blown away.

ILL

It's fair to say we're pretty fond of Ill at this stage. "A group who revel in taking away the filters from their fiercely pointed social commentary," we once said of them, "delivered brutally although with no small amount of black humour." That should give you some idea of what to expect from the Manchester five-piece, although if you tie that up in the elastic pulsations of Bush Tetras or the anything-could-happen-ness of Theoretical Girls, that might help too – not that you'd be anywhere near the full picture.

Their imaginations are vivid and brightly coloured, yet often nightmarish too. Look at song titles like Breasts, Space Dick and Cock In My Pocket and you may think you've got them nailed as puerile japesters, but ILL display nuance and intelligence when it comes to sexual politics, making for a show that not only entertains in its off-kilter musicality but also forces audiences to consider their understanding of sexuality, gender and much more besides. Pretty great.

Islam Chipsy & EEK

Just ask anyone who caught their performance at Islington Mill back in December: Islam Chipsy's reputation as one of the most exciting live bands on the planet is well justified. Straight outta Cairo, Egypt, their euphoric keyboard melodies blur genres to create a uniquely energetic sound on their own, but once you factor in dual drummers Mohamed Karam and Mahmoud Refat, the equation changes completely.

This is a party, first and foremost, but it's also what happens when three musicians in perfect sync get the chance to show off their telepathic capabilties in front of a live audience. Before you know it, that energy drips off the stage and trickles into the crowd, meaning their shows often amount to communal, celebratory experiences rather than mere gigs. This'll be a sweaty and wonderfully exciting affair, guaranteed.

Group A

Industrial noise delivered via synth, violin and a helluva lot of processed electronic sound, Tokyo duo Group A are the best kind of headache. Now based in Berlin, you may detect the influence of Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire in their impressively complex racket, but there's so much more to them than that. Flickering and fluttering like jagged lightning flashes, they're as compelling as they are addictive: a live act to be savoured.

In a festival that's filled with bands and musicians based on the possibilities opened up by (here's that word again) the post-punk era, Group A are a perfect fit, both for their sonic proclivities, their sense of adventure and their singular aesthetic. Make the most of this chance to see 'em.


Fat Out Fest, 14-16 Apr, Islington Mill, Salford – tickets are available now via fatout.co.uk and Skiddle