Plaid
Cathays Community Centre, Cardiff
Sat 5 Oct
Promoted by Roath artspace M.A.D.E., this evening of live electronica is also part of an Arts Council Of Wales scheme aimed at clubgoers and aiming to remove us from our cushy city centre nightlife routines out to the less trodden beats of Cardiff. Torn away like screeching babes from their mother’s arms and then brought to Cathays for what looks like a really solid night out.
Plaid – pronounced like the tartan rather than the political party or past tense of ‘play’ – are hardened men, gritting their teeth through almost 30 years of adoring fans using their tracks to push the term ‘intelligent dance music’ without developing small burn-holes in the sides of their cheeks from cringing. Plaid made the critical mistake of flicking through several different styles over the years: if it wasn’t an IDM sticker it would be something vaguer.
Their recent fare is more in line with out-there ambient techno producers such as Nathan Fake and Max Cooper, the latter of whom hit Cardiff only the other month and may predict the gig vibe: a freak-out sequence at the Tate Modern, with the appropriate jarring mix of stern grey-hairs maintaining their music blogs and peculiarly tense-looking folk wearing sunglasses indoors. Ambient tech artists are usually only sporadically danceable, but when a drop does come it is far more deserved and October’s gig may yet evolve into something a bit heavier, even with a curfew of 10.30pm.
Dedicated Buzz readers may remember support act Jaxson Payne as a highlight from the Cardiff Psych & Noise Fest at the start of summer. Payne immediately stuck out on the Saturday when he stepped up to the plate with his MIDI drum kit, blasting his way through 45 minutes of scorching live jungle with only the odd break to swap out his synth palette. He, alongside local producer Boris A Bono (also ambient-ish) and another player to be named later, complete the roster – something different to lure timid Cardiff clubbers out of the burrow, even if it is still back to Kongs for afters.
words Jason Machlab
Tickets: £15/£13 NUS/NHS. Info: facebook.com/cardiffmade
