Jah Wobble and cult friends deliver a Solaris-tique performance in ‘Ackney

Some time between the two American Disaster charity shows (in New York and Washington) Jah Wobble premiered his ‘Solaris’ project in the far corner of London and it was like – Supernova! With a band of cult-luminaries around him – Harold Budd (keys), Graham Haynes (cornet, effects), Bill Laswell (bass) and Jaki Liebezeit (drums) – the renown bassist led this unlikely crew into a brilliant performance that transported one to a sonic heaven, only visited few times with Can, Kraftwerk, PiL...

Budd is an avant-garde/minimalist-ambient composer, Laswell is an experimentalist extraordinaire, Leibezeit is the powerhouse behind Kraut-anarchists Can and Haynes is a young electronic/World music fusionist. Of course Wobble’s chequered past includes co-founding Public Image Ltd and now fronting Invaders Of The Hearts. It is natural therefore for ‘Solaris’ to be the sum of its elements and much, much more.

With such diverse backgrounds this project – inspired and named after Andrei Tarkovsky’s classic movie – had to incorporate so many different ingredients that could have overwhelmed it. But, as the programme states, “The approach taken to the performance will be ‘holy minimalist’, weaving textures of jazz, world and dub in a largely model soundscapes.” Without any boundaries, obviously.

It is oft-cited that an artist can’t be categorised but this time it is the platinum truth: alongside the elements mentioned in the prog, there is everything else, from minimalism to funkism, cyber- to Kraut-rock, from extreme pace to silence-as-music. Powered by amazing drumming of Leibezeit that worked in a lethal combo with Wobble’s bassing, the ethereal tunes were extra decorated with some incredible sounds emitting from Laswell’s four-string ‘lead guitar’! Who needs an egotist with soloing demands when you can have Bill!?

Contrasting descriptions find a way into a notebook – Concrete-rock, Ambient-World, Minimal-dub – but what’s on offer is Music experimenting in complexity, intricately textured, rich and gradually revealing… Although album tracks are ‘Subcode’, ‘Virus B’, ‘6th Chamber’, they are arbitrary as these songs let you ‘project’ your own imagery. The whole show feels like a cerebral MOT after so many years of populism.

‘Solaris’ pieces are free-form tonal musings, abstractions, sonic variations of high-art, entertainment-cum-analytical samples but only if you leave preconceptions on the mainstreet. The mid-stage positioned microphone was used only once during the show (and few times to thank our ovations) when Wobble read a poem to this part of the world, extolling the ‘cultural virtues’, or something, of A10 and A13. (No, it didn’t sound ironic coz he is a Cockney.)

Hackney, for a moment in time, proved to be the centre of ROCK as Counter-CULTURE.

Tour dates:

22 October – The Arches, Glasgow
23 October – Contact Theatre, Manchester
24 October – The Wardrobe, Leeds
25 October – Brewery Arts Club, Kendal
27 October – Dome, Brighton
28 October – Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry