LATHE OF HEAVEN + LIPWORMS + MINDFRAME – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 17.2.24
Brooklyn based Lathe Of Heaven took their name from a 1971 science fiction novel by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. The novel explores themes and philosophies such as positivism, Taoism, behaviourism, and utilitarianism. Its central plot surrounds a man whose dreams are able to alter past and present reality and the ramifications of those psychologically derived changes for better and worse. The title was culled from a passage in the writings of ancient Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu (Zhuang Zhou) which reads “To let understanding stop at what cannot be understood is a high attainment. Those who cannot do it will be destroyed on the lathe of heaven”.
OK history lesson over, let’s talk about the band! Lathe Of Heaven formed in 2021 and the outfit features members of noteworthy Brooklyn based projects such as People’s Temple, Porvenir Oscuro, Pawns, Android, Hustler and more, and as far as I can tell, these are Gage Allison (vocals), Daniel Rojas (bass), Noel Mateus (guitar) and Stephen Reader (drums). With little more under their belt than a relentless string of live performances, and a twice pressed (subsequently sold out) three tune ‘Demo’ cassette release, and debut long player ‘Bound By Naked Skies’, which blends elements of New-Wave and Finnish Post-Punk into a nuanced juxtaposition of 80s sonic mania, this New York City based group have proved themselves to be a potent and cohesive element amidst the torrent of hardcore punk and synth-driven pop revival currently proliferating throughout the U.S. underground.
As a celebration to the release of ‘Bound By Naked Skies’, Lathe Of Heaven announced a 16-date European tour including playing in Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Bochum (in Germany), The Hague, Bristol, Manchester, Glasgow, London and of course here tonight at The Hope & Ruin in Brighton, courtesy of Love Thy Neighbour promoters.
Funnily enough, there actually is a rock music project based in Hampshire that goes by the same name, but fans of the likes of Killing Joke, The Chameleons, Clan Of Xymox, Joy Division, Sisters Of Mercy, Drab Majesty, TR/ST, Psyche and those of a similar ilk, would be interested in discovering this Brooklyn based Lathe Of Heaven instead of the Hampshire one!
Tonight’s concert is actually the second gig of the day for us, as this afternoon we were camped at The Prince Albert in order to enjoy the psychedelic dance sounds of Aircooled. It will be interesting to see how both headliners compare with each other…..
Lathe Of Heaven take to the stage at their allotted time of 10pm and show us what they’ve got for the next 32 minutes, which is arguably quite a relatively brief headline if I’m honest. We were camped at the front of the venue and could clearly see the band’s setlists and it appeared that we would be getting something in the region of eleven tunes, but in fact were only given a mere eight! When I quizzed bassist Daniel at the end of the performance, he indicated that Gage’s voicebox was suffering a lot. Seems a long way to come in order to just play for slightly over half an hour, mind you having said that, no less than four tunes on their album fall short of the three minute mark. Gripe over, moving on….
Looking around the first floor venue which surprisingly hadn’t sold out, I noted that black was very much the colour of choice for Lathe Of Heaven fans. Frontman Gage and bassist Daniel both seriously have the look, whereas guitarist Noel and drummer Stephen, could almost be in any band. The quartet get their ‘Intro’ out of the way and begin in earnest with ‘Genome’ which can be found on both 2023’s ‘Bound By Naked Skies’ album and 2022’s ‘Demo’ cassette. I was initially taken aback as to how surf rock sounding Noel’s guitar was sounding on this. Stephen’s pounding drums certainly sounded the part, and Gage’s vocals were in their house style of echo and delay. They reminded me of the criminally underrated band 1919. Track two was ‘The Breaking Strain’, this too was culled from both releases and the surf guitar and echoey vocals were to the fore. Daniel’s bass was giving off a favourable rumble as the lads worked their way through track three, ‘Inertia’ and it’s on this tune that I realised that Gage’s vocals were very much like those offloaded by vocalist Abbo of UK Decay on their 1980 ‘Message Distortion’ track. That thought remained with me for the rest of Lathe Of Heaven’s set.
The setlist said “Interlude” but I don’t really think there was one, and the guys began the next track, ‘Moon-Driven Sea’, with some quiet keys from a backing track which then led into Noel’s guitar sounding as though he was in The Mission. This was an immense sound for just four guys. The latter vibe of this track made me think of Echo & The Bunnymen’s ‘The Killing Moon’. I believe they dropped ‘The Faithful Image’ and instead offloaded ‘Ekpyrosis’, this being their fastest tune yet, and nods to Killing Joke’s epic ‘Pssyche’ were noted. The increasing beat of ‘The Spider’ was their next delivery and Stephen’s drumming on this was of note. Another “Interlude” was listed on the setlist, again I can’t remember one, and so they went on to play arguably their most melodic sounding composition of their set next, this being ‘At Moment’s Edge’. Noel’s guitar riff in this wasn’t too far away from (dare I say) Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Born To Run’, whereas (redeeming myself) I noted that Gage’s vocals were rather similar to Darrin Huss of Canadian duo Psyche. Lathe Of Heaven signed off with the fast beat of ‘Entropy’, which was I suppose, a good tune to be at the end, although ‘Heralds Of The Circuit-Born’ and “Cover” were listed on the setlist after ‘Entropy’.
I had very much been looking forward to seeing Lathe Of Heaven tonight and I had even moved gigs in order to see them, having originally intended to see what The Venus Fly Trap duo had to offer at their gig at The Grey’s in the Hanover side of town – See our team’s review of that gig HERE, but in all honesty I was unfortunately a little disappointed, but nonetheless still very pleased to have been able to see Lathe Of Heaven play live.
Lathe Of Heaven:
Gage Allison – vocals
Daniel Rojas – bass
Noel Mateus – guitar
Stephen Reader – drums
Lathe Of Heaven setlist:
‘Intro’
‘Genome’ (from 2023 ‘Bound By Naked Skies’ album & 2022 ‘Demo’ cassette)
‘The Breaking Strain’ (from 2023 ‘Bound By Naked Skies’ album & 2022 ‘Demo’ cassette)
‘Inertia’ (from 2023 ‘Bound By Naked Skies’ album)
‘Moon-Driven Sea’ (from 2023 ‘Bound By Naked Skies’ album & 2022 ‘Demo’ cassette)
‘Ekpyrosis’ (from 2023 ‘Bound By Naked Skies’ album)
‘The Spider’ (from 2023 ‘Bound By Naked Skies’ album)
‘At Moment’s Edge’ (from 2023 ‘Bound By Naked Skies’ album)
‘Entropy’ (from 2023 ‘Bound By Naked Skies’ album)
latheofheaven.bandcamp.com
www.instagram.com/lathe_of_heaven_nyc
Fifty minutes before Lathe Of Heaven began their set, it was the turn of new fuzzy south coast quartet Lipworms who offer up an infectious slice of dark krautrock, laden with pulsating synths, screeching guitars and abrasive dance hooks. They have only been together for six months, they being Tom Bryan (synth, vocals), Chris Williamson (guitar, synth, vocals), Olli Dalmut Rudd (bass) and Alex Brown (drums), and tonight was our debut encounter with the lads. Although their performance lasted 27 minutes (from 9:10pm to 9:37pm), we were only given a mere three songs, this being on account of the length of their tracks, in particular their final number.
I could clearly see a new style Korg synth on stage which is always pleasing, there was an iPad present along with a mini keyboard, plus the usual bass, guitar and drums. A mouth organ was also surprisingly used, which is a tad unusual with this type of band. They opened with ‘Ceo’ which is a long psyched out affair sounding not too far away from Moon Duo. Some band members being more animated than others, the disparity would widen the longer the set ran for. They segued into ‘Pink Maws’ which was a slower chugging number. They signed off with the marathon ‘Handshake’ which had the drumming and bass combination heard on some PiL material. In parts the tune did have the feeling of things being thrown in on the spur of the moment. The performance got more intense as the ipad and mini keys were slapped about a bit (within an inch of their lives) and were shouted at with repeated “f*ck you” shouts, and not wishing to be outdone Olli’s bass got a good kicking as well. Lipworms were very well received and didn’t quite sound like I thought they were going to. I need to have another encounter with this band, when they get around to booking another Brighton gig.
Lipworms:
Tom Bryan – synth, vocals
Chris Williamson – guitar, synth, vocals
Olli Dalmut Rudd – bass
Alex Brown – drums
Lipworms setlist:
‘Ceo’
‘Pink Maws’
‘Handshake’ (from 2024 ‘Slow Dance ’23’ compilation album)
Opening up proceedings this evening were Brighton based trio Mindframe, who we last covered at last year’s ‘Bad Pond’ festival on 2nd September. This young band who formed around May 2022 are tying together the unlikely influences of punk with odd time signatures, dungarees and shoegaze undertones. Arguably the thing they are currently most famous for is that their original drummer was Alfie Sayers who absconded away from Sonny Whittington (vocals/guitar) and Dom Coleman (bass), in order to play for another trio, these being band on the up HotWax. Clearly they are still mates as Alfie is present in the audience tonight. Bassist Dom however is not here with us this evening and so their mate Tommy deps for him. He’s not in dungarees, but is sporting a Mindframe t-shirt. They entertain us for exactly half an hour from 8:23pm to 8:53pm and in that time they play eight numbers, beginning with the grunge led ‘Like Hell’. Sadly the audience is relatively thin in numbers for Mindframe which is a shame.
They rocked on out with the more urgent 2023 single ‘Rains No More’ which featured some decent echo work and skipping drum beat work. Selection three was ‘Another Day’ where the lads really let loose half way through. A new as yet unnamed composition followed, this featured Sonny in serious Kurt Cobain mode coupled with some intense drumming from Tom, who seems to often lead the beat in their tracks. The newbie segues straight into their other single from last year, this being ‘The Chimera’ with its varying speeds and styles. Their debut release, ’Monochrome’ from May 2022 was their next selection, followed by ‘Leave Me Be’, another single from the same year. Both feature more urgent vocal deliveries. Before we knew it, they were departing, but only before they left us with ‘Trap Door’ which was a full on rock number. I would even go as far to say that there were even slight nods to Motörhead in their sound, but obviously nowhere near as full on.
Mindframe:
Sonny Whittington – vocals, guitar
Tom O’Sullivan – drums
Tommy – bass (filling in for Dom Coleman)
Mindframe setlist:
‘Like Hell’
‘Rains No More’ (2023 single)
‘Another Day’
“New One”
‘The Chimera’ (2023 single)
‘Monochrome’ (2022 single)
‘Leave Me Be’ (2022 single)
‘Trap Door’
