DAME AREA + FROG CHILD – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 5.11.24
Dame Area are Silvia Kostance and Viktor L. Crux and they operate out of Barcelona in Spain and are very keen on gigging, having played almost 200 shows in the last couple of years and generating a consensus: “They are one of the best live acts of the moment!”. It’s fair to say that they have left audiences speechless and breathless all around Europe. In 2023 alone they played festivals such as Atonal, Nuits Sonores, Dour, Grauzone, Fusion, etc…and legendary clubs like Tresor, Apolo, Spook Factory, leaving the lasting impression that few electronic acts are as direct and in-your-face as this Catalan/Italian duo.
Their discography doesn’t reflect completely what their current live performance is about: an intense industrial and percussive air which is captured on their latest LP ‘Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area’ which dropped on 13th September via Mannequin Records. To enter Dame Area’s universe you need to see them on stage: setlists are changing at every show, songs are being modified live and the experience is always unique.
Still you can dive into their varied discography: they have released in excellent forward thinking labels like Mannequin Records, BFE, Kess Kill or their own imprint Màgia Roja (described by The Quietus as “Spain’s most extreme and most important label-slash-venue”). It may give you some hints, although listening to just one release won’t give you an exact clue: an eclectic, discerning form of contemporary industrial music, deploying compulsive minimal synth and primal polyrhythms, as well as uniquely reconstrued elements of post-punk and EBM. An artistic identity that embraces influence yet eschews compromise, changing flavours, but not essence, from release to release.
I unfortunately missed the two previous Dame Area Brighton concerts, these being at The Pipeline on 14th March 2019 (where I was at The Prince Albert watching Plastic Mermaids) and 14th November 2019 (when I was at Chalk seeing Blood Red Shoes, but tonight at The Hope & Ruin on Queens Road I’m here to rectify this situation! This evening has been organised by in-the-know of Love Thy Neighbour promoters and we are expecting a performance equally as good as any local firework displays!
Both Silvia and Viktor play synths and percussion, and Silvia also takes care of the vocals, and Viktor plays the drum machine as well. Also there’s a self made “instrument” that Silvia plays as percussion or for noise and feedback!
They take to the first floor stage at The Hope & Ruin at 9:29pm and we are in their thrilling company for the next 53 minutes and our reward is no less than a dozen in-yer-face compositions. Victor is to our left and Silvia is to our right and they commence with a scary intro that builds into ‘Esto Me Pertenece’ which shows off their EBM beats and is located on their 2022 ‘Esto Me Pertenece’ EP. This segues into ‘Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo’ from 2019’s EP of the same name and it’s a banging tune and Silvia makes the first of several foray’s into the excited crowd and the 70 souls present all have beaming smiles on their faces – It’s going very well indeed!
It’s so thrilling watching the duo in action! Silvia doesn’t stand still for one moment. She’s either dancing on the front floor speaker immediately in front of me, or playing some keys, or twiddling some knobs, or hitting her homemade percussion pad, a la Kraftwerk 1974 for ‘Autobahn’, with a drumstick or rubbing the stick through the holes in the unit in order to make a screeching sound, or even literally planting her face on top of the silver panel and screaming into it! She’s mesmeric, there’s so much going on here! She also has a circular Korg electronic drum on the go as well. Viktor isn’t stationary either as he flits between his Roland drumpads, his drum and the electronic synth and equipment including a Tascam. They often both switch from keys to drums and play along together like Adam & The Ants and Sigue Sigue Sputnik drummers, and Burundi beat sounds waft through the air at us.
SPK, as in ‘Metal Dance’, immediately comes to mind as I watch them deliver ‘Dicevi A Me’ (from 2018’s ‘Centro Di Gravitá’ album), ‘Sempre Cambiare’ (from 2024’s ‘Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area’ album), ‘Vengo Dall’aldilà’ (from 2024’s ‘Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area’ album) and ‘Conflictos’ (from 2019’s ‘Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo’ EP). It’s a constant barrage of tunes that most segue into each other and when the beat noticeably changes, the crowd whoop and applause in recognition that the tune has ended and that we are away on another industrial trial journey.
The rhythmic, hypnotic compositions which are delivered in Italian are coming fast and furious now, they are certainly in their stride. We have ‘La Danza Del Ferro’ which is found on their ‘Ondas Tribales’ album from 2021, and then I believe an unreleased number titled ‘Si Hay Que Decidir’. There’s certainly no letting up and many, including myself, are merrily dancing away. In fact, I must fess up that I’m so busy dancing and truly enjoying myself whilst being absorbed into their world, that my notetaking goes out the window. I don’t want to miss a single second of what is being played! ‘Devoción’ (from 2024’s ‘Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area’ album), ‘Scopri Le Tue Passioni’ (from 2021’s ‘Ondas Tribales’ album) and ‘Tú Me Hiciste Creer’ (from 2024’s ‘Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area’ album) are played for us. One of these is absolutely immense and quite possibly almost the best live song I’ve heard all year! Dunno which one though, I should have grabbed a few seconds on my phone to compare later, but as I said, I didn’t want to miss ANYTHING!
Before we knew it Silvia was informing us that the next number was to be their final song, this being ‘Si No Es Hoy Cuándo Es’ from the new album and at 10:22pm they were done! No false encores, that was it! All I can say is, it’s seriously up there in my gigs of the year! If Dame Area come to your town and industrial-tribal-electonic sounds are your bag, then miss them at your peril!!
You can also check out Dame Arena’s recorded material on their Bandcamp page HERE.
Dame Area:
Silvia Kostance – vocals, synth, homemade percussion unit, drum pad,
Viktor L. Crux – synth, drum machine, drum, drum pads
Dame Area setlist:
‘Esto Me Pertenece’ (from 2022 ‘Esto Me Pertenece’ EP)
‘Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo’ (from 2019 ‘Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo’ EP)
‘Dicevi A Me’ (from 2018 ‘Centro Di Gravitá’ album)
‘Sempre Cambiare’ (from 2024 ‘Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area’ album)
‘Vengo Dall’aldilà’ (from 2024 ‘Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area’ album)
‘Conflictos’ (from 2019 ‘Yo Quiero, Yo Puedo’ EP)
‘La Danza Del Ferro’ (from 2021 ‘Ondas Tribales’ album)
‘Si Hay Que Decidir’ (unreleased)
‘Devoción’ (from 2024 ‘Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area’ album)
‘Scopri Le Tue Passioni’ (from 2021 ‘Ondas Tribales’ album)
‘Tú Me Hiciste Creer’ (from 2024 ‘Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area’ album)
‘Si No Es Hoy Cuándo Es’ (from 2024 ‘Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area’ album)
Support this evening comes in the form of Frog Child which is the alter ego of Brighton resident Alan Odgers who is also one half of Fruity Water. His debut single ‘2late2’ came out on 14th June. The equipment of choice this evening is a Yamaha Reface CPsynth, Roland TR-8S, Push 1 Controlling Ableton, and Old Blood Noise Endeavors. Interestingly, all of tonight’s tunes have the number “2” somewhere in their title! The opening tune being ‘2theground’ which kicks off at 8:30pm with a quiet intro that gives away to skippy beats, and then the bass notes accompany it and my interest is peaked! We are given a half dozen numbers across the next 26 minutes, which are delivered in a mixtape style, as in they all run into each other.
Tonight is the first gig where Frog Child has escaped the confines of the ‘Midnight Salad’ events held at The Rossi Bar several times a year, which is where Frog Child has appeared in the past. The twiddling of the Roland knobs and the like continues with ‘2omethingfamilia2’ which has a faster techno beat and Frog Child merrily bounces along to his tunes. Our masked man is having a great time, as are we! The next number, ‘2w4yz’, starts atmospherically before the dance beat kicks in and the vocals are ethereal , and then it turns into everything bleepy, it’s fabulous stuff! We next get ‘Brain2tew’ (Green Day cover) and the vocals are Devo-esque. The booming electro beats flow and a standout line is “My life is set on overdrive” and ‘2late2’ is upon us and is followed by ‘Pellet2’ (Ivor Cutler remix), which is immense and the best song of the set. As Star Trek says “set phasers to stun!”, well for this track it’s “Set phasers to gabba!” and the BPM’s go through the roof and get so fast that it’s impossible to dance any faster!
It was a terrific set and the perfect choice of opening act. It’s been a brilliant night out filled with indoor fireworks!
Frog Child:
Alan Odgers – vocals, synth, electronics
Frog Child setlist:
‘2theground’
‘2omethingfamilia2’
‘2w4yz’
‘Brain2tew’ (Green Day cover)
‘2late2’
‘Pellet2’ (Ivor Cutler remix)
www.instagram.com/frogchildmusic
