Electric pulses sizzle through the air. The atonal synthesiser feels as if it’s hardwired from the bottom of my spine into my eardrums. “I’m scared. Can we go now?” a petrified-looking hipster kid in odd-socks complains to his mum, who (as you do) has taken her ten-year-old to an improvised synth hardware set. Maybe he’ll be more into the screamo band who are on next?
This is ‘Interesting Things’, an all-dayer at music venue Stirling Tolbooth which celebrates the avant-garde and off-kilter across three, multi-level, stages. It’s not your typical Stirling crowd here: the fringes are short and so are the hemlines on people’s trousers. Miniscule fisherman’s hats and ironic slogan tee-shirts are back in. For one night only, Stirling is the capital of cool.
My day begins with Glaswegian screamo band L, in the main hall. Their nervous guitar strumming and the lead singer’s skittish style of talk-singing creates an anxiety-provoking atmosphere. The vocalist looks as if on the verge of a breakdown as he launches into a manic monologue about stars, solar systems and planets over a YouTube-ripped ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ cover. It’s unhinged in the best way and the silent parts of the performance are also the loudest.
Bristolian trio Jabu soften the blow from some of the day’s edgier music, but they’re certainly not ones to just write off as a ‘chill-out’ between acts. While their sound is minimalistic, they still maintain an atmosphere with hazy guitars, soulful vocals and deep, dubby basslines. I find myself drifting in-and-out of focus, watching the bassist’s shadow play a solo on a wall lit up by dark red LED light.
Those who make it up to the attic stage are in for something a shade darker. The aforementioned sound artist Rhins is half-man, half-machine early in the day, experimenting with a stack of analogue synths in a John Carpenter-esque drone solo. Later, industrial two-piece Mrs. Frighthouse are old antiques left to gather dust, wailing bloody murder as they hide behind fuzzy projections of old film reel.
Tonight, Edinburgh’s Proc Fiskal is the name on everyone’s lips. The Hyperdub-signed DJ and producer’s cutting-edge dance music is a healthy mix of grime, glitch, and gaelic folk. But I’m most mesmerized by his visuals: pints of Tennent’s lager, a gram of weed, old Scottish Facebook memes. “My visuals are old texts from my facebook group chat back in the day,” Proc tells me after the set. Old internet culture plays a big role in his aesthetic. He’d previously used Facebook’s text-to-speech feature to translate old texts into an on-screen play. “I like to play the group chat like it’s an instrument.” He laughs.
But the night’s standout is Bristol producer and part-time monster hiding in your wardrobe, Mun Sing. They’re dressed as a scarecrow, wearing a straw bodysuit and doused in bright blue face paint. Now I know how Worzel Gummidge would look if he’d taken three tabs of acid. Their music, on the other hand, is surprisingly danceable, with squelchy basslines and pitch-adjusted vocal samples fit for a European techno club.
As this seven-hour experience draws to a close, one thought keeps coming back to mind: I wish Stirling was always this weird.
Featured Image Credit: Eva Moran.
Student journalist with a passion for music.
