AKA at The Beacon
STEWART RAYMENT
To say Hastings is more than blessed with the number and quality of musicians within its bounds is an understatement. Wednesday 24 April saw AKA, a number of familiar faces, at The Beacon. Anthony Moore, known from his 1970s days in Slapp Happy, and beyond, has collaborated with Necessary Animals’ Keith Rodway and Amanda Thompson on a number of occasions since last year. Amanda provides supporting keyboards & vocals, and Keith is on continuo. Copies of their album, Electromics, made their public outing at the event, but the performance was dedicated to Moore’s back catalogue.
Guest players were Tullis Rennie, experimental trombonist and senior lecturer at City, University of London, Olie Brice, celebrated jazz bassist – you may recall his Fire Hills, of a year-or-so ago (find it on Bandcamp), and Richard Moore, equally celebrated – you can join him fiddling at the Jenny Lind in the Old Town most Tuesdays.
The first set contained numbers from Moore’s early albums, between 1976 and 1981, closing with Hymn to Love. But the second contained No Parlez, Moore’s composition. This has perhaps been Anthony Moore’s best-known piece; it was picked up by Paul Young in his first solo album, of the same name. It is an important number on that album, giving edge and inspiration to what otherwise might be called a batch of soul covers. Anthony Moore’s early solo albums demonstrate a wider influence on New Romantics and subsequent synth bands. However, Moore is out to recover No Parlez as his own.
The progressive music of the 1970s was never far from progressive politics, and it seems this is still the case. Moore introduced Hymn to Despair, which is a work in progress, dedicating it to the CEO and others of Southern Water: you couldn’t drown yourself, because you could never get your head beneath all of the shit in the sea… Tullis Rennie’s trombone haunts throughout. They closed on Caught Being in Love, again from Flying Doesn’t Help, where it is something of an aftermath to Lucia, who, as on this night, recurs through Moore’s work.
Electromics is clearly something else. It is a run of 20 laser-cut albums, so you’ll need to get in quick. It developed out of the rehearsal sessions Moore, Rodway and Thompson did for material premiered at Daniel Hartlaub’s exhibition last summer at Electro Studios.
Up and coming: Olie Brice will be mastering the Two Ships Festival of improvised music, again at The Beacon, St Mary’s Terrace, Hastings, on Saturday 18 May.
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