Ummagumma IV
HARRY HAWKINS AND PAVEL FOLEY
Ummagumma is best known as an eccentric double album by Pink Floyd, but The Piper’s version is a recurring live celebration of music on the outer frontiers, with a diversity of sounds and approaches. First held in November 2019, with bands such as Hotwax on the bill, Ummagumma IV was a treat for the ears. Here is a rundown of what we heard this time around.
The inaugural band at Ummagumma 4 was Glomm, making their first live outing. Glomm have a minimal, improvised sound palette, mixing sequenced synth with eerie guitar loops.The effect was at times very ominous, approaching John Carpenter, or perhaps the noises you’d hear on the Alien ship, Nostromo.
Frank From Blue Velvet, a band on the roster of Hastings record label Property of The Lost, were next to furnish the room with otherworldly sounds reminiscent of their name – a reference to the David Lynch film. Whilst they present in the guise of an American country-and-western band, their blues riffs are coated in a miasma of reverb, supported by keen violin countermelody. In songs like The Running Man, it felt like the band had complete control of the air supply in the room, choosing either to saturate it completely or bring it to silence.
Rose Io’s sound palette was entirely different but encompassing in its own way. A songwriter and keyboardist, she was backed by a violinist and a harpist, playing from her recently released record Autumn Automaton, made out of necessity and recovery. ‘Barbarous Bull’ was a particular highlight, with a bright, violin-driven rhythm underwriting a twisted portrait of lost love.
The latter half of the day was punctuated by the appearance of The Mystic Shed – a Hastings phenomenon to be heard, not written about. Their intense, grooving chaotic jams are jawdroppingly well composed. This proficiency is underscored by their absurd humour and interactive audience banter, as they veer into mocking blues trudges, or ask all of us in the audience for feedback on how to improve their “ailing” set.
Another Hastings band, Wave Machine, fuses 90s indie and grunge with 60s keys, a sonic union which doesn’t seem to make sense on paper. However, guitarist Liz Power and keys player Liv Long’s strong vocal harmonies and defiant, hopeful tunes make it really pop, with a dynamic section oscillating between punk and surf-rock pulses. A must-listen for fans of bands like Sleater-Kinney, The B-52s or The Breeders.
The headline band, Folkestone’s The Hare and Hoofe, made a dramatic presentation. We were provided with a plan detailing exactly which 12 songs they were playing and when they would take breaks, and the band were all kitted up in boiler suits, military and civilian.
Sonically, The Hare and Hoofe blend progressive rCock ambition and new-wave absurdism, with a kaleidoscope of songs referencing history, anatomy and biology that nonetheless condemned us to rock out.
The next UmmaGumma show will be held on Saturday 5th April 2026, featuring Black Helium and others to be confirmed. Keep your eyes peeled!
Missing any of these musicians when they come to perform again will be at your peril.The eclectic assortment cohered into a great evening of bands, all of which sound like no other.
You can read even more of this article at hastingsindependentpress.co.uk
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