Battles and Black Midi Live at the Boiler Room

What happens when one of math-rock’s most forward-thinking bands plays a tiny venue alongside one of this year’s most-hyped groups? The ‘venue’ for this event (basically Boiler Room’s office + a bandroom) was down one of the many backalleys in Hackney. Were it not for the small light-up ‘Boiler Room’ sign, a lone security guard and a collection of 20-somethings waiting around drinking Red Stripe, it could have been any kind of garage or studio space. Tickets were allocated the day before through a ballot, and admission was free with the caveat that it wasn’t guaranteed. As a result the line was round the block before doors even opened, many had evidently come straight from the office.

For those unfamiliar, Boiler Room is a broadcasting company that regularly showcases performances from up-and-coming DJs. Part of the fun is having said DJ play in the middle of the room, directing the focus on their music and performance, as well as the antics of those immediately behind them. As you can imagine, livestreaming parties online can often lead to people doing stupid things in front of the cameras - often deliberately. In fact there is an entire channel on Youtube dedicated to showcasing the shenanigans from the crowd during BR broadcasts (People of Boiler Room). This show was unique in that the two main artists were live bands and not DJs, but the whole event was still livestreamed

Once Inside, the office /venue was packed; everyone immediately piled into the bandroom, wanting to be as close as possible for the performance. Thankfully, the show was BYOB, announced earlier in the day in an email titled “IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BATTLES + BLACK MIDI TONIGHT”, containing only the message “It’s BYOB xoxoxo”.

After soundchecking infront of the full audience, Black Midi began their show with “953”, the opener from their debut Schlangenheim, released earlier this year. The band switched between different jittery time signatures with ease, a testament to their strong chemistry and technical ability - more impressive for the fact the lead singer probably gets ID’d buying a Red Bull. One of the advantages of playing such a small space is the tight acoustics, which really showcases how well BM use a range of dynamics across their songs. At one point in the opener, explosive drums and feedback die away to reveal a twinkly guitar line played so softly you practically can hear those outside on the balcony lighting up a fag. This only lasts for a brief moment, before the drums and other guitars come crashing back in with the same intensity.

There’s only a brief pause before they spin into their next, in which the double-digit audience barely has time to offer applause. “Of Schlangenheim” is much the same as before, with a constantly evolving tempo and rhythm, but with a throbbing pulse of sub-bass that ricochets through the room. Without pausing, the band launches into a 25-minute long jam of mostly unreleased material. From the way the band members exchange glances it almost seems as if they’re improvising, although the music is so tight this is probably the result of countless hours of practice. Despite having a recent album and a few singles released, BM spend the majority of their short set whizzing through this new material. It’s unclear where one song ends and the next begins, or if this simply one mammoth song. The different sections of this jam are diverse enough that it remains interesting, and the band even manage to carve out some big hooks, more than making up for the lack of vocals in this section. The music remains anchored by the unrelenting drumming throughout.

After a while this subsides, and gives way to the iconic opening notes of ‘bmbmbm’. The quickly-muttered vocals are noticeably different to the studio version, and the seemingly-impatient band members improvise over the otherwise sparse drums + bassline here.

During ‘Ducter’, the finale from their debut album, the music almost completely stops during the breakdown, and the lead singer stands softly plucking his guitar, giving the audience a “Clockwork Orange”-esque smirk as he whispers into the microphone. The bass then slowly creeps back in, followed by the drums and other drums, bringing their sound to dizzying new heights.

When they finally reach the end of their set, it is only the third time all the band has stopped together so it takes the audience more than a moment process what they’ve just heard. BM then casually saunter through the stunned crowd and out of the room, seemingly unaware of how “Black Midi just melted my brain!” - to quote the instagram story that the bloke in front just posted.

Spare a thought for poor Flo Dill, the DJ taking control of the music after BM and before Battles. Not only does she have an impossibly hard act to follow, but the entire audience is concerned with going for a slash and a fag before waiting around for Battles. Which is a shame because she ends up spinning some funky tunes, finishing on an upbeat italo edit of ‘The Model’ by Kratwerk - a tune so funky Battles’ drummer John Stainer drums along to during his soundcheck.

The crowd spends their entire set anxiously waiting to get a good position in the bandroom for Battles’ set, which isn’t as easy as it sounds as we’re still packed into the tiny office space. One mans shout of ‘Come on England, come on!!’, was met with chuckles from the sardines. Inspired by this stroke of comedic gold, another sardine starts shouting ‘Hillsborough, Hillsborough!!’, which was not met with chuckles, but cries of “Fuck off you nonce” and “Cunt” - the latter of which is delivered as intensely as BM’s drums. Being packed amongst so many others also lead to overhearing a dreadlocked white guy telling an unimpressed girl how ‘Yuh, so basically after doing DMT my life completely changed”

Eventually some audience members are let in, and Battles begin with ‘Font Green Park’, a single from their latest album (which also has the nonsensical title of ‘Juice B Crypts’). Originally a 4-piece, Battles have lost 2 members across 4 albums and 12 years - quite the ratio! Their music relies heavily on loops, so most of their songs begin with a simple bassline which is looped and another layer is then added over the top. Through doing this the two-piece can essentially have as many sounds as they like playing over each other. Still, both band members have their work cut-out for them: John Stainer plays drums with two hands and all his heart, whilst Ian Williams plays a combination of keys, guitar and synth pad, often simultaneously.

Although I’m much closer to the band this time, I’m behind a ‘wannabe member of the Boiler Room crew’ who spends most of the set recording through their cracked iPhone 5. Perhaps she was so focused on her amateur recordings to notice the professional cameraman standing directly to her right.

Unlike BM, Battles are very happy to spend the majority of their set rattling through their latest release, it was satisfying to watch them gradually construct their dense sound, layer by layer, only relying on samples for the parts of the guest vocalists. Also, unlike BM, Battles take a moment to thank the audience between songs, there’s no audio in the mic so drummer Ian quickly rattles off a ‘Ba dum tss!”.

Highlights include lead single ‘Titanium 2 Step’, which begins with drums coming in hard and slow, before adding a fidgety guitar riff, synths and eventually vocals. At many points in this song and throughout their set it seems almost as if there are more band members lurking in another corner of the office, or that they might be playing to a backing track, however in a few barely noticeable moments, a loop cuts out slightly early and their drums are a fraction off the beat. This only serves to humanize their music and makes the otherwise clinical precision in which they play so much more impressive.

I was lucky enough to nab a copy of the setlist and meet the band afterwards, which made the whole experience even better. This is easily one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, although my ears are still ringing from Black Midi. The videos are all up on Boiler Rooms channel, watch it loud for maximum impact!

5 stars