Live Review: Tycho, Prefuse 73, Baths, Synkro, Thomas William, Astral People DJs

Local artists Thomas William and Astral People DJs had the pleasure of opening for the inaugural Land Of The Giants event, an offshoot of the recent Strawberry Fields festival.

Manchester dubstepper Synkro was the first of the internationals, filling the spaces in the cavernous club with snappy pops and clicks while dubby bass lines throbbed hypnotically underneath. This act in particular suited the acoustics of the room, as the echoes and reverb enhanced the cosmic bravura of his music. The underlying tension prevalent in early dubstep styles was absent, replaced by the warm vibe of trip hop. It was a patient set, content to move along organically without too much trickery and pizazz.

Young US artist Baths' effervescent style of layering rapid syncopation over warm fluid chord structures worked well, but his vocals (an anchor point for many of his songs) were lost amid the noise. Still, his enthusiasm wasn't and as he missed his trip last time (he would have performed at musicaTUMBALONG last year) he obviously wasn't wasting this one. Lovely Bloodflow and Indoorsy were highlights.

IDM specialist Prefuse 73 bridged the gap before Tycho and stuck to a relatively accessible set (by his standards). It was darker in tone than his counterparts and the acoustics were not as forgiving with his sound as others, but it was well-constructed. He's a master of texture and played with a superb pallet of sound. It was visceral and cerebral and although it was perhaps not as accessible as Baths or Tycho, it was fascinating to engage with.

Ghostly International artist Tycho rounded everything off with a full band, delivering a straightforward set of moody atmospheric pop tunes that sat nicely right in the sweet spot of the Metro's acoustics. Nothing tops the thud of a real drum or the snap of a real snare, so despite being less sophisticated that the others, Tycho's use of a live band sounded better in the room. The subtleties of the other artists were lost a little, while Tycho was free to simply wash over his simple chord structures with dreamy synth haze and lose nothing in the translation from album to stage. It was damned effective.

A fascinating and eclectic line-up that focused on cerebral electronic exploration proved a winner and, given the excellent execution and big turnout, hopefully we see this continue in the future.