MUSIC: Gig of the week...Ghost of Machines

Ghost of Machines @The Victoria, 22 January

A TOUCH of nepotism this week as the gig I am recommending to you is one that I am actually involved in organising but I do believe that it is something a bit special. Just to even things out a bit I will first also put a brief mention in for ex-Inspiral Carpets frontman Tom Hingley who will be playing the same venue the following day with brilliant support lined up from The Cornerstones, British Harlem and The Racket. Many of you will know Billy Bingham as a long-standing romanticist and acoustic troubadour going under the name Billyjon.  After recently teaming up with a group of faces familiar to the local scene Ghost of Machines was born and the end result is worlds away from his previous incarnation. Mixing searing guitars with thunderous backbeats and pulsing bass lines they conjure up a dark and apocalyptic landscape onto which they fire their lyrics with shotgun intensity. This is not only a musical recitation, the visual aspect of the band also comes across like a piece dystopian theatre as the four musicians are silhouetted by burning lights and ride the wave of chaos being woven around them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMYAenC9YII Support comes from two no less interesting bands. Armchair Committee are becoming regular faces on are local scene and this Bristolian three-piece are masters at blending howling blues, blasted slabs of stoner and dirty garage riffs into an unbelievably melodic result. Opening the night are Cathodes an byzantine complexity of brooding, aggressive rock drives, proggy interludes, slow burning atmospheric tensions and harmonious payoffs. Now if that doesn’t sound like a night out, I don’t know what does.