Ocean Rooms 23rd February 2008

Started at the insistence of guitarist, keyboardist and producer DJ Stantz and featuring no fewer than ten members, Channel 83 are an ambitious band, with big ideas.

Tonight, using their army of musicians and banks of samples to combine elements of Breakbeat, Electronica and Rock they created their own individual style of Trip-Hop. Each member layered in their individual sections to create complex but ultimately intriguing tunes, hampered only by sound level problems that plagued the entire show.

‘You’ve Mistaken Me’ ebbed into life with a nice string loop, complimented gradually by the rest of the band to produce a weighty sound with the dual aspect of remaining decidedly chilled. The cacophony of the various instrumental had the downside of drowning out the haunting vocals and led to the first of many requests (from virtually all the band members) to adjust the sound. With the volume of the vocals only marginally tweaked, Channel 83 moved onto a tune much talked about but unfortunately missing from their My Space page. ‘Piece Of Gold’ continually escalates from a laid back intro to a multi-layered crescendo of looped vocals and rolling guitars that is surely the live ‘experience’ that the band are so keen to provide. This ‘experience’ is complimented by visuals, somewhat lost when projected onto a patterned wall and having had a sneaky peek at ‘VJ Nova’s‘ actual monitor, I had it first hand that this was a downright shame!

The complexity of the tunes where held together by drummer Felix May who sat centre stage wearing a sombrero and permanent grin, all the while churning out all manor of beats and rhythms; to quote their My Space “he is very, very good.” By final number ‘Good Luck’ each band member had showcased their own contribution with various degrees of confidence (the violinist looked lost on a few occasions) although this could largely have been down to the sound problems.

This was only the bands second gig yet Channel 83’s catalogue of samples, guitars, violins, decks, saxophone and Gemma‘s ‘perfect for trip hop’ vocals mean they’re a band worth checking out. Ideally at an outdoor venue where you could blaze one up and let the music wash around you.

Words by Chris Leggett
Pics by Sam Hiscox