The View From The Bar: Exquisite Corpse
- Jess Dymond
- Aug 25, 2016
- 6 min read
Twenty years is a long time for any artist to break from performing. Yet Exquisite Corpse playing in the Rye Wax basement on the 12th August surpassed any orderly patterns of time or genre, propelling the crowd into a journey of rhythmic, percussion induced communality. This event had been discussed a lot in weeks to the run up, and once it was over I only wanted to experience it again, which is a rare feeling after working a twelve hour bar shift.
Exquisite Corpse are comprised of a Dutch duo from Tiberg (Robbert Heijnen and Tim Freeman) who were once members of the pioneering group, Psychick Warriors ov Gaia. Producing music since the late 80s , they were active in creating industrial, tribal dance music that was integral to the formation of darker rhythms in techno, trance and ambient music today.
For Robbert, coming to London to play again was all down to the ‘charm, enthusiasm and persuasiveness of Josh and Elliot’— the brains and driving force behind the Body Motion parties and accompanying show on NTS. During the setup, Josh explained to me how they discovered and became infatuated with PWOG and ExCo, during the period in which all their sets were centered around the raw, wild, and risqué energy of New Beat and Acid. Elliot, from Body Motion enthused, how: ‘Every time we got hold of a new record from ExCo or Psychick Warriors ov Gaia, especially after their repress on Sacred Summits last year, we would write to them, and ask if they would play one of our parties. The element of mystery that surrounded their reputation (or at least the nod towards the occult - the spelling of their name that referenced ‘Magick’, the discordian writings of Genesis P-Orridge and the ‘Temple of Psychick Youth’) seemed to continue into reality”.
Despite their influential role in the history of dance music , “the accounts of what was going on around the period that PWOG were playing are patchy and factually dubious, halfway inside this world of mystic, chaotic, anti-establishment art and half laughing at it.” Stuart Leath, otherwise known as Chuggy, who co-runs Sacred Summits, told the Body Motion that PWOG were not in the right place to be performing: “they had recently turned down Cafe OTO and it was very unlikely for any of them to play in London”. Unfazed, Body Motion contacted Robbert, who left PWOG at the end of 1992 to focus on ExCo. The reply back was a gracious but firm, ‘no’. This didn’t deter Josh and Elliot’s insatiable desire to see them play live again at their own party. And, needless to say they persisted. Eventually Robbert agreed, however if he was going to play at all it would have to be alongside his sound engineer, Tim Freeman. His good friend and longstanding member of PWOG, would help to reach that ‘true Exquisite Corpse sound’. Elliot told me how “it felt like we were doggedly attempting to do something that could never happen, like trying to raise the dead. But they responded. I remember the day well— it was raining. We bought a cake.”
During their set up and soundcheck during cocktail hour, the atmosphere in our dark little basement was alight with excitement and anticipation for those that knew was about to commence. The ‘new Peckham’ Happy-Hour crowd looked on with confusion, as Robbert and Tim breathed fresh life into their expanse of 90s analogue equipment (detailed below). Lifting the volume to its highest point, whilst occasionally running back to the bar to hear the full impact. Undulating, rhythmic textures vibrated through the basement and up the stairs , drawing down curious ears.
While on a quick cigarette break I got chatting to Robert and Tim, they told me how it had been “a very very long time, well over twenty years” since they had performed as Exquisite Corpse. I listened as they reminisced about the exciting feeling they had when they began experimenting with synths and drum machines as well as the mad parties they were playing at—’the coming together of the scene at the time, the experimentation and the appreciation of the music was like nothing we had seen before’. One party that stayed with them in particular was “playing at Barrowlands in Glasgow in 1993, like nothing we had ever witnessed before—the crowd went insane! It was a place that really caught on to the vibe that we were about, booking other artists who were all experimenting. There was some very elaborate stuff with beats and melodies and more percussive stuff with machines, just playing around, trying new things”. Robbert explained, “real sparks were created for us here.”
For Robbert and Tim it was very much about an experimentation at that time, the parties they used to attend and the influences that surrounded them were down to ‘lots of people coming together from the same angles, but from different places. Tim made an analogy to the music and scene at the time, describing how it was like a series of dark rooms, all with open doors that you could explore, he continued to explain that the “single common denominator between us was tempo."
As I sat and listened in awe, a passer-by asked for a lighter and in true Peckham Rye fashion jumped in on our conversation, asking what ‘Exquisite Corpse were about?’. To which Robbert answered humbly: ‘rambling percussive old man dance music’. Yet when I listen to their music, I don't associate it with old men at all. Robbert continued to explain how their, ‘style of music evolved from experimenting with beats, like a combination of funk, tribal, repetitive, swirling house and techno styles, all morphed together’. Most of the offshoots from dance music feel like they have their place in time. For example the sped up Thunderdome Gabber scene in Holland is always steeped in references to that specific space and time, as are Drum and Bass, Dubstep, and Jungle, which I feel have aged to some degree. ‘Exquisite Corpse’ keep true to their name, which refers to the surrealist parlour game, the group are a hybrid entity taking from many influences and genres. Conceivably, when sounds become categorised into genres, they become tired or time specific, yet the way that ExCo moves beyond genres allows for the sound to remain somewhat timeless.
Their sound undeniably evokes connotations of rave–era idealism, and even though they are using a range of 90s analogue equipment, their sound is not tired or overdone. Perhaps this is due to the current 90s revival that is sweeping London, as well as a nostalgia for the nightlife heyday and unity within club spaces. Or perhaps it is rather due to the instinctively tribal elements of Exquisite Corpse’s sound that evoke a primal, base-instinct of dancing. The set they played at Rye Wax felt more relevant, and epitomised the current feeling in the air more than any party I have been to in a long while. Elements of Ex Co are in every track I long to hear on the dancefloor at the moment, the kind that brings a party together and keeps it going. Spaced out rhythm, funk infused clickety percussion, crickets, machine sounds, industrial repetition all combined with visceral textured ambient synths and loops of disconcerting, relentless beat.
I chatted to lots of people over the bar that had travelled from Bristol, Brighton, Bath and Glasgow for the night, and it was that feeling of dedication, appreciation and unity that really drove the night forward. ExCo are based loosely around the notion that music can unlock perception, the night at Rye Wax created such an energy, it confirmed my belief that this is possible. Following this night, ExCo claimed they would consider doing more parties in the future so you should buy their records and book them. You can see them perform alongside Reinoud and Reiner at Incubate festival in Tilburg next week, completing the original Psychick Warriors ov Gaia group.
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Equipment used * Midas Venice F 16 mixing desk, 8+4 stereo Outboard Rack comprising: 1 x KT DN514 Quad Gate, 1xKT DN500 dual Comp/Exp, 1 x KT DN504 Quad Comp, 1 x Yamaha SPX2000 Multi fx, 1 x TC Electronics D2 delay, 3 x KT DN 360 dual 30 band Graphic Eq's, Yamaha SPX90 II multi FX
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