Approximately Infinite Universe

Approximately Infinite Universe (named after the 1973 Yoko Ono album) is billed as A Caravan Of Raw Sound Magic From Finland & The US and reached Manchester on Thursday 25th. Part of an eight date tour the concept is one of collaboration. Centred around the acts on Sami Sänpäkkilä's Fonal Records label these collaborations worked to perfection. Introduced by the films of Sami Sänpäkkilä' set to the music of Kemialliset Ystävät in the lovely setting of the Contact Theatre the evening promised much from the very start. Nor were we disappointed.

First up the combined enormity of Islaya, Blevin Blectum and Samara Lubelski. Islaja (Merja Kokkonen) is/has been part of Avarus, Kemialliset Ystävät and Hertta Lussu Ässä. Blevin Blectum is a electronic musician of well deserved renown having released groundbreaking records as half of Blectum From Blechdom. Multi-instrumentalist Samara Lubelski is part of German psychsters Metabolismus and has worked with such luminaries as Thurston Moore, Tower Recordings and Matt Valentine. The three were joined on stage by an unheralded bass player - anyone know who that was? - and produced a beautiful set of tight as a drum quietly funky psych doodlings with some breathtaking Nico-esque vocals from Islaya. Lovely stuff.

Finland's Jan Anderzen of Tomutonttu, Kemialliset Ystavat and Avarus and California’s Spencer Clark and James Ferraro of The Skaters performed together under the Dream Triangle moniker. Their set consisted of a single "song" of complex drone and low end rumblings. Unfortunatley as with much of this type of music it does not always translate to live performance in a larger venue. To fully appreciate the subtlety and complexity of their sound demands close attention and a couple of people in front of me got a little distracted and chatted, quite loudly, throughout which rather spoiled it for me. Grr!!

Es is Sami Sänpäkkilä aforementioned film-maker and Fonal Records head. Fursaxa is Tara Burke from Philadelphia who on her records plays among others dulcimer, accordion and guitar. Taking to a stage fronted by a ring of tealights, Sänpäkkilä and Burke combine to produce beautiful, melodic, rambling songs of a rare intensity.

Kemialliset Ystävät (Chemical Friends in translation) from Tampere, Finland and Axolotl is Karl Bauer from New Jersey closed out the show with a set of motorik krautrock inspired riffs interwoven with folkish detailing that worked superbly well.

No-Signal and Lamb and Wolf deserve all the plaudits for putting together these shows and on the choice of venue in Manchester. I hadn't seen a gig at the Contact before but the place was a brilliant choice for this one and added to the atmosphere and ambience of the evening.