Acting-Mayor Wrongbrain Wilson's Piccadilly Fountain Coup was typically smarmy and bloodless. Outside Ryderclone Robots mopped up the last disciples of Joy Davidson and carted them off to Madchester Theme Park Quiz Show retraining camps to be drilled with the poetic mantra, "Used to strangle kittens, now yer clever!" Dodging the potato headed E-pushers and pissed up summerlove flushpuppies on Oxford Rd and diving into the cellar of Scubar, the monthly Burst Couch was found to be quite literally igniting. A hush descended and all eyes and ears were trained on flickering flash and haunting hiss. Lee Patterson had close-miked some sparklers and the sound they made as they burnt was an eerie one indeed. When would the last jolt judder? Cartoon black and white 1920s movie intermissions and recorded howls of canned laughter bridged a gap with Opaque trio at the other end. They'd travelled down from Glasgow to kick up an exuberant free rock racket. Swapping guitar, bass and drums between bursts of killer riff splatter, they made quite an impression (and not just that ol' Sonic Youth comparison). Their 'Go Now New' 7" single, split with the overdoom metal of Wuzor, formed a short reflection of their performance which petered down to a solo bass noiseblast after the drums had been more or less trashed and used as oversized guitar plectrums. Acid Al could be seen at the bar flashing yellow vinyls and muttering curses upon Czech goat herders, but it wasn't long before Floach hooked up his beat gadgets and bastardised the can-can in a way that would seem right at home on the Hot Air label. He played a bit of bass guitar to root his choppy rhythms, which freshly skirted around (h)electro cliche. The Villa 21 Experience was a big noise jammer to see the party off with a bang. Spinning around the stroppy no-input mixer feedback of Villa 21 were his guests Lord Pendro on bass and Disco Operating System on guitar (retiring early). Floach and Bess Keloid shouted irreverent obscenities into the mikes and various drunken audients picked up stray discarded instruments to have a bash. A chaotic onslaught ensued, ending with Keloid at the Opaque drum kit and Pendro's bass burping as Villa 21 jumped on the table to trash his effects pedals with a mad glint in his eye.
