The Endless Hum & Mek Summat: All-Dayer

Caroline Social Club, Saltaire

Louder Than War’s Andy Brown heads to Saltaire for a day of loud and experimental music courtesy of The Endless Hum and Mek Summat.

The Endless Hum have combined forces with likeminded promotors and all-round artistic instigators, Mek Summat, to deliver a full day of loud and experimental music. It’s a real smorgasbord of sonic delights from electronic innovators Demdike Stare to abrasive post-punks The Eurosuite. Throw in some tasty vegan hot dogs and you’ve got yourself one hell of a day.

There’s some beautiful, delicate music out there, but sometimes all you really need is pure, undiluted filth. This is where Video Evidence comes in. With one stamp of a pedal, we’re hit by a wave of unholy feedback before being hurled into a defiantly ugly wall of blast beats and indecipherable growling.

Repetition, brutality and satisfyingly belligerent basslines. It’s the sound of Napalm Death having a sweaty, topless and somewhat inebriated wrestling match with noise rock legends Drunk In Hell. And suddenly, everything feels right with the world.

Featuring members of XAM Duo and a guitarist sporting a Coil t-shirt, signs are encouraging for experimental trio REALITY. The bands weapons of choice include a saxophone, a guitar and a sizable modular synth. Some of the equipment looks like it’s come straight from the set of Doctor Who.

What follows is a sheer wall of nightmare-inducing drone complete with a wailing sax pulled straight from the ‘Bill Pullman going wild in Lost Highway’ handbook. Things get nice and intense. Plus, I’ve just found out that I’ve been pronouncing Moog wrong my entire adult life. You live and learn.

With the stage in near-darkness, we’re introduced to The Eurosuite. Singer Daniel Holloway sounds like a man trapped in a box full of itching powder and bad vibes. The guitarist has a knack for brilliantly abrasive noise, while the synth player and drummer aren’t averse to an unexpectedly danceable groove.

The four-piece harness an impressively frenetic kind of post-punk madness. Imagine The Pop Group frantically spinning in a washing machine, and you’ll start to get the picture. And while some of the songs can become a little indistinguishable, their commitment to chaos is undeniable.

Sweet Williams trade in a kind of post-rock influenced indie with an earnest heart and shades of Slint. The five-piece have me hooked from the start with the steady, glistening hypnosis of Very High Frequency. It’s a real beauty. Other highlights include the dirty, bluesy stomp of Send Rope and the driving, fantastically titled – The Bangles From Hell.

“Party tunes”, quips singer Thomas House after the sombre, skeletal elegance of Spares. Well, it might not be wall-to-wall dancefloor fillers, but these songs most certainly connect. It’s hard to say what it is that gives a band that extra special something, but whatever it is, Sweet Williams have it in spades.

From the moment the brooding, industrial electronics of Armistice reach my ears, I know we’re in for a treat with Gum Takes Tooth. Tom Fug mans a laptop as vocalist Jussi Brightmore roams the stage like some ceremonial shaman at a rave. The spirit of Coil is most certainly in the room.

The duo is temporarily scuppered by a power cut, but that only makes the second half of the performance all the more delicious. “Couldn’t give a fuck about unknown pleasures” purrs Brightmore as he flits between dancing and rolling around on the floor. You can feel that energy in the crowd too. Dark, ecstatic and fan-bloody-tastic.

Next up, a set from electronic artist – and sometime Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti collaborator – Nik Colk Void. With a table of wires and electronic kit, Void delivers a set of techno beats and sonic manipulation. The large red curtain at the back of the stage ripples in waves of approval as Void’s hypnotic sound slips and slides between worlds.

It’s the kind of set that creeps up on you, and at some point, I find myself starting to dance and sway along to the sound. You can see this transformation in the rest of the crowd too, as she steadily lures us all in one beat at a time.

Last but most certainly not least, we’re treated to a set from Demdike Stare. The Manchester-based duo specialises in experimental electronic sounds with a distinctly dark disposition. Distortion soon slides into a subtle, horror soundtrack style complete with wordless wails and ominous fragments of sound. The duo exchange smiles as their hands impulsively glide over a table of equipment. Magicians at work.

I can feel the vibration of the music rumble through my legs as a haunted sample oozes from the speakers, “Please don’t leave me down in this world.” An effectively spooky and atmospheric set to bring the day to a close. And what a day it’s been. The Endless Hum and Mek Summat really have outdone themselves with this one.

The Endless Hum are on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky and their website.

Mek Summat are on Facebook and Instagram.

All photos by Jim Mumby | You can find him on Facebook and Instagram.

All words by Andy Brown. You can visit his author profile and read more of his reviews for Louder Than War HERE.

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