MUSIC

Arnolfini, Bristol (Sat 24 Sept) Celebrating 50 years of Bristol's brilliantly quixotic Arnolfini gallery, tonight's bill fittingly eschews the mainstream. First up is newbie H: hunched over a perplexing array of cables and consoles, she diligently teases out improvised squiggles and eerie, electronic scree. There are flashes of promise, but it lacks cohesion, like a puzzle she hasn't quite solved.

By contrast, the sinister future beats of Hype Williams – aka London duo Roy Blunt and Inga Copeland – are hugely captivating, a flipped-out dubby miasma in which seemingly anything goes: floor-trembling bass and desolate synthscapes are cocooned in a malevolent but strangely ornate John Carpenter-like score, humanised only by the occasional soulful warmth of Copeland's voice. Relentless brain-melting strobes heighten the multi-sensory assault. It's fabulously dark stuff, but if this terrifying apocalyptic deconstruction is the future, lord help us.

Having released her self-titled debut album last year on Geoff 'Portishead' Barrow's Invada Records, Anika is a highly intriguing prospect. Dressed ominously in head-to-toe black, the sounds are distinctly crepuscular: a new wave, proto-electro conflux of Siouxsie, The Slits and Broadcast, shot through with early 4AD froideur. The voice that emanates from her slender bones is startlingly immense and suitably detached, but full of allure. The intense spell she arouses is briefly broken by loose-lipped voices from the back of the hall, but the icy chanteuse is unmoved. There's a faint flicker of a smile towards the end, but I could've imagined it.

As their moniker suggests, Factory Floor's pounding, metronomic groove could well have been riven from industrial machinery, their bludgeoning four-to-the-floor techno channelling the best bits of Kraftwerk, Throbbing Gristle and Fuck Buttons. The drummer thraps the skins like he's beating metal into shape, his visceral beats reducing the crowd to a fist-pumping animal mass. As birthday years go, it's been a rather memorable vintage. (Vic Dada)

Copyright Vic Dada 2011