East India Youth at De La Warr Pavilion, 13 May 2014

A ‘Serge’ of musical activity at De La Warr Pavilion

The De La Warr Pavilion is having a new renaissance as the centre for cutting edge electronic music. HOT’s Erica Smith raves about their current musical programming.

Who would have thought that a rainy weekday night in Bexhill would provide an auditory feast worthy of a so-hip-it-hurts Berlin nightclub… but last Tuesday, Brighton-based promoter Melting Vinyl, had planned a treat for our East Sussex ears.

© Martin Everett

Musician and singer Anneka was the first to take the stage. Anneka’s musical career started by singing harmonies with artists including Falty DL, Ital Tek and Lone and she has now come into her own as a solo performer. For a young musician, she emitted an air of total confidence, using her voice, synthesizers, sample pads and a beat-up old drumstick to build up waves of sound.

There was nothing loud or showy about her act, no cheap tricks that a rock chick might ply to tempt an audience, just a professional attitude and a genuine enjoyment of the sounds she was creating. I was excited to have seen her so early in her career, I think great things will follow.

© Erica Smith

‘East India Youth’ is one of those names like ‘British Sea Power’ – three words which obfuscate rather than illustrate what the band will be like. East India Youth is a 22 year old white boy from Bournemouth, looking natty in a well-fitting suit. Again, he was totally professional and at ease on stage, starting with a ballad that could easily be a club dance anthem, then adding a real bass guitar into the synthetic mix. The sound built up to a wonderful thudding drum’n’bass crescendo. I thought he’d only been playing for 15 minutes by the time his 45-minute set came to an abrupt end. It was never loud, just totally absorbing, it even compelled me to get out my iPhone and scratch some digital fingerpainting with Zen Brush and Wasabi Apps, whilst photographer Martin Everett took some amazing images of the building reflecting the street and sea.

If you missed this little gem, fear not, because more experimental music is on offer at DLWP, thanks to their free ‘Dear Serge’ programme. This Saturday – 17 May – is a whole day and night of ear-jangling treats. From noon to 4pm, there will be a Dan Knight sound sculpture made from old bottles and discarded vacuum cleaners, Gen Doy’s Sound works installation will whisper and sing through the Pavilion and there will be installations and films by Media Arts students from Bexhill College.

From 4pm all the way through to 11pm, there will be projections, AV sculpture, DJs and performances by the Physics House Band and Jodie Violet.

Hats off to the pioneering musical programmers at DLWP for creating these excellent events that must be making the Pavilion architects Serge Chermayeff and Erich Mendelsohn tremble with the vibrations in their graves!

For more information about Dear Serge, visit the DLWP website.

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