MAXIMUM JOY
JD TWITCH (OPTIMO / DJ Set)
BULLION (DJ Set)
Tuesday
27 October
The
Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Rd, Angel, N1 9JB
7.30pm
| £12 | http://www.wegottickets.com/event/333706
Formed in 1980 in
Bristol from members of Glaxo Babies and The Pop Group – along with the then
17-year-old singer/clarinetist Janine Rainforth – Maximum Joy represented a
break from the dour frown of post-punk. They were a dance band first and foremost,
with a raucous disco pulse, blasts of brass and yelping, chanted vocals that
lived up to the band’s name. Maximum Joy combined myriad influences from the city's storied music
scene to inform a sound that reflected the political and social climate of
Thatcher-era Britain; funk, dub, disco, reggae and jazz all informed their
particular strain of post-punk. Their output was by turns moody and exuberant
but always highly danceable, carried by the ethereal strains of lead singer
Janine Rainforth.
The band's
output was confined to just a handful of releases: four singles preceded an LP
entitled “Station M.X.J.Y”, which was produced in part by legendary producer and
dub trailblazer Adrian Sherwood. In spite of this, the band helped lay the
foundations for the explosion of creativity and musical cross-pollination that
characterised Bristol during the eighties and nineties, and they have amassed a
cult following amongst clued-up producers and DJs that endures to this day.
Whereas they were once a firm favourite of John Peel's in their heyday, today
Maximum Joy are championed by the likes of Andrew Weatherall and Optimo. This
year the band have reunited to play at Bristol’s excellently curated Simple
Things festival and we’re extremely pleased to have them visit London to play
their first show here in 25 years around that date.
1 comment:
Go see them! Sound is as much today as years ago.. Great music and a excellent night out.
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