For anyone starved of genuinely experimental music, Toolshed is a haven. Set up by 808 State's own techno pioneer, Graham Massey, the club night (which rotates around Mancunian venues) provides a platform for local and visiting musicians. Massey's own Toolshed Allstars are the house band. In the current climate of Stereophonics and Steps, seeing them feels like walking out of the Conservative Party conference into a strange, post-nuclear soundworld full of little green men with fabulous, unearthly tunes.
The Allstars certainly look different. There are 12 of them, including three drummers, a five-piece brass section and a Yoko Ono/ Shirley Bassey-ish singer, See Ming. Instruments range from Massey's heap of keyboards to a whirring ball on string. The band frequently don hard hats, presumably to protect themselves from the fireworks in their music.
Their entrance is stunning. Following the introductory chords of Michael Jackson's Ben, See Ming strides on and suddenly shrieks "Ben!" as the band explode into a futuristic punk rock freakout. Following this jape, the Allstars manage to be a blistering fusion of, say, Frank Zappa's Hot Rats, John Zorn and the Plastic Ono Band, and they just get better.
The voodoo soundtrack created by the drummers is terrifying but exhilarating. This percussion force is crucial, blasting the band off from dance music. The other key component is the brass section, whose enormous stabs of melody ensure that no matter how weird the Allstars get - and they certainly get weird - they are always orbiting around a killer tune. Everyone from avant jazzheads to techno kids should love them.
Once everybody has recovered, the core of the Allstars (with a few extra violinists and cellists) return as Homelife. The music is totally different. Oriental folk nestles against vaguely Massive Attack dub-songs, and although they lack the Allstars' tumult, the sound is almost as unusual. As for the tag "Toolshed", nobody plays a lathe or a coping saw, but if they can find one that can be tuned, I wouldn't put it past them.
