Elaine Liddle: My gig of 2009

Nackt Insecten supporting Fuck Buttons, Stereo, Glasgow
24 September

There are countless acts I just knew I would love even before the gig that I could have written about in this slot; so I've picked one which surprised me.

From the little I knew about Nackt Insecten, I was certainly intrigued (this is a guy who did a noise set on the Glasgow Subway, after all) but I didn't expect to be particularly enamoured. Not that I felt I'd hate Ruaradidh Sanachen's work, just that it didn't seem quite for me.

How totally wrong I was. The songs - or rather, very long soundscapes - were indeed a bizarre mash of sound, but they were also breathtaking. They also had the added element of other band members - notably Galchen's Peter Kelly on drums - which lifted them up and made them just work in a live context.

That surprise, the freshness, and the downright hypnotic effect of this particular set makes it stand out so clearly from the rest.