It is a trufact that there’s a lot of happening things on this particular evening (Factory Floor at the Arnolfini, Singing Adams at the Cooler etc), but this the rarest treat, an unmissable opportunity to see some incredible reanimated ghosts. Ut started as part of the no wave/cheap rent freak explosion in late ’70s New York, their music an utterly raw wrenching of gutterblues guitar, awkward creeping rhythms and unashamedly primal vocals. Scary and exhilarating, their records feel like exorcisms, or something being excavated, and are so starkly brilliant they should by rights atomise anything filed next to them. Whether they still have the dark fire after twenty-odd years without gigging is anyone’s guess but they undoubtedly deserve your money, respect and attendance.

 

 

 

Ut originated from New York City’s downtown No Wave scene in December 1978. The inheritors of the fertile collision between rock, free jazz and the avant garde that first manifested itself in the Velvet Underground, Ut soon became a serious force within the New York music scene. Ut’s members are Nina Canal, Jacqui Ham and Sally Young. They were joined briefly by filmmaker Karen Achenbach in 1979 before resuming as a three-piece and relocating to London in 1981. Ut toured the UK with bands such as The Fall and The Birthday Party. Originally releasing albums on their own label Out Records, the band became a favourite of John Peel and recorded several sessions for his show before joining forces with Blast First in 1987.
In Gut’s House was originally released in 1988 and made NME’s Top 50 that year. The Washington Post noted “With In Gut’s House, Ut has scraped and droned one of the finest underground rock albums of the year….The tightly woven, firmly focused sound is rich, spooky, urgent and quite unexpectedly beautiful.” In 1989 the band recorded and released the album Griller, engineered by label-mate Steve Albini, who shared Ut’s raw aesthetic. In March 1990, Ut played their last concert in Paris.