| INFO | The Gimp @ the After Dark, London Street, Reading.
Thursday 9 March 2006
1. Libor Spacek
2. Polar Remote
3. Elle Milano
4. Rebus |
See photos by clicking on the link two paragraphs below. One thing you don't expect from the After Dark, famous for its hot sweaty walls, is that it's freezing if it's empty. Sadly only a handful of punters are present when Libor Spacek kick off the night, and yes it's darn cold. Not helped by cupping an icy pint. Like the quiz show Q.I. (Quite Interesting), this trio of men are Quite Angry. Not bulging-eyed enragement, but just 'rather petulant'. Call it punky, call it spiky, or even prickly, their set is full of sharpness - taut guitar and bass plucks, staccato marching drums, intense piano and jittery vocals feverishly repeating lines as though it's the soundtrack to One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
It's an electrifying performance, firm favourite is as ever Sibling Of Sleep, a clear stand-out track, though end song Solitary, with its singing echoey guitars and all-out thrash fest at the end, comes a close second. Frontman Rich becomes a lunatic rag doll, flinging his guitar hither and thither, and perhaps craves some cough syrup for his now wasted vocals. Impressive. Now last time I saw Polar Remote they played dark burgeoning opuses akin to Mogwai with a deliciously droning Hammond organ/ Moog synth and shimmering Gothic guitars. What's happened? They've become arbiters of rudimentary rock. They've pretty much killed off the keyboards, and any spacious drama formerly sweeping their vistas is crumpled down into formulaic songs with bits of Dinosaur Jr hanging off the sides. The singer's response to our applause: "you're very generous" indicates he's not expecting us to like it either. The instrumental in their set renders the singer useless, resigned to sitting in the corner. The overal feel of their music is far from a remote polar region, more a small ice cube (yes it's still cold in the After Dark). Tonight they come across as a band with muddled direction, perhaps it's just a dud gig or maybe they're trying to change their sound. Stick to what you know best I say. Next up are XFM-touted Elle Milano, who are far from elegant Italian magazine fodder. Instead, dirty perky punky pop ravages the speakers. Instantly the grime hits the After Dark walls once more. Have their music as your wake-up call and you'll be wired by day, short-circuited by night. It's all speed-freak rifle-drumming madness with bouts of bubble-gum screeches from glam female bassist Betty K. Their continuous edgy barrage sounds better in the studio than on stage tonight - it's not reaching the frenzied heights it could, even though the frontman works the crowd like a seasoned rocker: "I'm a pole-dancer from hell" he exclaims, writhing on the horizontal pole-like barrier around the stage. Final track Ringtone Advertising Director is followed by a drum 'n' bass attack, encouraging the most partying from the audience so far. You know that headliners Rebus are going to give a good show when the audience give them a welcome deafening roar. Crashing into the first track off their forthcoming EP, Sorry is a dream opener that instantly causes a collective jump-start in the room. They roll their indie-electro-disco-sex-punk (as they themselves call it) into a big waspish glitterball and bowl it into the audience...it's a strike! Never losing momentum, it's their most bleepy song Daylight Fading next, a personal favourite of mine, and the pace is maintained with Don't Panic - it goes on and on in this stinging vein. Little wonder that a mosh pit develops, preventing the band's girlfriends from dancing at the front as scores of men ram into each other. Ending with Clone A, they deliver another illustrious and tempestuous gig. Disco is definitely alive.
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