Index of Shows | Homepage | Upcoming Shows | Write to me
Reports start off tonight in their "noisy psychedelia" mode. Spacey, weird guitar lines over a swirling, driving rhythm section. It's beautiful stuff. Then, their second song is in their "English music hall" mode, with the stilted rhythms and pop melodies of that style. It's good to put the range out their up front, and better when, as the set progresses, they get into the songs that fuse the two impulses. These tend to start out poppy and then get deranged around the bridge. The interaction between the guitars is great, and I really notice the excellent mixing; I can hear absolutely everything that anyone does.
Taxpayer do the Majestic Britpop thing. Big, epic songs, largely moody and mid-tempo, with rich vocals and lush, washy guitars. The guitars can be overly strummy, I think, but when they do play melody lines they are very good, so they should do more of it. I also think this style of music would lend itself very well to some harmonies, but their singer has a gorgeous voice; maybe they don't want to mess with that. They have some quality, catchy songwriting, and it's "Dial Zero For Assistance" that I'll be whistling as I walk home tonight.
Mobius Band are a three-piece that play very gentle pop, heavy on electronics. The drummer plays a mixture of real and synth drums, in varying proportions, and naturally I like the songs better that are heavier on the real drums. The guitarist and bassist both play a lot of keyboards as well as their stringed instruments, and take turns singing lead. They use a lot of really synthy, '80s-sounding keyboard patches; this really isn't calculated to appeal to me. What is nice is the bassist's voice, which has a wonderfully warm, inviting tone. That, plus the mellow, gentle songs, make me feel pleasantly soothed. Still, after about half a dozen songs we start to get a little bored, and the synth drums are really wearing on me, so we head out.
