Massive props to VBC for putting this on!!! Just in case yr math skillz are lacking, it equated out to TWO DOLLARS A BAND. And considering the lineup included Street Chant, Kittentank and Sets, it was mega worth the golden coinage. Missed openers Terror of the Deep (sozz), but arrived just before the first drawcard of the night, Sets from W(h)anganui, took the stage. The current Wellington favvvv reinforced his status as one of the country’s best new(ish) artists, punching beats into the keyboard, looping them into stuttering, rhythmic beats, and then jamming out some of the thickest riffery this side of The Chemistry of Common Life. And remember, this is a one-man show.
Where his earlier shows were quite affected by apparent onstage nervousness, this dude has got his jams down now. Bouncing around the stage, screaming Michael Laws hate vibes into the mic like he was leading an angry mob, it was a half-hour exercise in way-too-danceable angst, reflected in the bobbing, enthralled crowd. No definitive angular guitar, ‘pop sensibilities’ or sun-drenched lo-fi going on here, Sets brings his own wall of angry, angry noise that appears as cathartic for him as it was exciting for the crowd. If it took as shitty a figure as Michael Laws to provoke this awesome an artist, maybe more left-wing peeps should stop complaining about John Key and pick up a guitar instead, make some noissssse.
Kittentank’s new 7-piece outfit took the stage after Sets, all positive vibes and smiling friends. Frank the frontman made for the most entertainment of the crew, shuffle-dancing around the stage when he wasn’t playing guitar. As a friend put it, however, 7 people onstage made for a certain expectation of noise level, which wasn’t really attained. The vibes were right, their effortlessly casual guitar-pop going over well. And I can understand why the current setup works for them, everyone jamming about and having fun. It just needs some more filling out. Dick Dynamite and the Doppelgangers proved much harder to get into, their Living End aesthetic (double bass and everything) proving off-putting for much of the crowd. Thier punkabilly trailer-trash sounds weren’t as befitting of Living End comparisons though, coming off more like bastard blues than those Australian stadium wannabes. Middling at best.
There was really one main event for the night though, which was made plainly obvious by the crowd that Street Chant attracted (half of whom were more than happy to simply ogle the band from the back of the room). Their Daydream Nation-esque show rewarded the late-staying (2am???) crowd too, the band boosting through half an hour of known and new material. Their drummer, plucked from the DHDFDs last year, pwnd their material, fluid arms and seamless fills, a spectacle by himself. Frontbabe Emily probably has the best grunge-badass aesthetic of any NZ musician in 2K9, her pained vocal delivery emulating a frustrated (and female) Thurston Moore. The Sonic Youth comparisons are pretty hard to avoid with Street Chant/Mean Street, from the lashing guitar lines in opener Scream Walk to the way-too-good breakdown in You Do The Math. The slow new songs proved they are more than a cover band, awesomely, wobbly vocal harmonies and slow-burning distortion. Easily one of the cream of the crop of current NZ noisy bands, they need to play here more (especially given their evident hate for Auckland scene). And maybe a bit earlier. Props to all, now move down plz.
James Beavis
