Thursday, March 20, 2008
Neon Neon - Fabric
As with Madchester in ‘89 or Big Beat in ‘99, every ten years or so Indie and Dance race towards each other like horny dogs in a park and get straight down to some spirited arse sniffing, only to get whistled apart apologetically by their respective owners after a just the briefest of exchanges. We’re in the thick of one of indie and dance’s most fertile unions in some time and tonight’s ‘Adventures in the Beetroot Field’ gathers a killer line up of bright young things all mining a singularly 2008 style take on this perennial hybrid.
The pairing of Boom Bip and Super Furries man Gruff Rhyss as Neon Neon - making their live UK debut at Fabric tonight - seems slightly at odds with the rest of the line-up. Where the majority of acts on this bill present a spiky, confrontational take on indie-dance, Neon Neon prefer a smoother, streamlined style. Where the young upstarts sing of alienation and urban ennui, Neon Neon deal in romance and humanity. Elsewhere there is grubby 80’s revisionism, with Neon Neon only loving tribute.
Unsurprisingly, the atmosphere in Room2 slightly more sedate than elsewhere as curious musos steadily fill the hall. Nobody’s quite sure what form Neon Neon live will take and with debut LP “Stainless Style”’s list of collaborators reading something like a super savvy Gorillaz cast (Yo Majesty, Spank Rock) you never know who could pitch up to perform.
Opening with “Neon Theme” - Bip on keys and synth drums, Rhyss on guitar alongside bassist Cate Le Bon and a loose limbed drummer in gigantic plane landing headphones - and immediately the atmosphere shifts from Fabric’s typical cold modernism to woozy nostalgia. It’s an incongruous image: a born and bred valley boy, cruising down the strip in convertible, palm trees flapping softly in the breeze but over the course of the first few numbers, to Miami Vice power drums and Kim Wilde style choruses, Rhyss makes it all palatable.
Cate Le Bon takes to the mic for a lush ‘I Lust you’ and remains both graceful and insouciant throughout. As to whether they convince as a unit, the four piece just about pull it off, looking more like the arch new-wave sixth form band than the product of some fated union. But Bip’s having a blast pounding away at his synth drums and though Gryff looks baffled from the start (hell doesn’t he always?) it only adds to the band’s breezy charm.
“Belfast” is delightful towards the end of the set, Gryff’s yearning vocal proving once again he may be one of most emotive vocalists of his generation and when Akira the Don appears for “Sweatshop” it’s humping dancehall rhythm finally gets everyone moving.
Unfortunately it all tails off when the Magic Numbers join on vocals for the last song. Of course, great to get the guests on for a turn but the Magic Numbers are the last band on earth you’d associate with ‘Star Quality’ and as they stand there, hands in pockets, awkwardly chinking beers together it’s a lacklustre finale to an otherwise thoroughly engaging show.
posted by: Jim Brackpool @ 6:08 PM
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