Scarlet Soho, Greg-from-Neo, Princess
Drive and Loophole. Portland Arms. 19/6/03.
Reviewed by Holl(i)y
Last minute bill-additions Loophole came as a very pleasant surprise
indeed. The musical equivalent of a disappearing subway train - only
with TUNES -
underneath a siren-like lead vocal reminiscent of a demon on a rollercoaster.
Which adds up to good noise. Theoretically I'd write a lengthy praising
rant, but I was far too tired that night to stand up without concentrating,
which has left me unable to describe them effectively - but do believe
me when I say you should check them out.
Princess Drive gave me the impression of knowing how their music should
be(loud, punk, rock, politics and disillusion, a hint of funk) and of
having the basic ingredients of riffs and shouting nailed down, without
quite having figured out how to shape that into a song which goes somewhere
and
sounds like a complete tune. They've got all the right ideas, all the
ingredients for something that utterly rocks are there, they just need
to
move from a set of worthy but disjointed musical ideals to putting those
ideas together into something coherent. I await further developments
with interest...
You wouldn't guess if asked to that Neo's hard-edged glittering punk-pop
gems would work in an acoustic set, but you'd be wrong. Even without
the
hefty adrenaline rush the full band provides, the tunes are strong enough
to stand alone. Not quite as good as the full-blown drums and bass all-inclusive
band, but still well worth the main support slot and gaining more attention
than is normally given to acoustic sets by the impatient
bar-congregating masses.
And finally the black-clad Scarlet Soho enter to throw themselves around
the stage for the next half hour. Falling somewhere between rock and
electro, S. Soho manage to make drum-machine sterility the basis for
some damn exciting
music, tight and fast and startlingly original, rocking out with the
best of them but in the least obvious of ways. They've got their sound
down to a T and know exactly where they want to go with it - now they
just need an A&R man somewhere to overcome his fear of That Which
Is Musically Different and to get them the exposure they deserve...
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