Live

What the Moon Is Like, Nosferatu D2, Amy Blue, Pocus Whiteface

Paul Deacon 13/01/2007

The good people of The Sailplanes, in particular Tim and Stacey, have decided to set up their own record label. A fine idea: naturally a launch party is required. So we are advised to head for The George Tavern which turns out to be the perfect size for a small, knowledgeable crowd of people with a strong sense of direction and no fear of wandering around the arse end of Commercial Road trying to find the place. With this in mind I arrived late and missed the first band. However upon entrance I picked up one of the free CDs on offer and I had a listen to The Repton Oaks who were on first tonight. Their track on the CD does not have much to offer but if you like minimalism, feedback and drone then this is what you should be listening to, no vocals just drone, perfect just to let your mind drift away whilst the music takes you through a vortex of noise and 3 chords where you will meet Jesus and the Mary Chain drinking tea and eating cake.

So moving swiftly back to the live music. Pocus Whiteface are at their best when the bass lines are bouncy and upbeat, when their guitars are disjointed and jagged, working together to provide some interplaing sublimeness to our ears. Luckily for them they do this most of the time - not all but most. Ikara Colt vocal influences or Mark E Smith for those that are picky about such things are what we are get from the singer; always a good thing in my mind, check them out, they're an interesting live act.

Amy Blue are on next and they start off with some sort of German intro coming from a laptop, which also provides us with their drums which is cool with me. They specialise in making a wall of noise, a distorted, suppressed noise, however with this they actually write really addictive songs to go with the unique sound they have worked hard to create. Vocally they remind me of Liam Gallager fronting My Bloody Valentine, strange yes but the vocals - sweet not forced -sound marvellous to me. Basically Amy Blue have some excellent tunes: if they can write more songs like their last one on offer tonight then hopefully we should be hearing a lot more from a band who strive for originality.

Nosferatu D2 arrive on stage and attack us with wired time signatures, spiky guitar lines, urgent uptight drumming, strained vocals: we are liking this very much. Their performance was on the edge, in your face, they hardly gave you time to breathe such was their urgency. The two songs on the CD probably featured in their set but unfortunately I couldn't make it all out, however I strongly suggest checking this band out and listening to their song MOJO 100 you'll see what I mean.

Finally we come to the headline band and by now the place is rammed and a real sense of excitement has hit the George. Everyone is focused on What The Moon Is Like, but all they focus on is the music. They don't waste their time with self indulgent nonsense lyrics, they focus on what's important and that's resonating our souls with beautiful sweeping moody tunes, which occasionally evolves into a mass attack of noise. The music builds around simple bass lines turning into droney progressive shoe gazing grooves. The guitar work is very inventive, you can never really guess what's coming next and with no vocals this is what makes WTMIL a really exciting band. They have to work harder to impress and they hit us with dreamy guitar scopes, a reative, controlled noise. Their tunes have space and time to breath, people will compare them to Mogwai but that's not a bad thing: I urge you to check WTMIL out.