Tonight's planned event had promised a feast of local indie-electro. On one front it delivered. Unfortunately, due to family bereavement, Futuristic Retro Champions were unable to perform so in their place was Tall Boy. Tall Boy was one man and electric guitar singing melancholy and intellectual indie hindered by nerves and feedback, and a slowly arriving muttering crowd. This sort of stuff really relies on a full band for impact which, duly enough, led to a shortened set as the busier the room got the harder his job became. I would have to hear him in a band setting to pass proper judgement.
Next up, Nevada Base. Now it's only fair to wear my prejudice on my sleeve, I've followed Nevada Base since they played their first ever gig in Pivo Pivo. I put them forward to be signed to my college record label. I'm one of their biggest fans. In a way, this also makes me one of their fiercest critics and when they've been shit I've said as much. Usually this has been down to technical difficulties as they employ a blinking array of fancy electronic instruments and accoutrements to achieve their indie-disco sound. On this occasion they are also debuting the use of an "80's Porsche-red" Key-Tar. Yes, a Key-Tar. Their set kicks off with "Electric Touch", and true to form, there are technical difficulties, with the sound of lead singer Albert's electric guitar not coming through thus diluting the funkiness of this great track. This is quickly resolved and after a couple of tracks the set begins to continue unbroken more like a DJ set than live set. However, this doesn't affect the immediacy of the performance. In fact, Gus seems to have new found freedom to improvise with his Key-Tar in hand. By the time we get to the penultimate track, the phenomenal "Love in My Mind", the band are in full funky flow, and the crowd are grooving along like pilled up party puppets. Closing as ever on the anthemic "If I'm Late", some new production and presentation elements seem to have the guys full of self-belief. Believe me, these guys could be huge.
Playing their first ever gig tonight and closing the show to boot are Ace City Racers. Given that they are already recording with former Blur and Smiths producer Stephen Street down in London, this is surprising. Then I hear them, and it isn't. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of their punchy and direct garage-punk sound. The opening track is less than 2 minutes long and sets the stall for their riff heavy snarling sound. However, when the style is so simple, you need a hypnotising and charismatic front-person to carry it off. Yeah, he jumped about a bit with his guitar and put some oomph into the delivery, but they're going to have to gig a hell of a lot from here on in to get their live show up to the standards expected of the best garage-rock bands and, given there's a hell of a lot of this stuff around at the moment, it'll be hard enough to stand out from the current crowd. I'll give them a few months and see if their performance has improved.