OR   Search for Artist/Title    Advanced Search
 
you are not logged in...  [login] 
All Reviews    Edit This Review     
Review: 'Losers / Rosie / Paris XY'
'The Duchess, York 12th September 2014'   


-  Genre: 'Rock'

Our Rating:
Losers may have started life as XFM DJ Eddy Temple Morris’ dance project with input from Tom Bellamy, formerly of The Cooper Temple Clause, but things have changed a fair bit since then. The Coopers always had an electronic edge to their big rock sound, but it took the addition of Paul Mullen (ex YourCodeNameIs:Milo and The Automatic) to really change Losers’ trajectory. And so here we are, in York, to witness a fully fledged rocktronic crossover act bring it live.

The support acts, Paris XY and Rosie (a band, not an individual) also bring different perspectives to dance / rock crossovers, with the former’s darkly brooding material warranting Portishead comparisons. The bouncy indie rock of Rosie, on the other hand, is all about the fun and a dubious cover of Reel 2 Real’s ‘I Like to Move It’ that got the fans down the front jumping.

Losers exist on an echelon all of their own. That much is clear the second the five of them walk on stage. They look like an authentic rock band in skinny black jeans and leather jackets, not to mention the peroxide blonde keyboardist in a barely-there skirt. They feel an sound like a band, too: while Mullen provides a focal point and is a compellingly eccentric performer, there’s no sense of one dominant character: instead they function as a cohesive unit focused on delivering the songs. And while they’re about it, they’re composed, cool as a polar bear’s butt, but slam into the songs with energy and gusto. And hell, do those songs crackle and fizz.

Eddy thuds out some dark basslines while the to guitars have real attack. The precision drumming is positively industrial as they kick off a set drawn exclusively from recent sophomore album, ‘And So We Shall Never Part’ with ‘D.N.A’. The nagging groove of ‘The Chain’ writhes beneath the vocal melodies and contrasts with the brutal juggernaut of noise that is ‘Acrobatica’. Nine Inch Nails comparisons are perhaps inevitable, but with Losers there’s none of the pomp of posturing – despite the fact they sound capable of playing big, big venues and filling them with their immense sound.

The simmering tension of ‘Turn Around’ eases the pace – and the force – until all sonic fury breaks loose and paves the way for the closing salvoes of ‘Oblivion’ and the searing ‘Azan’ that’s built around explosive dynamics and bares some seriously serrated edges. It’s one hell of a climax.

I didn’t stick around for DJ sets from The Prodigy’s Rob Holliday or Endoflevelbaddie, for the simple reason nothing was going to top Losers.
  author: Christopher Nosnibor

[Show all reviews for this Artist]

READERS COMMENTS    10 comments still available (max 10)    [Click here to add your own comments]

There are currently no comments...
----------



Losers / Rosie / Paris XY - The Duchess, York 12th September 2014
Losers
Losers / Rosie / Paris XY - The Duchess, York 12th September 2014
Losers
Losers / Rosie / Paris XY - The Duchess, York 12th September 2014
Losers