Frenetic Seattle based punk outfit, PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES exploded into the sweaty, brothel-happy ambience (i.e. lit by red lights) of the 100 Club. Their first gig in London in a fair while, this gig seemed to be more of an happening than a mere gig - very 'it-crowdy' - mainly because half of Bloc Party were lurking conspicuously at the back having a good nod. Not quite Kate Moss n Jude Law in the VIP section a-la-Raconteurs (thank God) but there was a definite sense of coolness going on. Music daaaarlings aside, PGMGs came on stage, and proceeded to charm their adoring fans, fellow celebs, and bar staff alike.
Opening with the dubby "The Nocturnal House", Andrea Zollo threw herself around the stage, looking desperately iconic and obviously lapping it up - and the bassist Derek Fudesco spent the set whizzing himself around the stage like he was a human dodgem. Zollo's smooth-as-honey vocals complimented their spiky ska-punk racket, with each track building to gigantic musical climaxes, and the crowd went wild. There was a definite ebb-and-flow feel to their music, something which their fans readily responded to. Frankly it was nice to be in a London gig where the gig-goers were less reserved than normal.
Tracks from their new album 'Élan Vital' included the aforementioned 'The Nocturnal House', 'Pyrite', and 'Parade', the latter had Zollo's and Jay Clarke's (keys, vocals) harmonies serving goosebumps all round, really stunning stuff. Older tracks such as 'Something Bigger, Something Better' and 'This is Our Emergency', were played in succession and were probably intended to tip the crowd over the edge, which it did. A lot.
|
Be it ska, be it dub, or more straight up punk rock, their music was all tinged with beautiful harmonies, jagged and quirky keyboards, and spiky guitars. Although their influences are fairly transparent, the PGMGs have been doing 'angular' well before the current NME-ites - in fact they take the notion of sharp-edged rock and turn it into the audio equivalent of an Escher lithograph. Bands such as Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party have always championed PGMGs, so it's no surprise that their distinctive sound permeates through the music of such artists. It's going to be interesting to see the inevitable rise of PGMGs to the more mainstream end of indie in the UK - watch this space...
www.prettygirlsmakegraves.com
|
