We arrive at the venue in time to catch the last song by support act 'Imitation Electric Piano', who might be worth looking out for if their organ fed post rock jam finale is anything to go by. They could well turn out to be authentic, at the very least they take my mind off the Champions League Final going on down the road.
So to the main act, BROADCAST, who are touring in support of their fine current release, "The Pendulum EP" out on Warp Records. Not ones for touring we hear, so it's hard to know what to expect but one of the first things I see are two film projectors so I prepare to be dazzled.
First song in and apart from the guitars being a little too noisy ( a fault they quickly sort out ) everything is groovy, the sequencers start up and the projectors roll, the ceremony has begun. We are transported throught the waves of psychadelic sights and sounds, back in time before settling somewhere in between the late 60's and early 70's.
I am initially reminded of Stereolab or The Cardigans first album but as the songs progress I am instead reminded of the classic film sountracks of Roy Budd, Lalo Schiffren and Henry Mancini. It's a musical film collage in which they take the harpsichords from "Get Carter", put them into a car chase from Bullet running through the
continental streets of mainland Europe, they leave in a bit of the old cisco sound but it's mainly Paris.
Occasionally they drift further south into the more summery pop sounds of Brigitte Bardot singing St Tropez ( Theme from TV's Eurotrash and a cool tune ) accompanied by both ooo's and la la's.
|
In fact the singer/chanteuse could be french and could easily be mistaken for someone singing in english as a foreign language hence the comparisons to Nico and the Velvet Underground.
She could equally be a character from a 60's/70's sci-fi TV
series/film; Space 1999, UFO, Lost in Space, The Invaders.... it's a close run thing. It's the same with the songs, they move between the loungecore cool and film soundtrack chic of the late 60's to the Euro art noise electro pop of a more modern era and bands like Stereolab or Air.
They run through the set like it's a greatest hits show, the band sounding a lot bigger and the songs a lot fuller than on record. The visuals are stunning throughout, everything you'd expect and then some. The best bit being the footge of american classic automobiles driving through the sun drenched streets of a 70's USA ( minus Steve McQueen!).
The band come back on for an encore and I for one am left feeling pleasantly surprised at how much I've enjoyed watching a band I'd never heard before tonight. A great nights entertainment ( much more exciting than boring Champions League Final! ) and a band definitely worth looking out for/tuning into.
|
