Thursday 4th September 08 - So So Modern, Santa's Buggerboyz and Mountain Goat Frenzy at The Adelphi By Michelle Dee (1/3)

(1/3), (2/3), (3/3).

It's Thursday. It's Adelphi and the return of New Zealanders So So Modern. To start with, Mountain Goat Frenzy are tasked with getting the night off to a good start. The prop driven four piece are made up of Joseph 'Danger' Avery on synth, keys and percussion, Richie 'Rich' Bettridge vocals and keys, Math 'Mattics' Molson, guitar, vocals and A!A!A!ex Gower on drums and cowbell. MGF have already played a heap of gigs, including memorable shows at Cyclone Central - Piper Club and The Lamp as well as a recent Sesh performance and more than a few Adelphi slots add to this growing list.

They have risen to the top of many a promoter's booking list and continue to grow in popularity. MGF have a seven track E.P. just recorded with the best graffiti/cartoon style artwork I've seen from a local band. That there Joseph Avery (just like his namesake Tex) is a fine artist. He's produced a series of posters and flyers for the band with original, amusing and eye catching design.

They open with Consider This and deliver their own brand of capricious electro synth pop. House for Sale is a two-hander with Molson adding humour and texture to Richie's straight man delivery, backed up by bursts of percussion and horror punk keyboard overtones. Excitable drums disrupt the punky shouty vocals; the whole sounding something like the soundtrack to a bedroom monster flick. The sci-fi influenced DIY sound gets broken up by schizophrenic tempo shifts and we move rapidly through Lunar Repetition into Precarious Dimensions. Wailing, swirling, alarming keys overlay each other fighting faster techno breaks that remind me of the volatile ending of Satan by Orbital.

Frequave next and if percussive patterns were punctuation this number would be knee deep in commas, colons and full stops. The deeper underlying tone gives the listener something to grab hold of, something momentarily close to hardcore/house. More multilayered madness continues with MGF's finale Polyphonic A Radioactive Term and this one comes with added floor snare and cowbell combo.

Sustained percussive patterns and drum rolls herald the eponymous chorus a Mountain Goat Fre-en-zy. (Containing the all important extra syllable.) The fresh exciting individual group are gathering momentum as they go EP in hand looking for higher profile gigs. The seven track EP of good quality reproduction is available from the band priced at just £4.00, it's worth it for the artwork alone.

Continued .... Next Page (2/3)

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