Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Art Brut. Edinburgh Wee Red Bar, Monday 21st February
The Art College's tiny Wee Red Bar (predominately blue in colour) is our venue for tonight, and does really have a stage so much as a line where the carpet stops. During St Jude's Infirmary's set, the crowd illogically observe that line and stand behind it. Not that they are offered much to get excited about (With the exception of the big, hairy dancing man at the front) as St Jude's, a great band, muddle through a frustratingly sloppy set of indistinct vocals and feedback. Once or twice they do get it right, as on set highlight 'The Church of John Coltrane' but all to often the spark is absent, 2/5.
A quick turnaround and then out come touring support band proper, The Chalets. Rubbish name, but this Irish indie 5 piece are tight and well set-up, doing interesting things with keyboards and xylophone, and prerequisite crunchy guitar and bass. Brilliant stuff, despite their fear that it was 'a bit sloppy.' They're up for a meteor award apparently, according to their website (www.thechalets.com) (and while we're at it, www.saintjudesinfirmary.co.uk and http://artbrut.nikkidido.com) but I've never heard of the Meteor awards, so I suppose it to be some sort of Irish thing, and also bemoan the lack of any biographical details on said website, so I can only say that the work of the guitarist was excellent and that the woman with the smaller keyboard (and xylophone) coaxed some brilliant effects out of it. 4/5.
A scat 15 minutes later Art Brut take to the stage, and before they even play a note you realise just what a group they are. One guitarist resembles a NOFX reject, the other looks like an accountant, they have a rock chick bassist and the drummer, who looks like Sting c. 1979, plays the entire set standing up. The line up is completed by the singer (Eddie Argos - thank you nme.com) who stole his look from the M&S St Michael spring 1974 collection catalogue and stroll on to rapturous applause, the crowd having edged forwards to just shy of the monitors during The Chalets' set and the band rip through their 40 minute set with ferocious energy which gets dancing man very excited indeed. Set higfhlights are anthem for the musically bereft 'Formed A Band,' joyously bashed out, 'Bad Weekend' and the last song about Top of the Pops whose name iI didn't catch as Eddie panted it out, leaping around with a visable belly and mad gleam in his eyes. Security guards had been involved earlier, seeminly to get Eddie out of the crowd and back on stage. No encore and that's the way it should be, the last 4 songs without pauses inbetween, driven on by the unrelenting energy as accountant guitarist attacks his plank and Eddie stands on a chair, and jabs a pointing finger at the audience. exillarating. 4/5
A quick turnaround and then out come touring support band proper, The Chalets. Rubbish name, but this Irish indie 5 piece are tight and well set-up, doing interesting things with keyboards and xylophone, and prerequisite crunchy guitar and bass. Brilliant stuff, despite their fear that it was 'a bit sloppy.' They're up for a meteor award apparently, according to their website (www.thechalets.com) (and while we're at it, www.saintjudesinfirmary.co.uk and http://artbrut.nikkidido.com) but I've never heard of the Meteor awards, so I suppose it to be some sort of Irish thing, and also bemoan the lack of any biographical details on said website, so I can only say that the work of the guitarist was excellent and that the woman with the smaller keyboard (and xylophone) coaxed some brilliant effects out of it. 4/5.
A scat 15 minutes later Art Brut take to the stage, and before they even play a note you realise just what a group they are. One guitarist resembles a NOFX reject, the other looks like an accountant, they have a rock chick bassist and the drummer, who looks like Sting c. 1979, plays the entire set standing up. The line up is completed by the singer (Eddie Argos - thank you nme.com) who stole his look from the M&S St Michael spring 1974 collection catalogue and stroll on to rapturous applause, the crowd having edged forwards to just shy of the monitors during The Chalets' set and the band rip through their 40 minute set with ferocious energy which gets dancing man very excited indeed. Set higfhlights are anthem for the musically bereft 'Formed A Band,' joyously bashed out, 'Bad Weekend' and the last song about Top of the Pops whose name iI didn't catch as Eddie panted it out, leaping around with a visable belly and mad gleam in his eyes. Security guards had been involved earlier, seeminly to get Eddie out of the crowd and back on stage. No encore and that's the way it should be, the last 4 songs without pauses inbetween, driven on by the unrelenting energy as accountant guitarist attacks his plank and Eddie stands on a chair, and jabs a pointing finger at the audience. exillarating. 4/5
# posted by Sagremor the Foolish @ 7:47 PM 
