ARCHIE BRONSON OUTFIT + KOMAKINO
ISLINGTON, ACADEMY BAR - 14.06.04
Komakino
Named after a Joy Division song, you can hear and see the influences quite clearly. The lead singer sings like he’s in emotional pain. After seeing Pink Grease and their support recently it does seem that the coolest place to be during a gig is anywhere but the stage. The singer was climbing on the drum set and then came into the audience grabbing a poor person standing near the stage and giving him a rough hug.
Archie Bronson Outfit
Fresh from getting signed to Wichita Records home of Bloc Party, what looks like a bunch of posh blokes come on stage and make a lot of noise. If you like your indie on the heavier side this band are for you. They play bluesy repetitive rock with nothing memorable or inspirational to it.
Bloc Party
This gig was the hottest ticket around on this extremely balmy Monday evening. Playing the Islington Academy Bar to a sold out audience, I was told during the day that my plus one was to be taken off me as “everyone and their dog” wanted into this gig. It was so crammed that I was sweating just standing still, the only movement was putting my drink to my mouth.
I was surprised when I first saw Bloc Party as I expected a white singer. When people saw Elvis they were surprised that he was white as he sounded like he was black, with Bloc Party it is the reverse. Kele has the voice of a white man. He is an incredibly charming with a strong, distinct voice. It’s also unusual and refreshing to see an Indie band being fronted by a black musician. I can only think of a couple of Indie bands that have black members, one being the Throwing Muses and the other The Libertines. Another thing that surprises me is their age, they seem to have a mature air and feel to their music for a band whose members were born in 1981.
They arrived on stage a long 20 minutes later than expected. No apologies, just “Hello, here are some tunes”. The third song they play is 'Banquet', their biggest song so far. This is a superb anthemic song, which deserves to be heard by a wider audience. I was expecting more ska infused songs like Banquet so it was a slight disappointment as some of it was just plain guitar Indie rock but the fact that they performed an energetic set made up for it. The audience consisted of a trendy London crowd sprinkled with some already die hard fans catching a band before they leave the small venues for good and they were loving every moment of this short set. They came on for a two song encore which even though the temperature of the room had reached boiling point the crowd were still up for more. Their songs are quite raw but it makes for a refreshing change from all the over produced stuff out there. We have to wait until January for their debut album, which seems an age away.
Bloc Party are the best new band to come out of London for a long, long time. Full of raw talent, melodic blistering tunes. Kele yells “I’m on fire” at the end of Banquet. They certainly are and I think this may be their moment.
Review by Sonia Pagliari