Joy

>KAITO + KLANG
+ ART ROCKER DOCUMENTARY
LONDON, ICA - 10/1/04

Tonight's gig has been organised as part of a season of short films at the ICA, and kicks of my personal year of gigging. I couldn't have picked a better night.

The documentary is split into two parts - the first comes before Klang's performance, and gives an interesting enough insight into what Artrocker's about and the bands on the scene at the moment, but perhaps unsurprisingly the highlights come from the live performances, particularly from The Rocks, Electric Eel Shock, and tonight's two bands. The second half features Artrocker's work in promoting UK bands in the US, and comes before Kaito's set. To be honest, noone seems to pay too much attention, and much of the film is lost in the chatter.

Anyway, on with the real business of the day; KLANG will always have a special place in my heart as the first band I ever interviewed, and early gigs had shown plenty of promise, but tonight sees them step out of the

shadows of Donna Matthews' previous band and become a force all of their own.

It's all about the groove, you see. An introverted, minimal groove, with more space than beats admittedly, but a groove none the less. A groove that starts out slow and quiet and repeats, repeats, repeats until your brain has turned into a viscous goo of pure liquid joy. And just as your ears are starting to adapt to this hypnotic rhythm, they yank it out from under your feet and start anew, with Donna scattering star dust sprinkled splatters of guitar, and Isabel throwing in squelches of keyboard, before they throw the sparse fragility out of the window for a full on rocking closer in the PJ

Harvey shaped form of debut single 'LOVE', the intensity of which is magnified by the delicacy of what had preceded it. Go and see this band now, Klang have well and truly arrived.

As for KAITO, well imagine Klang played at 45rpm instead of 33 and you'll be halfway there. Dieta hammers his kit to within an inch of its life, while Dave exorcises demons of scrawling feedback from his guitar, all played at jerky rhythms that lurch from slow build up to breakneck ferocity

like a rollercoaster. And to cap it all off, you have the voice. I have no idea what you have to do to get such a bizarre vocal as Niki Colk, placed somewhere between schoolyard chant, punk rock swagger and the helium pitched intonation of the Clangers, but more people should be subjected to it. It's an incredible instrument and she sure as hell knows how to use it, blending seamlessly with the shrill clicks and shrieks of the equally strange backing vocals.

Tonight, we're treated to a deluge of old favourites, with the scream along chorus of

'Go' and the volcanic guitar meltdown of 'Succosanko' having me dancing like a monkey suffering an epileptic fit, and the songs from new album 'Band Red' more than live up to their predecessors, demonstrating why it has received such a rapturous reception in the states. 'Try Me Out's glorious chord changes pass waves of electric

current through the bodies of all those present, and if 'Should I' and 'Anamoy' don't make you want to dance, then you must be dead (or a Starsailor fan).

The rest of 2004 has a lot to live up to.
.

Click here for more photos from tonight's gig

For more info on Klang, check out Joy's Klang page

Kaito's official website can be found here

Information on Artrocker, and tonight's documentary is here