aaamusic | On 12, Dec 2011

London, 6th December

On a chilly December evening, in the charmingly scuzzy Macbeth in Hoxton, two of the best live acts (and indeed best bands in general if you ask me) in the new UK rock scene joined forces again to shake the populace up and cause sonic havoc.

 

Exit_International powered through the opening slot, justifying with a vengeance exactly why they’ve become the (somewhat unlikely) poster boys for Squier guitars, and found themselves on this year’s Ginger & Friends tour. Incendiary, intimidating and catchy as ever, their deranged and instantly attention-grabbing numbers like ‘Sex W/ Strangers’ and ‘Chainsaw Song’ again ploughed their way into the audience’s ears, and surprisingly enough album track and notably longer number ‘King Of The Junkies’ made a rare live appearance, and its inclusion paid off, adding a sense of dimension and texture to the band’s otherwise manic set. With its hushed dynamics and gradual buildup, interrupted by bursts of overdriven noise, as opposed to the more familiar and opposing approach taken by the band. However, their music retains freshness and excitement, even for someone who has seen them live seven or eight times in the past year and a bit. Their music might be downright terrifying at points, but it is by no means a drudging Fall-esque sonic misanthropy. The songs are in essence well-written and (secretly) melodic rock and pop just as much as they are rampant and obliquely perverse Melvins/Jesus Lizard moments of seismic bass/percussion savagery, and this means that just as much as it will forever be something rather exciting and “out there” it is also genuinely enjoyable. After all, there can only be one context in which you can jump about shouting “mummy where’s the glory horn?” to the most destructive pop hooks in music, and it can only be savoured.

Equally as unusual yet just as impressive were Antlered Man. Having recently released a mini-album themselves, their set comprised largely of tracks from that, as well as a newer track described as “a bit of white-boy hip-hop” and their earlier single ‘Surrounded By The White Man’. I suppose Antlered Man are the kind of band you do acquire rather than immediately “get”. Their malevolent metallic soundscapes aren’t necessarily instantly hooky, but once you find yourself seeing where they’re coming from in terms of what they’re doing, it suddenly all feels rather rewarding and very fun. ‘Buddhist Soup’ for example is a totally surreal triple time signature creature that features a tin whistle, wryly self-aware sadism and riffs that could feasibly have been Mastodon’s weird moments stitched onto a sped-up and violent waltz. No, that wouldn’t make sense. However, the fact it all hangs together to form a song and indeed a whole set is if nothing else reasons to see how good they are as a band, and in that there is also a whole other level of twisted fun to be had in the way they, like Exit_International, occupy a plane of music that’s darker, scuzzier, and in many ways way more fun than anything you’d find anywhere else.

 

Two bands with two different approaches to what is essentially the same mission: to beat any run-of-the-mill outfit into the ground. These guys will drag you off the beaten path, kicking and screaming if need be, and it’s always worth remembering that anxiety is the dizziness of freedom. Or possibly the dizziness of a screwed-up ear canal. Either way, you’ll come out with a tale or two and some new favourite music.

 

Katie H-Halinski