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Pictures
this way...
Finally
able to scratch an 18-month itch, I make my hasty way to
Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms to find out what the Faint
are actually like live. I have been told they are stupendously
good. I have also been told that they are a bit shit.
That Beep Beep are on the bill is not a surprise (they
share a bassist with the headliners) but certainly great
news. Their unhinged soup of new-wave and hardcore (like
Talking Heads playing Refused songs) makes a lot more sense
in a live setting than it does on the gleefully difficult
debut Business Casual, and just as when they played this
venue in May, they are on fine form. Guitar anti-hero Eric
Bemberger has perfected his terrifying ‘S&M
Thunderbird Puppet’ routine, and has taken massive
strides as a vocalist - he’s now a match for co-frontman
Chris Hughes. They tear through most of the debut, and
treat us to one superb new track (titled something incoherent).
They may be one of Saddle Creek’s newest acts, but
already Beep Beep are one of their strongest.
An accolade that, until recently, I would lavish upon electro-rock
quintet the Faint without a moment’s hesitation.
But I won’t go into just how disappointed their latest,
Wet From Birth, has left me (if you care, you can read
the review). Because despite any doubts about their latest
studio work, my desperation to see them close-up and in
the flesh was undiminished. Especially as, when I first
heard Danse Macabre, I was a little unsure as to whether
they actually had any flesh - such was the impenetrable,
compulsive robo-goth inhumanity of that, their third (and
best) record.
So to see the human Faint
is bound to be a bit of an upheaval.
Next
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