Somewhere between the dim lull of winter and the lively soar of spring there lies a point where we, as the people, wake up. Though we can’t quite put our finger on it, the nights are acting that little bit warmer and the skies are looking a little clearer. And if you were looking for two bands to finally kick open the doors to 2012, you might well choose the pair that adorn the Barclaycard Mercury Prize Session at ‘The Hospital Club’ on this fervent March evening.
Total Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs are first to light the fuse. The brainchild of Oxford-born Orlando Higgingbottom, barley beyond his mid-twenties, wordlessly dragging a somewhat static crowd into his hip world of hymn led house music. The man wears a multi-coloured Native American headdress for love’s sake! He cannot be ignored!
Within moments one wonders why it has taken nearly three years for TEED to release his first full album, with its blend of tough dub bass lines, sweeping synths and live vocals, TEED has grown quickly from early electro roots into a salubrious house sound that flows fluently from deep electronics to techno to dubstep, even stopping to dip its toe in Herbie Hancock-esque ‘80s funk. The crowd is drawn in, inexcusably, and as we look towards the climax of the show, the main man is free to invite female vocalist Louisa on stage to smash through hit singles ‘Garden’ and ‘Household Goods’. The audience are suitable swayed. And if it wasn’t already obvious, come their debut album this May, anyone with an inkling for fresh, jaunty house music and a DJ that looks strangely like Skeksi from ‘80s flick ‘Dark Crystal’ (look it up) will be writing TEED in thick ink on their festival to-do list.
But before the West End street lickers even have time to stub out their Vogue menthol cigarettes, Miike Snow emerge. Slickly clad in all-black bomber jackets the Swedish six-piece begin, sliding effortlessly through the darkness and in between instruments. Two drummers, three keys, and a lank, sex-drenched beady lead singer, all carousing around a huge centrepiece slash drum machine slash church organ, that can only be described as a giant carnival Dalek. This is a band that has clearly spent the three years since their debut album honing a sound that lulls wonderfully in that sweet gulf between dance music and indie.
Bathing in early hits ‘Burial’ and ‘Silvia’, the band are never short of melody or belief, while still managing to hold on to absolute pristine keyboard licks and note-perfect harmonies.
Miike Snow seem humble, almost to a fault, letting their music do the talking and keeping chat with the crowd to an absolute minimum. But despite their restraint between songs you can’t help but imagine tracks like ‘The Rabbit’ and banging new single ‘Paddling Out’ being lapped up by thousands in a lush festival field this coming summer.
Perfectionists for sure, but it’s certain Miike Snow need the heartbeat of a crowd to feed off and it’s no less than they deserve. A quality outfit – slick and energetic.
Melody is mutual. Percussion communal. As the band sign off with heavily howled-for hit single ‘Animal’, the boys seem strangely hesitant to embrace the atmosphere they have readily whipped up. But as the crowd spills onto the street and kick into the early hours, there is a definite feeling that if Miike Snow grab this year by the horns there will be no shortage of attention.
Animals.
Words by Luke Holloway
