We missed the cocknbullkid due to ridiculous delays on the Northern Line, but not to worry.
We enter Koko, the bastion of the NME’s ‘awards’ shows, to find Metronomy blasting the crowd with his eerie, crushing blend of distorted electronics and chunky electro-guitar riffs. Animated, furious and flanked by dancing girls on either side, (reminiscent of the backing dancers on Robert palmers notorious ‘addicted to love’ video?), the mixing of audio and visual elements gave a certain variety to otherwise boring methods of performance. After having a faceful of cut and paste rock mayhem, the crowd go wild for NYPC, who, surprisingly, are on time.
NYPC were fantastic although the crowd were not so well adjusted to the sound that they offered. After listening to the CD continuously, with its low slung, acutely produced tracks, even my ears took some adjusting. The bass had become heavier and more distorted, the usually smooth funk broken down to a growl. Her vocals were extra flat and monotone, and the guitars had seemingly been turned down to make the arrangements sparse. But what got the crowd going was the pure focus on rhythm; a disappointing rendition of Ice cream was made up for by a stomping ‘Bomb’, and a kicking rendition of Technotronics ‘Pump Up The Jam’, the band obviously keen to show they’re more than just one trick ponies (‘did anyone actually buy our album? Wow, I cant believe it’ sighs Tahita). With solid, housey rhythms, great sassy presence and uber-sexy, subdued songs, they proved that the recorded and live experiences couldn’t be any further apart from each other.
