CRUSHED BEAKS, WARM BRAINS + TEMPLE SONGS
Madame JoJo’s, Soho | July 30th
Madame Jojo’s illustrious former strip club in the heart of Soho is a wondrous fleck of personality that adds a further degree of entertainment to any evening you’re likely to enjoy there.
Amidst the seediness and the sex shops, the weekly White Heat night continues to blossom (or be de-flowered) as one of the best places away from East London to catch the city’s best live bands, and this evening’s bill is yet further proof. The cheap-as-shit drinks, meanwhile, suggest you can – and should – get as pissed as you like while doing so. “I haven’t been here since I wasn’t old enough to be here”, said one of our party as we embraced a minimum card limit that required us to buy six drinks every time we visited the bar.
Temple Songs’ opening set was a real blinder. Delivering a longer set than might be expected as first support act, they were on thrilling form, mixing up psychedelic drones, pop-structured head-bangers and wig-out jams. The band were meticulous in their delivery, applying a stunning 12-string guitar at times as vocals blared out beside an avidly working duo of bass and drums.
After spending some time absent from the live scene, Warm Brains recently announced preparations for a follow-up to their 2011 debut album. With tracks like Old Volcanoes and Rotunda still sounding electric, Rory Attwell showed that this excursion away from his famously ship-mounted recording studio was one worth catching.
Headliners Crushed Beaks were most outstanding of all, in what had been a genuine triple-decker line-up. The duo’s forthcoming EP Tropes, produced by Warm Brains’ mainman Attwell, was brought to life in a mesmerising performance. They completely dominated the stage, holding a gaze from every member of the audience right up until the truly euphoric climax of Feelers, blooming with all the power of a full orchestra despite there only being two instruments on stage, a heady explosion to further frazzle our already delicate minds. Superb.
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Words: James Balmont
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