Liars / Kaito - London Barfly @ Monarch - 12/11/03
3/5
By: Thomas Hannan
Well, it certainly wasn't predictable, we'll give it that. The much-anticipated return of the mighty Liars, new line-up, perhaps some new tunes, all executed before a long sold out London crowd. What should have been an open and closed case of a classic gig actually turned out to be what may indeed become one of the most-talked-about shows in recent time, but all for reasons other than predicted.
Surprise number one. Who exactly are Kaito and why aren't we all in love with them already? New signings to Blast First records (who, let's face it, never sign anyone bad), this equally male and female dominated UK quartet are almost dreamlike in their perfection. They've taken cues from almost all-girl bands who've ever been any good (Le Tigre, Sleater Kinney, Erase Errata, Bikini Kill...) and jumpstarted the remnants with thousands of volts of pure pop tunes, two shining examples being 'Should I' and a rampant 'Try Me Out' from their well-worth-searching for 'Band Red' LP. It's not all quirky cute feminisms though, stage left stands David Lake, a man whose sole job in Kaito is to make noises with a slide-guitar and occasionally bark rabidly. At their most cacophonous, they're still dancing in every song - we can only apologise for not catching more of the tunes' names. Trust us though, they were all bloody marvellous.
Here's where it gets complicated. Before continuing, we should make a point. We love Liars. Their 'They Threw Us All in a Trench & Stuck a Monument on Top' record will remain one of the near-flawless albums of the resurgence of proper rock and roll, no matter what they follow it with. Which is why tonight's set is so upsetting. Liars have shed members, swapped instruments and ditched stacks of songs. Two things about this can be admired - congratulations are indeed due for presenting us with a challenge and being prolific enough to write an entire new album's worth of material when others would have milked the old record for all it was worth. Other than that, they have in Angus Andrew a very tall singer. Is it just us or did there used to be more to adore about Liars than this?
There did. Now a three-piece making disjointed, and it sadly should be mentioned, rather self-important, reverb-filled rock music; Liars are the evening's second surprise. And that's because they're not the incredible spectacle of brilliance they so should be. For one, they refuse to play anything at all, not a single note, from the aforementioned brilliant debut LP. Not so strange to ignore the debut you may think, but it's still their only album to date. Plus, it really does rock. We're talking no 'Mr You're On Fire Mr', no 'Grown Men Don't Fall In The River Just Like That', heck, the guy who requests 'Loose Nuts On The Velodrome' gets such an arrogant talking down to that the audience gives up after a while and just stands still.
So, erm, OK - let's just ignore the fact that everything we know is missing and just appraise the new material. But after the novelty of Angus being 26 feet tall has worn off, it's clear to see that as yet, these songs sound incredibly half-formed. Where before there was space to the Liars' sound, now there resides a crushing dirge (mainly emanating from Angus' deliberately out-of-tune guitar), none of the wit or vitality that made us fall in love with them in the first place.
They offer us our money back, but to accept would be a great disserve to the immense performances from Kaito and rockfeedback's very own Gordon Raphael-produced Kill Kenada. Liars leave with an excuse about how this was their night, they just hoped we liked it. A grave shame, as it could so easily have been our night too.
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