thisGIRL / X Is Loaded / No Hope In New Jersey - London Barfly - 24/11/04
4/5
By: Andy Willson
Just like a certain form of elaborately packaged, glorified if nauseating truffles, those fine chaps at Xfm are really spoiling us tonight. First up: Manchester's No Hope In New Jersey, leading the present wave of jilt-punk allstars to descend upon 2005 all guns and guitars blazing (The Longcut, Nine Black Alps - ensure you get their number), and what an impact.
Opening with debut single 'Narcolepsy', singer Andy Garrat leads us through a punchy, half-hour racket and even invites the crowd to choose the title of one track, which had until now, been undecided. As is imperative in a frontman, Andy pulls the mean and moody face several times and looks like a natural focal-point. Yet the elite music-press must be rubbing their hands in glee, because no sooner have we seen the demise of favourite whipping boys Mansun, these lads arrive and sound almost identical; but it'll at least make a change from picking on Embrace. 'Invaders (Of My Space)', meanwhile, crackles with sparks of unbridled energy, as guitarist Steve Marsden excels, and closing track 'Gut Junk' merely confirms rampantly that these boys have it all potentially on the line. Maybe there is some hope.
Talking of anger (was I?), we really think something should be done to curb X is Loaded singer Jake Robertson's attitude. There are plenty of effective therapy groups available. It might be the fact that they've been touring constantly for the last 160 days, but throughout the set he sneers and eyeballs each and everyone in attendance, standing on the monitor just to make sure everyone is intimidated. There is some salvation as he drags out a random (hmm...) member of the audience that just happens to sing along faultlessly. Still glad it wasn't Springsteen's 'Dancing In The Dark', though.
Our standout track from them is new single 'Thirteen Days'. As if the vast stage of the Barfly isn't big enough (The Polyphonic Spree have played here, you know) Jake wallows into the crowd, guitar in tow and proceeds to play from the moshpit while Martino decides to exert efforts above his head. Fortunately, as the last number finishes, Jake decides to implode and flies across that stage, knocking seven shades of shite out of Jamie O'Gorman's drumkit instead of us. Whew, that was close. A new song, 'Raketeering' is available to download from their website and debut album 'Raw Nerve' is out now. That's if you're brave enough.
Last up are ThisGIRL. The first thing you notice as they take the stage is that bassist Matt and guitarist Chris could easily pass for Fab and Albert out of The Strokes. But if they're Strokes members, then singer Liam Creamer must be Roddy Woomble, that impish face shining through a tousled mop of hair. Fittingly to their muddled appearance, theirs is a mixed bag of sounds to TG's style, with shades of Muse, Queens of the Stone Age and Led Zep all shamelessly beeping on the radar.
And as well as keeping us enthralled, it looks like the game for tonight is to see who can leap the highest; the hands-down winner is... Liam. Amidst the motion, some quality tracks are unveiled here, boasting some distinctly bizarre time-changes, mostly from new LP 'Uno'. But the best is a perfect cover of Massive Attack's 'Angel'; just amazing. Hailing from Rotherham, these boys will be heading further afield, taking on most of the UK and Europe with The (International) Noise Conspiracy throughout December, and this should do them no harm at all.
As we exit, treading on the Barfly's trademark, now-broken, plastic pint-pots, we ponder on what the future of loud, demonic clattering has in store, and - specifically - how these three upstarts could affect it. Will our lives be saved via the likes of such corking bands, daring to try something new, or shameless types like that bloke from 'X Factor': Tabby, Tubby, Timaaaaaaaaah ('South Park' - that one), whoever? We know which camp we're rooting for.
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