Von Sudenfed & XX Teens - Heaven, London - 18/10/07
3/5
By: Yousif Nur
There was an air of something altogether ill-fitting tonight. With a line-up of two acts all too well known for their eccentricities, in a venue seemingly cavernous, yet engaging, there was much to keep those in attendance intrigued.
This was very much apparent from when the artists formerly known as Xerox Teens walked on to perform their opener 'B54', the b-side to their now rare-as hen's teeth single 'Onkawara'. The East London group are an impassive, standoffish lot with their lead Rich Cash wearing shades and not moving a muscle, apart from his arms twitching behind his back. This, replete with a drummer with headphones on, hammering away along with a backing tape.
Although the XX Teens are quite pleasing on the eye with uniformed bleakly coloured shirts, and their tunes are all intact albeit not exactly sounding a million miles from pre-'Dragnet' Fall, they lack an expansive sound, relying heavily on the backing rhythm track for the likes of 'Darlin'' and the ensemble of trumpets and percussive rhythms of 'My Favourite Hat'. Yet they do manage a smile amongst themselves upon witnessing their bassist tripping over his own lead connecting him to his amp, leaving him with a mute instrument. Regardless, it's clear the XX Teens do have something to offer upon their recent signing to Mute - just a few nip and tucks here and there could make them potentially formidable.
After a wait of around what must have been an hour, Mouse On Mars walk on behind their endless stream of effects pedals, leads and a laptop each for both members. You'll note that I've written Mouse On Mars, because Mark E Smith for the first five or so minutes is assumed to be still in the dressing room. That is until he walks on to rapturous applause, attired quite smartly, at which point they became Von Sudenfed. Smith by and large had his back to the audience, and was even completely out of sight at times. As many will be all too familiar with The Fall front man's idiosyncrasies, tonight was no different, coupled with his muffled, incoherent and barely audible vocals. Yet this, with the electro-kraut infused beats, strangely worked in their favour as they let each track performed drag for around ten minutes a piece.
Mouse On Mars featuring Mark E Smith? Or The Fall in an ever-increasingly discordant tangent? Neither. That would be like Gorillaz feat. Damon Albarn or Blur collaborating with 2-D and Murdoc. Von Sudenfed is an all-together separate side project that can hold its, own thank you very much.
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