GOTTA say I'm really not sure about Cottiers as a rock 'n' roll venue. Loved it a month or so back when it was seated to the hilt for Le Semi-Theatrical Gainsborough Extravaganza, but on Saturday night, with an empty hole in front of the stage and the masses perched on tiers around the walls, the room seemed infused with a flattish ambience.
Proceedings improved when Steven Pastel stepped up on stage and cajoled the throng off their butts and on to their feet, but by that point the sets of Cornershop and Future Pilot AKA's had been and gone.
I was reasonably impressed with Cornershop, who sport the most bizarre instrument I've encountered in aeons. It looked like a bass sitar but didn't seem to emit any discernible sound. mighty cool though, which counts for a lot. Their sound is a mix of east meets west. It's small but crammed full of charming melodies and delightful little rhythmic circles. As the set progressed their toons became a tat sitar-heavy, with a full repetitive transvibe to the fore. Still mightily appealing, but my preference lay with their earlier hooked-up poppy sound.
Yo La Tengo are a trio hailing from New Jersey and hey, I think I love 'em. They're your actual full montgomery funky, hard-core noise mongerers. They drizzle plaintive melodies over layers of destructive rhythms, then dash shards of jaggy melodies against groovy hillocks of soothing rhythms. They all take a turn at the chanting, but the drummer's voice just put me to the sword. She's got that killer technique of singing so some of the notes sound wrong. But exactly right. Makes for a melancholic, slightly disturbing patina. Fantastico.
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