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| Wizbit, wazzing it up! |
Some gigs don't get the crowd they deserve. Electronic upstarts Wizbit and epic guitar mongers My First Radio live is a mouth watering prospect, surely. Not for Northampton on a Friday night, that's for sure. But the fact that this gig is criminally under attended doesn't make it any less mind blowing, or ear drum blowing in My First Radio's case. Wizbit kick up a bleeping storm with forward and backward thinking electronic music. They look forward in the way that they craft not only futuristic songs, but landscapes of sound. They look back in the way that they revisit classic dance song structures and put their own hyperactive stamp on them.
To people not used live gigs, their sound can be overwhelming with ideas and sounds. But it's best not to fight it, just let it engulf you. It's also interesting when seeing Wizbit live to close your eyes and try to pick out all the separate rhythms and beats being stacked up. Live highlight "Hoops" recalls the arena dance majesty of Daft Punk, but that's the only comparison that's easy to make with Wizbit. His sound is very much his own. Wizbit being the brain child of Josh Ryan of course, he of The Retro Spankees fame. Joined live by guitarist Jo who adds some guitar noodling to proceedings. If you fail to get into it, you are probably dead, but Wizbit don't just let the tunes do the talking, they rock out. Josh's mop bobbing up and down in time with the fist pumping drum beats makes you want to do the same. To be perfectly honest with you dear reader, Wizbit slayed it and became the highlight of the night.
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| My First Radio feel the noise! |
And so after being pumped up with thumping beats from Wizbit, what's in store for the small yet music hungry crowd? My First Radio, that's what. Dealing in a very loud brand of anthemic rock, My First Radio make an uplifting racket with soaring feedback and sing it like you mean it vocals. They are very good at what they do, but unless you are a die hard fan of the style they play, you have to be in the right mood to really enjoy them. Their set opens loud and stays loud throughout, quiet interludes giving way to more distortion and reverb. They craft songs from what seems to be pure guitar noise, which is an interesting technique, but one that has been tried and tested a fair amount of times. The drums and bass keep things in check as the guitars wail and screech. The main man vocals are heart felt, but often just get lost in amongst the wall of noise. The main problem with bands who heavily use effects in their music is that it calls into question their ability to write a good song. They instead rely too much on effects to get ears pricked up. They are sadly met with a room of wall huggers, and even though the band are feeling the music, it doesn't seem like the crowd are. But if we don't meander too far into this point, My First Radio are enjoyable to watch live. The gig ends with the few attendees being reminded that The Labour Club knows how to bring variety and zestiness to Northampton's live music circuit.
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| Wizbit |
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| My First Radio |
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| Wizbit |
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| My First Radio |
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| Wizbit |
POWER CHORD LIVE RATING: P P P
GIG HIGHLIGHT: When Josh from Wizbit started hammering his live drum set up and it toppled over from the sheer brute force.
BEST PERFORMED SONG OF THE NIGHT: "Hoops" by Wizbit
Want more from these bands? Visit:
http://www.wizbitmusic.com/
Written by Jack Parker for Power Chord Music Blog. Photography by Jack Parker.
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