Metronomy / Connan Mockasin - Deaf Institute Manchester - 19.1.11While January is traditionally a quiet month on the tour circuit as band and punters wallets need an equally well earned break, Metronomy kicked off the year as Deaf first (and definitely) not the last sold out show.
Support was provided by the hotly tipped Connan Mockasin who has drawn visual comparisons from Andy Whahol (or a 40 year old Mystery Jet) and audio similarities to the Beatles, MGMT Deerhoof and Empire of the Sun. While he’s been recording since 2004, lime light finally came his way after a collaboration with Fatboy Slim in 2009 and London DJ and producer Erol Alkan released “Turn me Into Snat”.
Despite unending praise for their unique brand of psychedelic fun I was left feeling frustrated and confused. Frustration due to the over sold out room preventing me for getting a drink and confusion at not being able to decipher one wailing mushroom infused song from the next. The music has no grounding it seems to wander to the point where you are unsure if you are listening to bad modern jazz or they have simply forgotten what they are playing.
Metronomy quietly entered the stage (chest lights on just waiting to be activated) for the first night of their tour. Walking out to a sea of applause, despite there being no new album release, they have gained popularity from trekking the festival circuit last summer, racking up die hard fans ready to find a pin head of space to dance their Tony & Guy hair cuts off to the majority of Metronomys back catalogue. With electrfied synths and bouncing drum machines, accentuated by their trade mark low lighting and circular flashing chest lights which created a dizzying high for the bulging at the seams crowd.
Their third album ‘The English Riviera’ is set for release later this year, and while the band did test drive a few blinding new tracks, the audience was so behind them you got the feeling they would have applauded an XFM friendly version of Puff The Magic Dragon. Charging on with no break for an encore (no doubt due to it being twenty minutes past curfew) Metronomy blasted straight into their hit ‘Radio Ladio’ which signalled an impressive chorus sing along from the more than satisfied crowd.
Words / Photos: Jo Lowes - http://jojolowes.tumblr.com/
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