Echoes and dust

January 27 2007 @ The Borderline, London.

Tonight E&D headed on down to one of the regular Club Uncut nights at the Borderline to see what it has to offer. Filled with excitement at the prospect of seeing Crystal Antlers, I managed to get there so early that what it had to offer for the first hour is me, alone, in an empty room, watching an empty stage. So instead I stare at my mobile intently trying not to catch the eyes of the cloakroom assistant or the bar staff as they smirk at my obvious discomfort.

So after an hour of uncomfortable awkwardness, on plod Banjo Or Freakout self consciously. To be honest after a (very) brief glance over their MySpace tunes, I was looking forward to this about as much as having my eyeballs cleaned with sand paper, but sweet lord did they prove me wrong. From the very first drone of sub bass electro doom to very last echo soaked screams they left the crowd transfixed. At times sounding like Metal Mickey being savaged by K9 and at others resembling a 30th century folk act, they kept the intensity turned to full. If there could be one complaint it would be the lack of excitement visually - are they just checking their emails? It's probably dead clever and difficult, but so is the Metro's super tough Sudoku but I wouldn't want to watch someone doing that for 45 minutes. Despite this the crowd are left impressed with a huge sound that is a million miles apart from their physical demeanour and the gentle electronica on their recordings.

Next up is Delta Spirit who are clean cut, tight and bring to mind a west coast version of The Stereophonics. It's this last point that I just can't get past, at best they resemble a less edgy Ryan Adams. But that aside in terms of playing you can't fault them; they're tight, professional and in tune, however it's just a bit soulless. All except that is for the track 'Children'. In this one track they would make it worth the cover price alone, an angry, venomous, stomp not unlike something that would come out of The Walkmen's canon. But the rest just sounds and looks like a band you wouldn't be surprised to see supporting Bryan Adams or Counting Crows. In brief they're the kind of band my mum would perk up and say 'Oooh, that's nice'!!

Crystal Antlers don't introduce themselves with 'Hi we're Crystal Antlers from Long Beach, California", well not until 6 songs in, at which point the crowd is left in stunned silence and with burnt ears. How they do introduce themselves is with a psychedelic onslaught of wailing vocals, frenzied fuzz wah guitar and 20 flailing limbs! From the glorious 'Until The Sun Dies (Part 2)', which is like being smothered by guitar feedback, through to the closing 'Parting Song For The Torn Sky' (a highlight of tonight's performance), where vocalist Jonny Bell savages his vocal chords, Crystal Antlers leave the audience agog, rapt with awe. Another highlight and crowd favourite is 'A Thousand Eyes', galloping along with the closest to a sing-along that tonight has to offer.

As well as the tracks from the 'Crystal Antlers EP' they also treat us to a few songs from their upcoming debut long player 'Tentacles'. The title track sounds like Blue Cheer with Ron Asheton scratching in full flight over the fret board, whilst 'Andrew' boasts a thunderous blues groove that has even the most determined doubter swaying along. The songs keep the audience constantly guessing, going from hyper-fast, proggy spaz-out one second to slow, lolloping, sludge blues the next. Crystal Antlers burst through 8 songs of the strongest LSD-laced power in about 35 minutes, and it's a glorious 35 minutes, leaving everyone salivating for more and queuing up to shake Keyboardist Victor Rodriguez's hand. The 2 months before the release of 'Tentacles' is going to be a very long 2 months indeed.