YEBOROBO/ JOHNNY FOREIGNER @ NOTTING HILL ARTS CLUB 26/01/08

YEBOROBO

Yeborobo take to the stage and you wonder where you are. Behind the drums sits a man who looks like the fifth Beatle around the time when they met the Dalai Lama, the bass player is a lady wearing a dress that looks as though it was made from the curtains of an 80's primary school, the lead singer is wearing a woolen thing that looks like a cross between a poncho and a hoodie over what looks like a maroon pyjama baby-grow, and the man responsible for backing vocals and additional drums is wearing the top half of a white dog costume. There are two other members too and, with the exception of the drummer, they all have their faces painted as though they were still part of the 'free love-Woodstock-hippy' era. They look a little like Of Montreal might if they were to be part of Almost Famous. To put it simply, this has the potential to be absolutely cracking or completely crackers.

Musically this band are slapdash but somehow a little enjoyable. They are probably best described as post-punk mixed with stoner rock. The problem is that their image and their actions take centre stage. The singer seems as though he is a frustrated artist with a dangerous drug addiction. He pulsates with the music and throws himself about as though the music owns him. Adding to this, the man in the dog costume will bark vocals and throw himself about too. Together they seem like mischievous kittens looking to destroy the place, and this reaches a climax when the singer is dancing on the floor with the rest of the crowd and the half dog-half man decides to hand me his microphone before tackling the singer to the floor and wrestling with him culminating in him walking off with the singer's shoe, victorious. This all added to an unforgettable live show but I barely remember the music ahead of the insanity that occured throughout. Having listened to their myspace I feel that they're better live than recorded, but still I cannot remember enough.

I think that this band are a bit like watching a live action horror movie occurring right in front of your eyes; it's enjoyable but scary. I would like to see what they might achieve without the hi jinx, but I fear that it would detract from the occasion.

http://www.myspace.com/yeborobo

JOHNNY FOREIGNER

Johnny Foreigner were recommended to me a while back by a good friend of mine and I gave them a listen but was not too impressed. Looking back now I'm not sure how that could be possible. Johnny Foreigner are everything that I love in music. Like a British Desparecidos, they roar through their set, frantically and chaotically but managing to sound both technically gifted and also achingly uplifting. I find that I need more superlatives just to describe the way that this band make me feel.

Drawing entirely from their EP, Arcs Across The City, and their, yet to be released debut album, they manage to captivate a crowd that for the rest of the day had seemed happy to mainly stand and tap feet. Heads were bobbing now though, and opening with Champagne Girls I Have Known was always going to get people moving. The slower songs in the set seemed to lose the momentum of the set but after the ferocious pace of the upbeat songs, I feel that the band might have collapsed had they not positioned them for rest periods.


Johnny Foreigner are getting a lot of press currently and with appearances due at SXSW and Great Escape in the near future they are surely due to become a whole lot more recognised by the major press. I can't really see the band getting a great deal of mainstream attention or appealing to the masses, but to anyone who likes any of the bands that I have reviewed so far in this blog, you must go and see this band. I'd be willing to refund any costs if you don't like them I am that confident in their brilliance.

www.myspace.com/johnnyforeigner