Date:

Sat, 2008/03/01

Venue:

The Miller Of Mansfield, London

Cindy Suzuki reports from South London, where a bunch of teenage werewolves are reinventing sax-rock in the spirit of Jon Spencer…

There are so many teenage hormones in the air tonight, it’s a wonder they don’t condense, leak into the light bulbs, and fry the lot of us like squids. The headline “100 Dead in Teenage Hormone Electrocution Terror” will surely follow, and yet… and yet… not today. Today, musical electrocution will have to suffice. First up on the bill and THE PRESSURE DROP are riding the post Arctic Monkeys flying carpet, and staring us out with some tight fisted indie rock. There aren’t any obvious killer hooks in their cannon, but tracks like ‘Trendy Scum’ are admirably sarcastic and to the point. Here’s to their embryo…

if it's twisted kicks you're after, you could do far worse than clock in with them on a friday night...

Saxophones get alot of bad schtick, don’t they? Maybe it’s all those American Psycho style yuppies from the 1980s who doomed their reputation for the last half of the 20th century. Anyway, rats to all that - because THE ARCADIAN KICKS will shake your faith on the issue. The group essentially play rattle and roll with a Zeppelin style commitment to excellent musicianship. Many of their tunes start out sounding traditional, morph into a psychedelic middle sections, then come out growling like werewolves at the other end. The two girls of the group dominate the stage: singer Becky Wilson drives the tunes from behind panda bear eyes, while Rebekah Pennington plays a mean sax solo, all the while looking like an Amazonian Princess from the moon. Between them and the inventive boys are tunes like ‘Charlie’ - part Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, part LSD freak out. Listening to their myspace demos, I’d estimate that the band are currently a live treat, but have yet to flame roast their hamburgers on record. But who gives a damn - if it’s twisted kicks you’re after, you could do far worse than clock in with them on a friday night. PIC BY TILLLATE

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the arcadian kicks Reviews

THE ARCADIAN KICKS + THE PRESSURE DROP