By DJ Astrocreep
The first of three gigs in four days sees me take in the experimental delights of Goat, the Swedish variety, at least, with a rather intriguing support slot for the formerly unknown Japanese Television. After the usual short train ride across, there was time for a quick pint before heading into the sweatbox of the Club Academy room, after issues at the original venue Gorilla necessitate a very last-minute change of venue.
I deliberately avoided listening to our support act prior to the gig, hoping to be blown away by Japanese Television. I was not disappointed. Instrumental space surf, combining a rather intriguing mix of psychedelia, space rock and surf rock, with hints towards prog, post-rock, garage rock and even some ’80s and ’90s alternative in the guitar tones, it is quite the captivating audio scene.
They clearly want to solely let their music do the talking for them, with a dislike for even briefly using the mic between songs, but the music is that good, you really do not begrudge them that. There are strange little off beats from the drums, shifting time signatures and a mesmerising melodic bass for our timekeepers, while keys and guitar interchange sounds ranging from The Surfaris, through Hawkwind to The Cure and even some of the ‘90s Madchester scene, such as the Stone Roses.
I almost feel like I’m eulogizing about them, without being able to pin them down any more than that – suffice to say, they were extremely tight, despite the complexity of their songs, and all four showed a high level of skill, both individually and collectively. A fantastic set and introduction to the band.
So, headliner time and the lights brightening instead of darkening confuses the crowd as Goat enter the fray, costumes and masks adorned. A lot has been made about the likes of Sleep Token (and rightfully so), with their ability to fuse genres quite seamlessly, yet they pale into comparison with the likes of those in front of us now. Sounding like a funky Black Sabbath engaged in an infernal threeway with a dystopian Jefferson Airplane and world music, the performance feels like nothing short of some kind of shamanic ritual, enhanced visually by the outrageous vocalists’ costumes. The sound is absolutely hypnotic, as the bass duos in and out of hearing amongst the multitude of other things going on.
The likes of ‘Goatfuzz’ is a pleasure to hear, alongside the likes of ‘Gathering Of Ancient Tribes’, which translates far better into the live setting than I had been previously afraid of. Indeed, the entire room is dancing about, absolutely entranced by the performance, through a large portion of their set. Another excited yelp exits my mouth as ‘Goatman’ starts up later in the set and it’s a sentiment shared by a fair few people. The room is nothing short of a full-on hippy pit – aka everybody dancing away to the rhythms, no fucks given – and the atmosphere is absolutely electric.
It’s an absolutely spellbinding set, with all of us watching on almost unable to look away or do anything apart from pay homage with our own dancing, mesmerised out of our minds.
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