9/10
At a certain point during this sold-out gig, I begin to realize why Guildford's corner-house is called the Boileroom - to quote Ray Winstone's Sexy Beast character Gal Dove "It's hot. hot? Oh it's fuckin' 'hot". And so it was - hotter than Bradley Wiggins' saddle in a heatwave.
Thankfully, the bands who were responsible for such arrid conditions were also hot, albeit for different reasons. Before the headliners Public Service Broadcasting arrived to woo us with their fetching brand of sampled commentary, pin-sharp beats and occasionally hefty riffs, two support acts introduced to a world where earplugs might have made a good investment beforehand - in a good way.
I knew little about The Adamski Kid before witnessing his performance tonight, one which may be described as (here goes) Freddie Mercury performing Bollywood electro-punk after chugging down six kegs of Red Bull with a plane to catch. Absolutely bonkers and absolutely marvellous. Songwriter and chief shouter Adam Karayiannis is the brains behind it all, with a decent enough band behind him who reminded me of, sound-wise in varying measures, Atari Teenage Riot, Bis, Shonen Knife, Crystal Castles and Throbbing Gristle. I've chosen the latter as a comparable because they were so VERY loud and ear-splittingly distorted in places, almost unlistenable. They need a bigger stage, a bigger venue and a bigger audience now, one which will allow more of his stage gymnastics and, er, audience participation (or not). Thumbs-up.
Second band Bordeauxxx looked as though they'd skipped their homework to play here. The very young, but very able, indie outfit might just be starting out but they crank up the amps and deliver sprightly jagged math-pop again and again. Loads of bands are doing this right now but these kids gave it their all to the point where you wouldn't kick them off your stage.
The room filled up to the brim during the 20 minute interval and Public Service Broadcasting, aka Wrigglesworth (drums and beats) and Wilgoose (everything else), charmed just about everyone within minutes. Their set was formed of tracks from their previous EPs such as London Can Take It, ROYGBIV, Lit Up and the 'hit' Spitfire, plus some newies from forthcoming album Inform Educate Entertain, due in May, plus vintage visuals from all manner of documentaries, films and public service broadcasts (natch).
Of the new tracks, upcoming single Signal 30 stands out as a right riff-tastic romp, an instrumental cross between The Strokes, Primal Scream and an important BBC announcement (it's out on 7" for Record Store Day, vinyl chums), while Everest's beauty wasn't lost on the audience, made all the more poignant now that George Lowe, the man who filmed some of the accompanying footage and a previous sole survivor of the 1953 British Everest Expedition team, passed away just two days after this show.
PSB's humour shone throughout the show - little digitized messages thanking the audience and 'what a pleasure it is to play in. (gap). Guildford' lightened the mood and earned them many cheers and laughs. Soon the grisly business of closing the show came to pass (the audience really did want more) and the lights came up. A decent night with three very different acts.
Message to the people of UK and Ireland - grab tickets now to see this duo before it's too late. This is the end of the announcement - long live Public Service Broadcasting.
Tour-dates are at Allgigs here and PSB's site here
At a certain point during this sold-out gig, I begin to realize why Guildford's corner-house is called the Boileroom - to quote Ray Winstone's Sexy Beast character Gal Dove "It's hot. hot? Oh it's fuckin' 'hot". And so it was - hotter than Bradley Wiggins' saddle in a heatwave.
Thankfully, the bands who were responsible for such arrid conditions were also hot, albeit for different reasons. Before the headliners Public Service Broadcasting arrived to woo us with their fetching brand of sampled commentary, pin-sharp beats and occasionally hefty riffs, two support acts introduced to a world where earplugs might have made a good investment beforehand - in a good way.
I knew little about The Adamski Kid before witnessing his performance tonight, one which may be described as (here goes) Freddie Mercury performing Bollywood electro-punk after chugging down six kegs of Red Bull with a plane to catch. Absolutely bonkers and absolutely marvellous. Songwriter and chief shouter Adam Karayiannis is the brains behind it all, with a decent enough band behind him who reminded me of, sound-wise in varying measures, Atari Teenage Riot, Bis, Shonen Knife, Crystal Castles and Throbbing Gristle. I've chosen the latter as a comparable because they were so VERY loud and ear-splittingly distorted in places, almost unlistenable. They need a bigger stage, a bigger venue and a bigger audience now, one which will allow more of his stage gymnastics and, er, audience participation (or not). Thumbs-up.
Second band Bordeauxxx looked as though they'd skipped their homework to play here. The very young, but very able, indie outfit might just be starting out but they crank up the amps and deliver sprightly jagged math-pop again and again. Loads of bands are doing this right now but these kids gave it their all to the point where you wouldn't kick them off your stage.
The room filled up to the brim during the 20 minute interval and Public Service Broadcasting, aka Wrigglesworth (drums and beats) and Wilgoose (everything else), charmed just about everyone within minutes. Their set was formed of tracks from their previous EPs such as London Can Take It, ROYGBIV, Lit Up and the 'hit' Spitfire, plus some newies from forthcoming album Inform Educate Entertain, due in May, plus vintage visuals from all manner of documentaries, films and public service broadcasts (natch).
PSB's humour shone throughout the show - little digitized messages thanking the audience and 'what a pleasure it is to play in. (gap). Guildford' lightened the mood and earned them many cheers and laughs. Soon the grisly business of closing the show came to pass (the audience really did want more) and the lights came up. A decent night with three very different acts.
Message to the people of UK and Ireland - grab tickets now to see this duo before it's too late. This is the end of the announcement - long live Public Service Broadcasting.
Tour-dates are at Allgigs here and PSB's site here