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Walking into a gig on London’s trendy Brick Lane organised by über-trendy Vice Magazine means encountering loads of freaky hair, striped shirts and pointy shoes. Trying to focus on the bands in an environment like that means hard work. Luckily enough tonight both bands, GoodBooks and The Noisettes, are on top form.
GoodBooks are very young, maybe too young to realise how much potential they have. Maybe that’s good though? As soon as they enter the stage at 93 Feet East the band verge between cocky confidence and innocent insecurity. Pop-powering through their better known singles ‘Leni’ and ‘Walk With Me’ we see them boosting with assurance all infectious, quirky songs and great melodies. When GoodBooks play their less popular tunes though, the crowd’s attention span diminishes instantly forcing band members to exchange nervous glances. However, those four rather ordinary looking boys do have the power to create songs of poetry and passion, which once they get rid of their teenage self doubts, could elevate them right up there with the Mystery Jets or The Spinto Band into obscure indie heaven.
When The Noisettes prance onto the stage, the girls are boozed up enough to ignore their boyfriends thoroughly checking out singer Shingai. She is all punk soul rebel and her voice blasts through the speakers so loudly and powerfully that if the drinks weren’t served in plastic cups, the glasses would shatter. Indeed, Shingai’s soulful yet utterly visceral voice constitutes much of The Noisettes’ magic. It’s a rowdily rallying monster on ‘IWE’, a flamboyantly funky chirp on ‘Sister Rosetta’ and a blissfully rootsy slur on ‘Wing Blows Hot’.
The highlight of their set, apart from watching boys watching Shingai for my very own personal amusement, must be ‘Don’t Give Up’, which is a sonic assault of rumbling bass and vocal tyranny combining what’s best about The Noisettes. They unashamedly mix diverse styles, slaughter genres and disregard general rules of composition but they also prove that with power and passion all that can actually be abandoned in order to create something as fresh and potent as The Noisettes do it.
