Tuesday 25/09/07 Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip, The Anomalies @ The Scala, London

Tonight’s gig should be exposing Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip as a hot rising music act. Instead it’s a carnival of home grown hip hop, beat box and free form talent, defying expectations and raising the roof in the process.

The Scala is enveloped in a fantastic atmosphere tonight, and most of it is coming from the stage. Various talents entertain us from, human b-boy to a battle royale of London MCs. Perhaps the highlight though is the hilariously wrong Gideon Con who’s comparing the night. A talent all to himself, his solo effort hip hop songs on top of his ‘special’ announcements to the crowd is enough to keep people going until the arrival of The Anomalies.

Their energy can’t be faulted, but The Anomalies divide the crowd. Flawless rhymes, manic dancing and the use of “harmonica” and “tampon” in a free-form MC-ing can’t hide the fact that you either like The Beastie Boys or you don’t. From the view of entertainment’s sake though, there’s few better new acts for raising spirit. And that would remain the case if it weren’t for the impossibly tough competition from the main act.

The appearance of Pip and Le Sac may suggest the start of a joke along the lines of “A Jewish man walks into a butcher shop”. Yet whatever the punch line would be, this pairing are far better at their London homecoming. The sparsest stage setting of the night (a laptop, a table and a case of props) spell out that this is as much a stage show as a musical act. For though Le Sac’s laptop created music is inspiring in its unique use of sample, it’s Pip’s free form poetry/lyrics that steal the show. They’re a rare example of both informed and witty music that’s still cool. Covering everything from social inequality to Tommy Cooper, it’s a one of a kind entertainment. Anyone who can keep a venue captivated with the periodic table is certainly inspired. And with amazingly catchy ‘Beat That My Heart Skipped’ and underground hit ‘Thou Shalt Always Kill’ this pairing have all they need for success at the click of a button and a sheet of lyrics.     
 
No one was going to leave feeling they hadn’t got their money’s worth. The surprise has been just how much awesome talent you can still get for your bucks. So now it’s time to accept it. You’re bored of every indie band you know - it’s time to try something a little bit different and a whole lot better.