Sonic Boom Six, Leeds Josephs Well
I arrived a few minutes late to this gig after legging it through Leeds city centre following a bit of a domestic. I managed to catch one and a half songs of The Attic Project (?) but not nearly enough to give a fair comment on them. After chatting to a very stressed Jym for a few minutes, THINKPOL take to the stage and having put these guys on this month’s podcast, I half knew what to expect. For those in the crowd who didn’t, t-shirts sported by the band were dropping subtle hints – Cursive and Weezer. Indeed this dollop of emotion which has been heaped onto Matt’s sound makes for a fairly unique sound – he’s always had a distinctive voice, but I think this new guise suits his talents down to the ground when compared to his role in Howards Alias. Although the touring experience of the band is considerable, for a group who don’t have an awfully large amount of shows under their collective belt in their current form, they’re tight, engaging and confident. It’ll be interesting to see which label takes the plunge and offers these guys some money to go places with. (7)
RANDOM HAND follow and play one of the longest sets I’ve seen from a support act in ages. It’s clear that a good proportion of the crowd are loyal to these guys for their zany, off-the-wall antics (which are thankfully not overused), and talent for combining the ska upstroke with the odd blistering metal riff. Their sound seems considerably more ‘comfortable’ and assured when performed live than the odd song of theirs I’ve heard on record. This is in no small way due to frontman Robin Leitch: his aura is of gangly energy which seems to hook you. Oh, and his ska-flavoured rapping is pretty sharp too. With new songs like ‘Anthropology’ going down a storm alongside the favourites they’ve already established amongst their followers, Random Hand have pretty much found their (well-hidden) niche. (7)
It seems a little silly for me to write a superlative-laden review of SONIC BOOM 6’s set, as it’ll only seem like I’m paraphrasing ben @ punktastic’s recent live review of them, but it’s safe to say that SB6 are shaking down the borderlines between genres and stamping all over them. They’re at their undeniable best when they leave the ska largely behind and become a truly mesmerising hiphop collective just because of the vocal ranges they can achieve across pitches and speeds between 3 MCs. Even after a van crashing debacle and panics over equipment, this is still funky, catchy, soulful and loaded with a delicious degree of self-awareness that’s just keeping pace with their raging talent; this demands your undivided attention. (8.5)
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