and more on the gig...

On after us, The Carolgees were an odd lot; opening with a dense, heavy blend of keyboards and bass and a light, vocodered vocal they seemed at first to have more interest in Daft Punk than guitar music, but their set evolved into a vaguely eclectic set of ambitious indie rock with dense guitars, samples and rich keyboards; more sound on stage than it seemed likely they could produce. Oddly introducing their most conventional and least ambitious song as their new single, they had much more to offer than its plaintive melody; occasionally some great bass playing brought New Order to mind and the vocal interplay towards the end of the set recalled the comparatively cheerful, winning pop side of mid-period The Cure, echoing synths and high, impassioned voices. During that last song, and a few places elsewhere, they were really good.

Girlinky play better each time we see them. Visibly wilting in the heat but not letting it effect the songs, they played a cracking, breezy set of bright, snappy punk-pop. The third band of the night (counting Grande Cobra and ourselves) to take the stage with an excessively cheerful drummer and somehow getting him through it without melting, missing a beat or even a high note (he sings as well as plays), Girlinky blend whizzing synths with stroppy guitars and some great tunes. The new single, Newspaper Round has been a permanent feature on my iTunes playlist since I first heard it a year or so ago and live it is really excellent, Sarah and Rob's vocals bouncing off eachother while Chris, er, bounces round the stage, falling into the audience in a moment of delirium. Later, during the bonkers finale to It's Not Cold In The Snowglobe, a new song which builds up from icy electronics to seething punk, his strap becomes detached from his guitar and, unable to fix it back on, he reasonably decides to carry on with his guitar dangling vertically from his wrist, before deciding just to bounce it up and down on the ground as Scott launches himself into the drumkit and brings the whole thing crashing down. Somewhere along the way my foot gets comprehensively trodden on and will hurt for a couple of hours, but it's a small price. Girlinky are great.