Italian noise merchants endorsed by Mike Patton stop-off in London.
Elephant Vs Leopard opened the proceedings with a sound described as being “like an elephant fighting a leopard”. This was perhaps a far reaching metaphor, in reality they came across like Shellac doused with the loose aggression of NOmeansno.
Vocalist Spike cut a Henry Rollins-like figure. Well built, covered in tattoos and dressed all in black he leant forward, launching himself into the songs. Sweating profusely, his blokie demeanour and exaggerated physical gestures gave life to the performance.
Next up were Black Carrot whose 2008 effort Drink The Black Forest was included in Artrocker’s top ten albums of the year. Sadly it was difficult to see why they had attracted such praise. Admittedly the band was incredibly nervous playing to a sizeable London crowd but their performance was an absolute mess.
The synth and effects pedals were barely audible and considering the number of instruments that were played, their arrangements sounded sparse. Such meandering was garnished with strained vocals that purported to be experimental in the vain hope that no-one would realise how plain ordinary they were. The lyrics “Why should we listen to this awful man” inspired more than one onlooker to mutter, “I don’t know.”
The audience had picked themselves up again by the time Zu strode on stage. From an ominous stormy intro tape the band eventually emerged and ripped into their doomy instrumental post-rock. Although best known for their association and collaboration with Faith No More’s Mike Patton, the band proved that they were still a might to be reckoned with minus his deranged screams and samples.
They came out like a steamroller and produced startlingly loud driven rock music. Massimo Pupillo’s distorted bass more than compensated for the lack of a six-string guitar; the sound was so thick, varying and above all crushingly heavy.
Saxophonist Luca T Mai blew the thing like an alarm; he propelled the madness of it all as if bating the drums to spiral out of control. Only with such accomplished musicians Zu were never likely to derail.
In fact their undoing was their relentlessness. Whilst there was enough variance in the bass playing to keep things interesting, the volume and brutality began to overshadow the intricacy of the band. By the end of the performance Zu had begun to drain where they had previously inspired.
Rating: 3/5