thomas

"Your boys took one hell of a beating! Your boys took one hell of a beating!"........"You know my feelings on instrumental bands. All well and good, but very easy to noodle off into some dull little corridor. Revenge Of Shinobi are in no corridor. They were playing the tiny Arts Centre like it was Westminster Abbey. Loose stoner rhythms rise up to a form satisfying head-nodding beats. Echoed vocals create an ambient haze like the sunrise over last night’s party. There are no meandering solos. Every chord, every item of percussion has its right place. And they may or may not have a song called Tune Sarpong. The expensive spirits might have been playing tricks on me."........"...Headliners, Revenge Of Shinobi air a set of mostly new tracks tonight, mostly untitled. Not that they introduce them, but they do sing happy birthday to one of their friends and the whole crowd join in. The crowd also join in instantaneously and in unison as soon as the beat kicks in and the pulsing bass of this post-rock-club music beams from the speakers. Such a mournfully euphoric sound, ROS sound like clouds perpetually parting and letting an infinite stream of sun break in. Dance music shouldn't be this melancholic and it's a dichotomy enough to tear the heart in two, as three voices being to circle each other, looping round a steadily growing beat until it's cantering off with guitars and bass careening behind in a constantly rising climax that threatens to tear the roof off the venue to reach it. Aural stimulation for the limbs, guitars crashing together in angular thrusts, e-bow droning a constant hum of delirious background energy, syncopated bass stabbing into the drums and the whole things whirls into a chaotic finish. After the final song the band are physically forced back on stage for an encore. The only time when an encore should really be performed. They ignore their broken strings and lunge into one last charge of beautiful floor filling noise and the front rows dance in formation until the last vocal loop is cut."I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4