Errors Live Review

So then, Errors eh?

First on the bill were So So Modern, with their so, so moderne assemblage of super, super, sharp shouty call-out electronic post punk punk (try saying that after 5 cans of 3.90 Red Stripe) who sound like they spent their time in math rock class (when they turned up) sat at the back burning hash on their pencil cases & scratching Sonic Youth & Fugazi deep & hard into their desks with a compass.

Next up are Race Horses, less poppy & more fuzzy than last year when they were known as Radio Luxembourg. Someone described them as a garage pop SFA to me pre-gig. Un-surprisingly they are Welsh! Theres something in them Valleys (er . . . mushrooms) that has defined the vernacular welsh psych pop sound and these guys go at it with a passion. Singer & guitarist Meilyr Jones has a truly amazing brown paisley oversized shirt on, which sticks to his pole-like frame like hes entered a wet paisley shirt competition. The drummer wears a fantastic cream and black woolen cardigan possibly knitted by his mum from a pattern in Womans Own circa 1972 and the keyboardist (with a Roy Orbison sticker on his keyboard) looks suspiciously like the bass player from Travis. That aside and with their pop still peeking through they tear their way through their set with raw energy but with enough melody to hang them together. This band is worth investigating more.

The last two people Ive seen in the Scalas intimate environs have been Four Tet & Electrelane, which seems fitting as Errors sound somewhere in between those two but powered by the heavy underlining cables of their label founders Mogwais electronic post-rock – Errors are a bizarre but appealing prospect live. Its perhaps unfair to pigeon-hole them down the post-rock avenue simply because theyre on Mogwais label – theyre a much more poppy, acidic, electronic affair to all of the above mentioned, with their hands on synth paeans to the dancefloor. Tonight, the Scala is Errors for the taking and seem rejuvenated to be playing in front of a hungry London audience who are chomping on their every synth-stab. Drawing heavily on their new album they open with Bridge or Cloud from said long player and continue their forays into electro(nic) rockness from there on in. Except for the drummer, for a band whove been at it a while they still seem quite shy – though front-man, Simon Ward takes the time to let us know the obligatory, Londons their favourite city to play. They end pre-encore on Mr Milk, the fantastic lead track from the How Clean is Your Acid House EP a favourite. It sounds like a lot of their songs tonight, a complete mess till half way through where it morphs into a thing of abject odd electronic beauty.

Confusing but lovable, Errors live set is a perfect compliment to lush, new, must-have album. Come Down With Me.

Wil & Danny (with some help from Jim!) x