Miscellaneous - ICA, London, 28/11/2009

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 29 / 1 / 2010

intro

...and on the last night closers the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the Tamborines and Texas-band Ringo Deathstarr

This was my third night here at the ICA and it was now starting to feel like home. The evening started off with a performance from the Tamborines. They are a London based three piece, which consisted for this show of Lulu Grave on psychedelic organ and who looks like she has never left the 60s; Henrique Laurindo on vocals and guitar, and Rodrigo on drums. Tonight they played a thirty minute set of Jesus and Mary Chain infused fury, backed by some added psyche organ. Most of the six songs in their set had a hard-edged, fuzzy sound and their 2007 single, ‘Sally O'Gannon’, sounded as powerful as ever. Ringo Deathstarr come from Austin, Texas and, like the Deprecation Guild the night before, were making their UK live debut. They consist of Elliot Frazier on vocals and guitar, Renan McFarland on guitar, Alex Gehring on bass and Daniel Coburn on drums. After introducing themselves and telling us that they were pleased to perform for us tonight, they opened with ‘Swirly’, which was big in sound, grungy and dirty and had a groove that was as black and as slow as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on downers. ‘Starisha’ was much faster with an indie groove and reminiscent of the Pastels in its tweeness, while ‘Sweet Girl’ had a vocal that from Elliot that sounded like Ian Curtis on a bad day. ‘In Love’ is available as a 7 inch which Ringo Deathstarr havd run out of for tonight's show. It was as edgy as a great Black Rebel Motorcycle Club track, while Elliot’s voice on it sounded like Bobby Gillespie at his prime. ‘TAB Girl’ is on a ClubAC30 split single and was fast and furious, sounding like the Primitives or Shop Assistants partying with Extreme Noise Terror. 'Summertime 'followed after much tuning up. They broke a guitar at their last gig in Tokyo so were an instrument down. They play jangly music with haunting guitars that are as loud as the Jesus and Mary Chain while Alex, the bass player, can both sing and howl. Tonight she sung like an angel. Ringo Deathstarr ended with a number that was not that far removed from the Jesus and Mary Chain’s ‘In A Hole’ lyrically and musically. This was a decent set, and one in which to bash you around your ears with the force of the instruments played. To close Reverence 2, we got a great band whom do not have the sound that we usually associate from Club AC30’s usual bands. We got Brooklyn's finest band in years and the Fortuna Pop!s most successful band ever, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. The ICA was full to the brim for a great performance, where the Pains of Being Pure at Heart delivered most of their debut album, as well as four tracks from their current EP, ‘Higher from the Stars’. As usual, the set was quite short at a mere 52 minutes long, but every second spent in this band's company was a complete joy. I knew this band were good as a live act, but you do really need to listen to their recorded work to really get that extra mile out of these songs live. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart really are a sort of new Smiths, not in the sense of Kip Berman being the new Morrissey which he isn't but with the fan base the attract. They bring us sensitive souls and shy ones together through music, and it brings us pure joy. They take their influences from the Shop Assistants, the Cure, the Smiths and Orange Juice and bring them out in their lovely flavoured songs. They are a band to embrace and for those under their influence fall in love with. All one can say is thank God for the Pains of Being Pure at Heart and also for Fortuna Pop! Pains of Being Pure at Heart Set List: This Fucking Love is Real 103 Young Adult Friction Falling Over Stay Alive Everything with You Twins Come Saturday Higher than the Stars Something out of Love (New song, unrecorded) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart Encore: Gentle Sons

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