written by Chris Familton

Holy Balm eased the arriving crowd into the vibe of the evening with an impressive set that showcased their organic psychedelic take on electronic music. The constant tempo of their songs had the earlybirds settling into a shuffling head nod while the trio plugged away at their primitive, droning dance music. The cool thing was that they primarily create music from machines yet their minimal and loose approach gave their sound an oddly human characteristic.

Djanimals are usually a full band but tonight they appeared for the most part as a duo. I’m not sure if this is the new version of the band, which primarily serves as a vehicle for main man Jonti Danilewitz, or just a one-off stripped down performance. It meant the music was skewed toward experimental, electronic hip hop which at times worked well until the layers began to clutter the sound and detract from the impact of the music. Their last track featured some whacked out guest guitar from Kirin J. Callinan.

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti emerged looking resplendent in sequins, glitter and technicolour coats  followed by frontman Ariel Pink who was dressed in a cheerleader/ice skater costume, sunglasses and single side ponytail .With hunched shoulders and demented arrhythmic dance moves he cut a bizarre and unsettling figure. For the first few songs the music was pretty awful generic garage rock played with rudimentary skill and a shocking sound mix. Mysteriously though, after that opening batch of songs the band seemed to figure out what they were supposed to be doing and from the opening notes of Beverly Kills and the subsequent bulk of album tracks from Before Today things improved immensely. Thats not to say the gig was great but there were many moments of magic like the single Round and Round, the dark alley groove of Menopause Man, Fright Night and the soaring Bright Lit Blue Skies that made it worth sticking around for the whole set.

What annoyed the most about the show was the appalling backing vocals and the demeanor of Pink whose schtick is flippancy and slacker disdain which in small doses would be fine but combined with the ridiculous outfit just didn’t add to the performance one iota. Musically unique, it was an undoubtedly entertaining show but it didn’t do justice or add to the brilliance of Before Today.

this review first appeared in Drum Media