Inspired by the likes of Chicks On Speed, playing Avenue D's "do I look like a slut?" before coming on, S.I.L.K. is three girls and a boy on mics and a CD turntable, playing edgy beats that skipped all over the place. Should invest in better technology. At least two of the girls had it down pat, the third looked rather ill at ease on stage. Rapped about sleepover parties and fashion and what not, as far as I could follow. Quite rough, but these are probably very early days. Crowd was quite receptive and enthusiastic to the almost synchronized dance moves. Had me laughing along.
Soft Tigers, three guys and a girl on drums, multiple guitars and samplers and other tech. Again, just fantastic fun. This show is part of their weekly residency at the Hoey. At one point getting S.I.L.K. back on stage to mash some new vocals onto "Karate"! Live performances still has quirky kinks. Instrument swapping and confused clashes. Ice cream song ending with a tech/electro freakout ending with one man 2step edit keeps me smiling.
But the reason I rocked up tonight was to check out Gerling lead man Darren Cross's new project, the E.L.F. Laptop and sampler, tracks just played back with him shooting off samples in tune to the music. Reminds me a bit of seeing Muscles play out. Some interesting sounds in there, a few tunes with vocals too. With another crowd in another venue, there would have been dacing on the floor. Tonight, the crowd had already thinned out a bit since the Soft Tigers, so Darren has to beg the crowd to get dancing, playing tunes off his computer's iTunes and playing his beats over it as a mash up and inviting the crowd to dance on his empty stage. Wild, messy fun.