'KALEV, with THE RAVINES and THE TEASE.

The Angel Broadway Bedford. Friday 10th March 2006.

Gig Review by M.Chance.

The Tease are a young but surprisingly tight indie rock 'n' roll outfit based in Bedfordshire, and have been playing to a good reception locally, recently winning the Best New Band category in their heat of the last battle of the bands in September. They play with a passion and commitment that is rooted in a well-honed and professional set. The lead singer, Tommy Balaam, gave an energetic performance of consummate showmanship, with a mature, strong and un-wavering voice that carried their catchy choruses effectively. They finished on 'Take You Away' - the pick of their current material - with a contemporary indie-dance feel created with hypnotic lead guitar work and Bloc-Party-esque machine-gun drum beats. Promising.

The Ravines, in a similar, but more mellowed vein, presented some solid but un-challenging and relatively un-memorable rock with an anthemic pop sensibility. At best they were reminiscent of 'Murmur' or 'Out Of Time' era R.E.M., at others more like Noel Gallagher accidentally sleepwalking his way into an Ocean Colour Scene tribute band rehearsal. I am sure they will do successfully with the nostalgic crowd of early 30-somethings (who seemed to have shown up in full support), but they need more variety and inspiration to become appealing to a greater audience range and have more of a lasting impact. Song titles such as 'Best Friends' sum up nicely the inoffensive sentimentality that ran thematically through many of the lyrics, which occasionally bordered on the saccharine.
The title song of their dbut album, 'Manifesto Of A Broken Heart' was a highlight, and could have been an out-take from Idlewild's superb latest album, 'Warnings/ Promises', with a catchy pop hook and some well implemented vocal harmonies to complement the light country-rock atmosphere.
Their performance seem slightly dogged by an element of self doubt that was only just masked by a nervous humour, which in turn unfortunately only seemed to alienate the audience, with pauses between songs becoming significant in turning the set somewhat stale and dragging. Thankfully, they closed with 'Dark Clouds', a slightly more, fast paced and spirited rocker, and they finally seemed to enjoy themselves. This created a strong and entertaining finish, but it took too long to arrive.

KALEV came to the stage on a breaking wave of white noise, and crashed ominously forth, sweeping the previous two acts away completely.
The opener; 'Undoing' - their first single - was their most accessible song and served as a perfect introduction to their sound, which is something like being on a bad acid trip whilst being simultaneously played a Warp Records compilation in one ear and Joy Division in the other. Guitar lines twist together mesmerisingly over abstract electronic soundscapes, pierced by almost painful, penetrating slashes of noise, powerful double-bass drum rhythms and carnal, post-punk vocals. With more promotion this song could easily be a regular staple on the more adventurous indie-club dancefloors in the near future.
The electronic element of the music was used to great effect, especially with the use of spoken sound-bites, which were submerged and surrounded by the guitars, breaking the surface sporadically like some malevolent force driving the music onward. This added a sinister texture to the mix, not unlike the seminal Manics masterpiece; 'The Holy Bible'.
The front-man, Andrew Nicholls, gave an excellent performance; charged with Ian Curtis' awkward, paranoid twitching; the aloof, nonchalant, and yet dramatic presence of Jim Morrison, and a less poseur-ish Jagger at his most lascivious.
Kalev have to be seen live to be fully appreciated, not only due to their incredibly powerful and potent sound, but for the way that their live set has a wonderful post-rock cohesion, where individual songs are inter-woven into one whole, undulating, and dynamic piece. This was achieved by filling the song breaks with creative percussion improvisations and nebulous electronic noise.
The whole set was exciting and varied; with piercing and discordant guitar work switching suddenly to full on, bass-heavy grunge freak-outs. As a live act they had the impact of heavy noise-rock acts such as Lightning Bolt or Melt Banana, the brutality of industrial post-punk music such as Killing Joke, and the progressive inter-laying of textures and rhythms of Mew at their heaviest. The hardest obstacle for Kalev to overcome in the future will be translating this sinewy live capability onto disc, without losing the power that makes it so special.
Definitely a band to look out for in the future, hopefully Kalev will come back to Bedford soon.

Gig Review by M.Chance www.bedfordmetal.co.uk