KEYS / LOS BLANCOS / SOCK | LIVE REVIEW
The Moon, Cardiff, Wed 17 Jul
First, a confession. Reviewing the Bubblewrap label’s showcase gig almost a year ago to the day, I fear I was overly hasty in judging and dismissing Sock. On this evidence, they’re so much better than I initially gave them credit for. Aside from the superb final track, which has a stout motorik backbone, most of the songs are relatively amorphous, without obvious hooks or big choruses. They’re genuinely dreamy, in the sense that they take you where they want, beyond your control, as darker and slightly unnerving undercurrents swirl beneath the shimmering surface.
The first time I encountered Los Blancos, by contrast, in March 2018, I reported how they managed to upstage fellow locals Wylderness at the latter’s own album launch. Guitarist Osian Owen was missing on that occasion through illness but is present and correct tonight, performing (among other songs) the excellent set-closer Cadi, an ode to his dog and arguably the best illustration of their slacker savvy. Plaid shirts have been adopted (presumably self-consciously) as a kind of uniform, and the scruffy songs pack plenty of appeal for fans of Pavement, The Lemonheads and anyone else whose indie-rock is rough-edged but not raw.
Few things in this world are as incontrovertible as the fact that two drummers are always better than one – and when one of that duo is Davey Newington, it’s a cast-iron certainty. Just five days after fronting Boy Azooga in Hyde Park as warm-up for Neil Young and Bob Dylan, Newington finds himself behind his kit in the considerably more modest environs of the Moon, this time with Keys [pictured]. Cardiff audiences will be able to see him playing in both Boy Azooga and Charlotte Church’s Late Night Pop Dungeon in the next two and a half weeks. Why, given such a busy schedule, is he continuing to devote energy to Keys?
The answer is immediately obvious: because they’re bloody fantastic – the result of astute plundering from rock’s rich heritage: the Beatles, the blues, rock‘n’roll, garage punk. They’ve got groove, swagger and style in spades. Current single Black And White has a seductive simplicity and steady nodding-dog rhythm reminiscent of Eels before exploding into a psych-rock wigout, while I Only Want You For Your Rock And Roll, due out in early August, finds guitarist/vocalist Matthew Evans going all-out Jon Spencer and makes thrilling use of those twin drummers.
Evans complains that he’s written a good line about Noel Gallagher only for Lewis Capaldi to steal his thunder, but he needn’t worry. With material of the calibre of those two singles plus the likes of Pussyfooting and the more reflective Who Stands To Gain?, the new LP – scheduled for release in December – is set to make a big noise all of its own.
words BEN WOOLHEAD