Tonight starts with a change of line up, with Baby Gravy having to drop out, due to a family bereavement. Thanks a lot to Cat Matador for stepping in and our best wishes to Zahra.
This is my first review for MusicInOxford.co.uk, so I have decided to be largely friendly and to close an eye to imperfection and an ear to musical monstrosity. Kicking off, Cat Matador show enormous commitment to their material, an experimental grunge/rock that is quite original, dynamic, catchy and very clever, but not yet fully accomplished. The less-than-good sound did not help either, and I’d love to listen to the band again in a more sympathetic acoustic setup. I particularly liked the unusual touch of Sian’s electric violin in the rock context and the immense power that Christopher’s drumming gave to the dark, intricate musical pattern. In total, Cat Matador is a band with a lot of promising ideas and they will surely emerge sooner or later as yet another amazing Oxford group.
Next, Family Machine hit the stage, and it’s like a ray of sunshine after a storm. Their music is cheerfully beautiful; it just makes you sing, dance and feel good. Drummer Jay is a dream to watch smile, play and sing and with his perfect, minimal style he would be a dream for any producer to deal with, giving power and groove to their catchy sixties sound. A typical Family Machine song is a three-minute condensed mix of emotions that never step too far from your ears nor from your heart. Their music flows effortlessly through the listener’s soul, thanks to great musical ability married to an uncomplicatedly pure song-writing talent that doesn’t try to reach for more than it achieves: beauty.
After the sunshine, it’s time for an earthquake: Little Fish, the band everybody’s talking about. Now, I asked myself several times before hearing them, how can two people be enough to play festivals, win awards and create aggressive yet melodic punk? Well, you just have to see them live to believe all that and more. Singer Juju has been compared to the best female songwriters of the past and present (P.J. Harvey and Janis Joplin on occasions) but that’s all wrong. Juju cannot be compared to anybody else, as her unique, raw, mad, infectious style is something that nobody else has achieved before. Juju doesn’t just sing, she lives the song, with the little melody needed coming from her guitar and all of her soul coming out of her small, twitching body: a true force of nature, a work of art, worth going to see just to have an idea of what a one-off artist with immense vocal gifts can come up with. And Nez: I am a drummer myself, and in my time in Oxford I seem to have been quite unlucky, coming across some dreadful drumming when I have time to go to gigs. I hate to speak badly about fellow sticksmen… well, how could I do that now, when Nez’s ability, vision, dynamic dexterity and sensitivity are just some of his strong points? His rhythms, eclectic approach to the song, solidity and power have a lot to say not only to those drummers who play pubs in front of a few mates, but also to the big stars up there who would need to team up in numbers to match what Nez does naturally and with ease.
To summarize: if you have just heard of Little Fish, it is time to dive into the sea and be ready for the wave.