Test Icicles - Live In London
[Garage]

A quiet night in London, where the tiresome Franz Ferdinand are playing a one off show in kings cross is quickly disrupted firstly by England taking back the Ashes and secondly by a troop of forward thinking musicians playing just a couple of miles up the road.

Tonight the line up includes Twisted Charm, Black Wire, Test Icicles and the Ex Models, but the only bands from that list that really matter at this moment in musical time are Twisted Charm and Test Icicles, who are both gaining huge followings through word of mouth about their exhilarating live shows.

Shockingly, Twisted Charm are billed first and their glorious, sax drenched punk sets the precedent for the evening’s proceedings. Leeds lads Black Wire step up in their monochrome outfits and play music not too dissimilar from their monotonous attire. The lead singer Dan Wilson is enigmatic and highly entertaining but that doesn’t change the fact that they sound like all the other smart dressed bands touting themselves around London, a la The Rakes mixed with a dash of Television.

The notion that Test Icicles are not headlining is a disgrace as they tear the venue down with their piercing vocals and vigorous musicianship. The photographers are in a frenzy trying to catch that perfect NME picture and one of their three guitarists Dev even poses with a cigarette citing “I don’t smoke, but this is cool, right?” all the flashes go wild.

Quoting Steve Earl and Mudhoney they rip through a magnificently incoherent, distorted set of unidentified noises and quite wondrous fretwork.

Ex Models are headlining? Who cares! Their album Chrome Panthers is enjoyable but you are left feeling empty afterwards. Twisted Charm and Test Icicles are spearheading the new post punk rock revolution, and they do it with an innocent, embracing flair.