Viet Cong - Girl Band -- Rock'n'Roll Hotel - Jun 18 2015

Girl Band - This is some really twisted music that will wrap you up like a boa constrictor and possibly do some damage. It is the slow kind as the band has thick and throbbing backing with desperate wailing vocals on top. It is as if members of Screamers and Mars are covering Crass songs. Perhaps more than a little Throbbing Gristle influence as well? One good thing is the variety of vocal style as the desperation style would get a little, well desperate if done over the course of 45 minutes. Musically this can wear you down, but they mix it up well enough to allow some oxygen in while you are wrapped up in this intensity. These Irish lads did very well in front of a very big crowd here tonight.

photo: Rock'n'Roll Hotel twitter account

Viet Cong - And the crowd continued to grow in size and excitement as this Canadian quartet hit the stage. Thankfully the soundman got it together after one song to allow me to focus on the music rather than the problems (touring soundmen tend to struggle in this club). Even then, it took several songs to try to figure out exactly what the band was making work so well. And I am not sure I ever quite got the answer, which is a big positive as they kept me alert throughout their set. One song reminded me of New Model Army, while another was as if Gang of Four were crossed with Savage Republic. And just when I focused on songs, they went off on PiL meets Swans style throbbing droner. When this band really nailed it, they were as good as anybody. When they were less so, they were still a powerful presence. Great night of creative music, tonight, and it was great to see so many people were here to dig in.

Photo Grab of the Night: This was a discovered in Argentina via Google Earth. If any crop circles, etc. are the result of aliens, hopefully they are behind this one.