Polysics / Data Panik

Good god it’s hotter than the Temple Of Doom’s fire pit in here! Bet you wish you’d sprayed less deodorant in the 80s now don’t you? All those o-zone castrating CFCs have really done a number on us with these heatwaves, so while it’s nice to sunbathe for a bit on a Saturday afternoon, spare a thought for the layered up goths at The Garage tonight, sweltering in the oven that the venue’s become because of all this sun.

It must be even worse under the hot stage lights, but Data Panik overcome the calidity to make way for their Borne-Of-Bis indie disco antics. The Scottish five piece, four lads in matching suits and cute little Manda on the keyboards – awww! We love Manda – are a frenzy of infectious dance-worthy beats layered with escalating guitar riffs that make for a perfectly tailored party package. ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!’ marks the chorus hook of ‘Rulers & States’ and it ain’t hard to follow. In such heat it’s a wonder that people are dancing with such voracity, especially when the adoration is for the support band. But dance they do, and with good reason – Data Panik are ace. At twenty five minutes their set might seem short, but it’s probably for the best as people tease the boundaries of dehydration while they pull awesome shapes.

“Sankyooo! Sankyoo!” screams maraudering Polysics’ frontman Hayashi after each song, as he catapults his small frame about the stage like an escaped spring-worm from trick can of jam. The Tokyo-bred foursome epitomise the crazy, adoring ‘other-side’ of the Japanese universal character – forget the shy, repressed stereotype, these f***ers are wild and combustable. Each song follows the same simple formula: One ridiculous guitar riff repeated for three minutes, peppered with synthesiser squirts and high pitched femme squeaks from the band’s two resident ladies, Kayo & Fumi, and a final garnish of incomprehensible Japanese ‘singing’ (when singing is the sound of a cat being trodden on by an elephant, over and over, at very high speed). It’s completely ridiculous, utterly stupefying and, ok the songs may not really be that good, but boy, oh boy, do they put on a fantastic show. Dressed in four matching boiler suits with cooler than cool black sunglasses, the sheer frenetic energy that explodes from the stage is as overwhelming as watching every manga ever made at the same time, on full volume, on a wall of screens towering fifty stories high.

The heat builds and builds and the songs keep coming thick and fast, barely distinguishable from one another. Wacky recorder-led ‘I My Me Mine’ clinches the deal for the night’s success and by the end of it all, and after a final flourish featuring gold cheerleader’s pom-poms, it’s all over. Most people have sweat out half their body weight, and experienced a heavy dose of culture shock in the process. Rarely is such an eccentric gig held in our nation’s capital, but sankyoo sankyoo sankyoo that every now and then one is.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.