yourcodenameis:milo / Victorian English Gentleman’s Club

I’m sure Academy 2’s floor is going to fall through soon. It sinks quite dramatically every time anyone jumps. Tonight’s gig then promises to be a bit of an alarming one with yourcodenameis:milo playing in front of their hometown crowd.

Truth be told, I’m pretty happy they called themselves that. It fills up a review brilliantly. It’s also quite refreshing to see a band that doesn’t feel the need to call themselves ‘The’ and follow it with the most obscure noun they can think of. Nevertheless, it does leave me wondering whether they know what a caesura is (that’s a spacing between words by a pause for any of you who aren’t as pretentious as me) or whether they are just a bunch of Geordie eccentrics.

Speaking of strange names, Victorian English Gentleman’s Club provide ample competition. And they are eccentric. Damn right mental in fact. They claim to be from Germany despite having incredibly English accents and proceed to tell jokes all night. Here’s my favourite: “Don’t hit that bell until the end”. “Why?” “Because that will make it the bell-end!” You can stop laughing now.

In fitting with what I saw before, their music was also suitably bizarre but what did surprise me was that it was quite enjoyable. It was experimental, undeniably original and incredibly varied for a three piece more intent on giving a comedy performance than a cohesive show. My girlfriend told me the female bassist was trying to do sexy. To be honest I barely noticed she was a female.

So on to yourcodenameis:milo (see what I mean about it filling up a review?) who appeared through the smoke amidst the strains of ‘To The Cars’ from their new album ‘They Came From The Sun’. It’s basically a work of genius. I don’t mean to speak in hyperbole but sometimes it’s hard not to. Everything about this band hits you in the face with such an impact that you never really see music in the same way again. They are the antithesis of all the predictable theses around them at the moment, bringing music back to its brilliant, raw best with its unpredictable turns and savage undulations. There are rumours that they plan to pack it in for a few years. I sincerely hope not. They need to lead the way on this post-punk wave of hope they have created.

If you take this sound to a live audience, it comes to life even more. They are a band that is meant to play gigs and they thrive on this. They reputedly stole the show at The Camden Crawl in April and, from watching tonight’s set, I am not surprised. It is a big sound and it’s something that is honest. By that I mean they produce music for the sake of music, for the want of being musically liberated from the confines of commercialism. That’s their charm. They are a personable band, for the people, and it is symptomatic of this that the crowd are encouraged to film the gig on their phones to put on their new video.

Songs like ‘Understand’ and ‘I’m Impressed’ reveal the north-east influence in their music but also show how much they deviate from the standard formula in being both uplifting and darkly profound simultaneously. Lead singer Paul Mullen flourishes under the probing glow of the lights, hiding nothing of his soul behind his thick-rimmed glasses. His voice carries over the chaotic density behind him, harsh when necessary but profound when the noise momentarily quells to the delicate guitars in ‘Schteeve<'/i>’ and the crowd can finally breathe.

It’s surprising to see so many older people in Academy 2 standing beside the younger generations, and this perhaps shows the diversity of their music. Essentially they could be seen as fairly heavy, but yet more people are drawn in by its experimental insightfulness into the overall concept of music. It liberates their sound from traditional pigeonholing and as such makes it accessible to many potential fans. In Newcastle old and young can nod their heads along to the same music without fear of one another.

By the end it has descended into scenes of chaos with Paul dancing to the sound of ‘All Roads To Fault’ with a horse’s head on, but it’s brilliant. This is music at its roots, where people can interact with bands and watch pure music in intimate venues where there is more than enough room either side of the frontman’s ego to inhale.

So it turns out that they were a bit eccentric after all. It also seems they know what a caesura is. So watch this space! (What?! It’s better than Victorian English Gentleman’s Club’s attempt and I only do this part time)

article by: James Robinson

published: 07/05/2007 00:29

FUTURE GIGS

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

more about yourcodenameis:milo
more about The Victorian English Gentlemens Club
more about O2 Academy (1 & 2), Newcastle upon Tyne