Noisettes / Foals / Mayor MCCA

With the release of their debut Album a week away, London trio Noisettes hit one of Manchester’s cosier, more atmospheric venues, The Late Room on Tuesday night. After supporting Muse on last year’s massive Arena tour the group seem perfectly content to have returned to performing in venues that only hold several hundred people and if Manchester is anything to go by, may or may not have working toilets.

First support act for the Noisettes was self proclaimed ‘one man band singing sensation’ Mayor MCCA. This lanky Canadian cowboy certainly kept the audience enthralled, not from his voice which was sorely out of tune, but from his impressive instrumentation (playing drum with his right foot, bass synthesizer with his left, strumming the guitar and using a harmonica) while singing and ‘rapping’ his surreal songs. With his confessional stories and kooky tunes containing snippets of well know melodies like ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’, MCCA seemed to leave the largely female audience in a very good mood.



Possible ‘Next Big Thing’ band Foals filled the main support slot and this five piece from Oxford certainly lived up to the groundswell of hype that’s starting to grow around them. Playing a tight set of punchy Talking Heads inspired Indie, lead vocalist Yannis and the rest of the group jerked & jumped around the stage as they raced through a tight, cohesive half hour set that seemed over way too soon.

With only one EP & an iTunes exclusive release to their credit, it’s clear that the Noisettes’ growing legion of fans has built up through their reputation as impressive live performers.


It’s hard to describe the sound of the Noisettes, with a melange of musical & vocal influences to choose from. Comparisons have been made to bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, but while it’s easy to liken both groups because of their similar aesthetic indie pop appeal, there is something a lot heavier & grimier in the Noisettes’ sound.

Lead singer and Bassist Shingai Shoniwa is the group’s major draw card and like Karen O, Shoniwa is a beautiful and achingly stylish lead singer with a tendency to yelp, yip & shriek but there the comparison ends. The Noisettes’ front woman throws her bass & body around the stage with wild abandon as the trio pump out tune after tune of dirty blues inspired nouveau punk.



The bare footed vocalist’s impressive vocal range brings to mind a variety of other strong female singers, from the deep tonality of Erykah Badu during ‘Wind Blows Hot’, the off kilter style of Roisin Murphy in recent release ‘Sister Rosetta’ and even at times the cockney talky sing song style of Lily Allen. Meanwhile, the soaring riffs of guitarist Dan Smith climb over the heavy thump of bass and Jamie Morrison’s drums (who at times seems more whirlwind of hair and sticks than man).

There is an obvious chemistry between the trio as they seem to communicate in their own sign language and make each other laugh throughout the performance, which included dedications to Freddie Mercury and any ginger men in the audience.

Being part of an exclusive stable of bands signed to the Vertigo Record label; home to the likes of Razorlight & Dirty Pretty Things, Noisettes look set to make a strike towards music stardom over the coming year. With the First Album ‘What’s the time Mr Wolf’ due for release on the 5th of February, it will be interesting to see how much longer the trio will remain grounded enough to help their roadie tape down power cords and tune guitars in smoke filled underground venues.

FUTURE GIGS

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