Yo Chomsky!

Breaking out of the basement for their first headline show is Yo Chomsky!, who have come to be THE band to have at your house party. If you’ve ever wondered what happened to modern pop-music then Yo Chomsky! offer some convincing answers. Drawing from all that is good in pop history, they take a modernist approach to music, merging sample vocals in the vein of Loleatta Holloway (you know, Black Box, Ride on Time...), improvised drum’n’bass programmes and new-wave guitars together in a blistering half-hour show.

Frontman Alex’s on-stage pomp and the somewhat grand way he holds his voice in 'Humble Pie' give the impression of a raved up Martin Fry (he even has the gold jacket..), but it isn’t ’til he pulls out a rap (more Vanilla Ice than Mike Skinner but it works) in 'The Wasteland' that you get the true scope of where Yo Chomsky! are coming from, especially when we are treated to an actual T. S Eliot sample - how many other bands can offer that?



Grimy bass-lines , keyboard melodies of early-’90s techno in 'Don’t Read Heat', big-beat distorted bass-drums in 'I Can’t Feel It': it’s all here to get you moving in a kind of dance-through-the-ages repertoire, and Alex does all he can to engage the crowd in a mass-rave.

Word has spread about this band and though it doesn’t take much to fill the backroom of the Maze, there was a lively enough crowd - making full use of the supplied glow-sticks - to return the hectic movement on stage. The music was hindered somewhat by the modest stage-space afforded by the venue, which meant that the band-members were playing on top of each other and the sound only got to the audience in a distorted ricochet. The band would definitely benefit from a broader stage and some kinder acoustics to deliver the full breadth of their zesty synth-pop, but they are used to playing the tiny student house parties so at least this time they weren’t playing off sofas and shelving units.



As a band still refining their sound and building their fan base, this gig offered a halfway house between playing the spontaneous, there-for the-moment house-gigs where the crowd is literally on top of the band, towards a greater platform where the band’s sound may really synthesize. Nevertheless what you have in Yo Chomsky! is a modern-day pop-band who have the power to get you dancing, reminiscing and raving. Their spur-of-the-moment energy - which perhaps has made it difficult to put anything down on disc - is worthy of a look-in so keep your ears open because pop is cool again.

FUTURE GIGS

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