I strolled into the intimate space that was East Brunswick Club’s bandroom, and was hit with the experimental tunes of Bum Creek. Much of it resembled music you would hear on television shows when a human is abducted into an alien laboratory. With two keyboards and drums, Bum Creek is definitely one of the most experimental bands on the Melbourne scene. The addition of the flute only made their sound more otherworldly, especially since the flute was played into a distorted microphone. To end the set, the drummer did a slow march across the floor, playing the flute. This somehow brought the atmosphere away from the depths of space and back into reality.
The two-man band, Fabulous Diamonds, was more down-to-earth than Bum Creek was. It’s not often one sees a female drummer who sings. By the second song, I had quite a bit of respect for Nisa Venerosa. She never failed to keep a steady beat with her drumming. The rhythms she had weren’t the most complicated, but the way she kept them going time after time was astounding. On the other hand, the keyboardist and echo-ey vocals didn’t appeal as much.
After seeing Pivot in Festival Hall supporting Sigur Ros, I had high expectations of them. I didn’t expect the sound quality to be as good as it was in Festival Hall, but East Brunswick Club definitely did well. The connection between the brothers Richard and Laurence Pike, was visible on stage as they dished out the funky tunes of their latest album, O Soundtrack My Heart. Electronic expert Dave Miller was in control of the laptop and continually managed to produce strange sounds just by tweaking the knobs on his keyboard. Rarely did he ever touch the keys.
The electronic workings of the keyboard were complimented with the whacky effects of the guitar and diverse drumming to produce a sound rich with funk and groove. Dave was doing a sort of interpretive dance while he maneuvered expertly through his software, his hands flicking in various directions to the beat.
O Soundtrack My Heart would probably be the highlight of my night. The main theme of the song that repeats just manages to yank my heart out every time and Pivot never fail to make me want to break out into a dance.
