Piecing together second hand accounts from those who were lucky enough to catch them at ATP, Nick Cave impressions and calisthenics dancing was what was expected from Afrirampo. Unfortunately, no fake moustaches or crazy moves were pulled out at the Corner, but, damn, can these ladies from Osaka rock the shop. The audience were eating out of the palms of their hand, everyone craning forward to catch their banter of mixed Japanese and English. Gloriously noisy and disjointed, but with an obvious ear for melody, their kooky call and response lyrics, had everyone smiling and moving. Pika certainly knows how to thrash the skins, starting the night with energy and buzz.

“Afrirampo are a loud noisy duo, something kind of like a pop version of the Boredoms.”
“Oh great, sounds energetic.”
“They totally are. So why don’t we bung on a woozy stoner hazy psychedelic band that is, get this, the exact opposite of the preceding band in every way?”
“Whoa man, like, deep.”

Note: This conversation is a broad reenactment of what may or may not have actually happened at some point in time.

Adjusting to the gaping contrast of a lineup choice, was not altogether easy, but with a good band it’s also not that hard. Dead Meadow are a group prone to sprawling fuzzy but lean guitar solos, that showcase the unpretentious but staggering talent of guitarist Jason Simon. The rhythm section of Kille [bass] and McCarty [drums] provide the framework for the chugging riffs and harmonies that really hammer home the fact that this band has been playing together for ten years. A personal and crowd favourite Such Hawks, Such Hounds from critically acclaimed album Feathers began the hour long set, that seemed to last only for a few minutes. The material is split down the middle with the old and the new, but the band seems to step up a level when they play their best songs from Feathers. The intensity is such that time is rendered meaningless, as Kille’s lips seem to be fused to his bottle of Wild Turkey, and the audience are drenched in psychedelic-influenced, grunge heavy splendour.

Fuck Button’s Street Horrsing was a standout release of 2008 and for good reason. With such a brilliant debut album, it was always going to be quite interesting to see how it all translated live. Where to begin? It all starts with dimmed lighting and an unassumingly beautiful melody, joined by a synth line looping itself, before a heavy wall of distortion kicks in and then there’s the best part. That ghoulish heavily modulated punky screech that is indecipherable, like much of Ben Power’s wailing throughout Fuck Button’s entire set. Sweet Love for Planet Earth is a perfect entrance to the Fuck Buttons world of repetitive synthesised drones, layers of dense noise, underpinned by tribal rhythms and a delicacy of melody that lends a perfect balance to the dense noise elements. Not quite pure noise, definitely not pop, perhaps a more accessible Black Dice may be a vague reference point, but an injustice to Fuck Buttons, who are well and truly their own sound.

Power has come from a hardcore background and his fellow Fuck Botton Andrew Hung an electronic one, and it’s when these two converge as on Race You to My Bedroom/Spirit Rise, when Power screams through a Fisher Price microphone, that the elements combine and assault the willing crowd. Hung is at his most animated and twitching like a marionette, while Power pounds at a floor tom when they play the tribally influenced Ribs Out, an album and live highlight. Hung then whips out and plugs in his gameboy and the crowd start to cheer when the “happiest” track off the album Bright Tomorrow starts up and the front of the crowd start to loosen up a little.

Aside from when Power uses live percussion, this is the best moment of the set and Hung also dances and jerks around some more. Again, time and place seem to be skewed and warped, for an hour long set passes by in what seems like a song, due to the heavy repetitive nature of all of the songs. A flick of the switch marks the end of the Fuck Buttons and the night, with repetition and loops leaving the crowd slightly dazed and disoriented, which really is the perfect way to go out.