Emancipated from my weekly jail sentence to the man I endeavoured to expel all memory of the office week at the Northcote Social Club. Lost Valentinos, who I have been MySpace stalking for the last few weeks, were about to embark on the Melbourne leg of their Serio single launch that night and there was a hop skip and a jump in my step in anticipation of their performance. The Lost Valentinos have a sound that takes its essence from the genre of electronic indie dance music adding the clear vocals of the lead singer and a percussion section that release beats that encourage nothing but uncontrollable dancing.

The Northcote Social Club was filled with Melbourne scene-sters that hugged the stage pre performance, edging up to the curtain like a pack of vultures waiting for a caucus to devour. There was a hunger in their eyes and dance depravity in their limbs. Being a virgin in a Lost Valentinos show I thought this erratic behaviour signified the dance craziness to follow… The Lost Valentinos arrived on stage to mass applause. One dedicated fan strategically placed himself at the fore front dancing like he was at a New Years Eve rave and joyfully singing along to all the words, but to my surprise the crowd rest of the who had once hugged the stage, stood stagnate. There was a leg twitch here and a sideways shuffle there but nothing that could be even closely equated to bopping let alone dancing.

As each song ended the crowd roared with applause which was the only verification that the performance was appreciated. The Sydney based five piece band continued to battle on, the lead singer using every indie move to evoke movement in the crowd, from the scissor hands dance to balancing on top of the drum kit and when all seemed lost, he entered the crowd. This seemed to work, like awakening the zombies from a mass grave the group began to dance. However this all seemed too little to late as the band finished their short set one song later.

Lost Valentinos played their debut single Serio along with other songs such as Thief, Francisco, Bismarck and Midnights. The Lost Valentinos have been together since 2004 and this showed in their performance which was organic and seemed to fit like a well known pair of winter socks. However in the musical climate of such bands as the Presets and MGMT their sound seemed a ‘bit same same but different’.

The single Serio was produced in the UK where the band has seemed to make an impression hooking up much converted gigs later this year at the Nottinghill Art club and Clash magazine. In addition they have also been announced in the first line up of Splendour in the Grass 2009.

Lost Valentinos will release their full album, Cities of Gold in June 2009. It seems that Australia will have to wait till the winter months to hear more from this band… but if you are the impatient kind you can web stalk them at their MySpace page

CHECK OUT THE INDIE MOVES HERE