Oddly the floor of the Northcote Social invites punters to plonk themselves down on the booze soaked floral carpet. But the crowd slowly rises and creeps cautiously forward as the Witch Hats began their set, even though they arrive on stage looking like they’ve just woken up.

Caution is always advisable with a Witch Hats performance, not for reasons of quality but simply because there’s something worryingly unhinged about Kris Buscombe presence and tonight bass player Ash Buscombe has decided to don a towelling bathrobe which looks more – œstreet corner crank’ than Big Lebowski Dude. They’re dazzlingly awkward between songs, reduced to startled non-sequiters and clumsy introductions (Hi, hi… hi… hi… g’day…) but once they’re playing everything comes together into a bristling lofi assault.

The opening three tracks are all lifted from the new EP Solarium Down The Causeway (the first release for Z-Man Records) are dirty and dark, but less fearsomely abrasive and cluttered than their older tracks. With typical nonchalance Kris observes that “It smells weird in here” before the band lurch into the highlight of their set Fucking with the Atmosphere – the title lyric spat out somewhere between blunt observation and veiled threat.

Like the Witch Hats, Love of Diagrams are keen to show off their new material – it is their album launch after all. Their main set list is drawn entirely from their new album Nowhere Forever, which doesn’t exactly do a lot for audience interaction or recognition, but the playing the same set in a few months will get a far more vocal reaction as punters wake up to the many joys of the new record.

To borrow far too literally from their name it’s tempting to place their sound in the central overlap of Venn circles labelled “Shoegaze” (Ride, My Bloody Valentine) and “Pre-grunge College Rock” (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr.). It’s obvious to hear why they were signed up by Matador for the last album, but sadly also clear why the Matador relationship was so short-lived. Squeezing a mere ten songs into their hour on stage, including an encore of The Pyramid – the “hit” from previous album – they’re not prone to writing anything that’s aimed at high radio rotation.

The lyrics are often little more than repeated slogans (- œYou’re the setting sun’, – œGo tell it to the mountain/ go tell it to the sea’) but despite the clear vocal mix it’s the looping guitar lines that carry the performance and songs. Mark Nelson of The Stabs joined the band on several tracks to add an extra guitar depth, with his absences from the stage are compensated by a dose of extra volume from the guitar slung by Luke Horton.

The layers of distorted guitar could easily invite the punters to resume their places splayed about on the carpet, though the presence of Antonia Sellbach’s basslines counters that impulse. Even without Sellbach impersonating Kim Deal or Peter Hook, the only option is to stand, with the venue filled to capacity with a collection of head nodding characters, mostly in their thirties or (gasp) even older. The crowd treats the performance with a reverent awe and, though the The Pyramid receives the largest response, the tracks from the new album are sure to become fan faves -especially Forever, which was hampered slightly by a false start from Horton.

Few albums so perfectly pair their cover imagery with the sounds contained on the record as with the wavy lines and mind trickery that features on the cover of Nowhere Forever. The vinyl has been promised by the time they hit the stage for the Springtones festival at Roxanne on grand final night, or at least by the time they play at the Tote in early December, by then the new songs will have sunk in with the punters.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE GIG HERE