“This place is like the perfect firetrap,” a friend observed as we descended into the basement level of the Civic Hotel. Indeed, with its complicated layout, low ceiling and single bottleneck escape route, it was a fairly apt description of where Slopfrenzy – Popfrenzy’s wobbly hungover-but-still-kinda-drunk cousin – was held at the weekend.

Opening with a string of local talent, including Sydney’s indefatigable Tennis and dreamy four piece Shady Lane, it was worth dragging your fragile new-years-eve-stricken body there on time.
Canvas Kites, born from the ashes of Sydney’s Mercy Arms, sees frontman, Thom Moore, turn down his former broody loopiness in favour of some straight-up summery guitar pop. The charmingly understated trio know a thing or two about constructing the perfect melody, layering Moore’s shoegaze vocals atop swirling guitars and playful harmonies. Closing with debut single, Wayside, the band tied up the night’s more pop-friendly half.

UK’s Micachu and the Shapes brought in the night’s first slew of obscure, experimental sounds with their chaotic instrumentals and Mica Levi’s distinctly androgynous vocals. Pausing to complain about the heat, “I don’t know how you guys get anything done,” the band skips effortlessly between Lips’ jittery skeletal guitars to Golden Phone’s infectiously rigid rhythms. Even in a live setting the band’s wonderful use of those fleeting moments of silence used to offset the heavy bursts of noise in songs like Turn Me Well work brilliantly.

Next up was Baltimore’s best live band – Ponytail. It’s hard to put your finger on just why this band is so appealing to watch. Perhaps it’s the way they slather those joyfully rich, gravelly waves of guitar over their rollicking percussion in such generous sweeps. Perhaps it’s the way their sound spirals its way through the room like a malfunctioning kaleidoscope. They do owe a great deal of their appeal to their pixie-faced front-woman, Molly Siegel, whose unpredictable bouts of incoherent bleats, coos, and whoops seem to exist independent of anything else going on around them – they do their own thing, and if they fit in, fine, if they don’t, even better.

Brooklyn duo Telepathe followed. Opening their set with the hollow, cascading synths and synchronised chants of their best-known single _ Chrome’s On It_, it was quickly apparent that their gentle vocals were going to suffer some drowning out in a room where the acoustics honestly aren’t that great. Despite that, they enthralled with the jittery percussion and delicately pretty melody of Michael whilst Livaudais took to the drum pads for the rolling marching band percussion of In Your Line as Gangnes wandered into the crowd briefly. Trilogy and Devil’s Trident were both disarmingly eerie with their minimal, shimmery synth, crippling bass and unsettling schoolgirl chants. The girls sure know how to haunt a room with their mile-long gazes and nursery-rhyme violent lyrics. Finishing up with their most dance-friendly song, So Fine, they left us wanting a set twice as long.

Local three-piece Seekae were the last of the bands and having not come across them before, I was blown away by their clever production and madcap stage presence. Obviously heavily influenced by the complex, visceral sounds of math-rock geniuses like Battles, Seekae combine the melancholy of Boards of Canada with crisp organ spills and ripe industrial blips – the vocals truly something special. These boys are definitely ones to watch on the live circuit.