The mere mention of the word “Dardanelles” brings to mind two things: war, and great music. Luckily tonight’s show provided the crowd with the latter. With an already mostly full bar, Twist Oliver Twist played to a largely responsive crowd, performing their mix of electronica with vocals, which some may call “nu-rave” – others prefer “dance rock”, or “indie dance”, amongst other tags. I personally will not categorise the music, but based on those three genres, I’m sure you get the idea of the band’s musical style. Definitely one of Brisbane’s better bands who play this particular electronic style, with a great combination of danceable beats, semi-whining vocals, strong stage presence and oh so fashionable dress sense. If you can, get along to their show this Friday night, once again, at Rics. And bring your dancing shoes.

With the crowd tightly packed into the small bar, Dardanelles got the crowd moving with their dancey rock styings. Delivering their songs with a well-polished sound, the Melbourne four-piece played one of the cleanest, most enjoyable sets seen at Rics for a long while. Promoting their new single Footsteps off their forthcoming debut album, the band played their first ever gig in Brisbane in conditions most other new, young bands would kill for – perfect acoustics, a packed-out, receptive audience, and a great atmosphere across the whole performance area. Also playing great songs off their EP which was released late last year, including Origami Tree and Georgi Zhukov, the Melbournites performed with expert musicianship rarely seen in such young bands. With the set ending all too early in my view (I just wanted to dance for the rest of the night – no fault of the band), the thought of seeing them perform once again next month (August 10, to be exact) at the newly-established Exile night at the Platform, and then again in late September supporting The 1990’s at The Zoo, will help me alleviate my dance-itch for the next couple of months. If anyone else needs to cure the same affliction, feel free to join me!