ADD N TO (X) + ECHOBOY
London ULU 27th October 2000

A full house for this enticing double bill. Echoboy are up first. Although often lumped in with the new bunch of indie-electronica exponents, tonight they concentrate more on their song-based material (best of which is 'Kit and Holly') rather than the mighty electronica flavoured dub of the likes of 'Constantinople' from their debut album. Some of this lot used to be the Hybirds and they hark back to that particular band's sound more than I thought they would. If we had been given a set of the highlights of their debut album they would stolen the show from the headliners, but some of the performance is a bit lacklustre and fails to really grab the audience.
Add N To (X) are welcomed by the sold out crowd like they're conquering heroes. The basic trio of analog keyboardists and gadget operators is augmented by Stereolab's Andy Ramsey on drums, an addition which gives them a more 'rocky' edge, if you like. True, songs like 'Metal Fingers in my Body', 'Robot New York' and the recent single 'Plug Me In' (the nearest thing to a vocal, with it's repetitive vocoder refrain) are rather fab, but at the end of the day Add N To (X) are a bit short on memorable. Their set was short at just over half an hour, and I didn't mind that. Hit and miss.
(5/10)
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