THE AISLERS SET
London ROTA sessions at Notting Hill Arts Club 31st March 2001
It's a Fortuna Pop! afternoon, and this free gig was well publicised in the London press, two facts which combine to create a definite buzz in this small venue.
The Aislers Set have been struggling with the dreaded 'best kept secret' tag since their album 'The Last Match' got rave reviews last year, although hardly anyone heard it. That situation is partly rectified by a few gigs in the capital and the Fortuna Pop re-issue of the album, plus a new EP to keep it company.
Their music is the usual indie jingle-jangle but they do it so well, mixing in the Ramones, 60s garage bands, Spector-ish girl groups, and getting just the right combination to pull it off. They could be awful, but they're not, and in fact they're the best group of their genre since Sleater-Kinney. They get compared to S-K a lot which is unfortunate because the Aislers Set seem to be more in love with pop music than many of their contemporaries.
Really in this day and age retro-guitar pop should be consigned to the past, but when the Aislers Set do it, it sounds like the best pop music around. Hand claps, choruses and some nicely fuzzed-up guitars make them hard to resist. A very electric afternoon.
