ELECTRELANE/ GO COMMANDO
Barfly at Camden Monarch
26th February 2001
This was the debut London performance from Belfast-based Go Commando, and also the first time that I had seen them. By way of introduction I should explain that Go Commando have been around for about two years, and they include members from two of Belfast's more worthwhile acts of recent years - Tunic (Tanya is on vocals/guitar) and Chimera (Steven is on bass). I'm glad that's out of the way because there's nothing worse than being compared to your past achievements.
Anyway, it's hard to pin down what Go Commando sound like, as they have little in common with their previous outfits. It takes them a few songs to get into their stride but when it does they're genuinely impressive. I can't put a name to everything but two songs which really stand out are 'And Suddenly She Smiled' which is really catchy, especially when the flute comes in, and 'Barflyin', which manages to mix a good tune and a mighty bassline with lots of abrasive elements.
There is a lot of potential for Go Commando to develop, especially when they have extra instrumentation (such as flute, keyboards etc) to take them away from the standard indie-rock formula.
Electrelane are headlining and although I was quite looking forward to seeing them, I must admit that I found them a bit dull. An instrumental four-piece, they come from the Stereolab/ space-rock end of things. Although they've released a lot more material than Go Commando I found that their music wasn't as memorable. Maybe it's just an off night for them because the single I heard last year was pretty good, and the debut album has some fine tunes on it. Probably worth giving them the benefit of the doubt this time.
