ROBOTS & ELECTRONIC BRAINS

Man or Astroman? @ King Tut's, Glasgow

They must come from a parallel universe, never mind another planet. A universe where Devo rule the charts rather than the Spice Girls; Mouse on Mars are for the more sophisticated listeners, where for us feeble earthlings the nearest match is Pink Floyd. Man or Astroman? in fact look like they are Devo's half-cousins (test-tube inbreeding, I presume) but sound like nothing on earth, unsurprisingly. Well, that's not true, they sound like the aforementioned earthlings Devo in a jam session with Dick Dale and other surf guitar types. They're a bit lively too, apart from the guitarist who remains in the shadows. They're playing a bunch of stuff from their new 'Made from Technetium' album which soulds more space-age than their previous stuff, at least to these ears. The stage show is a joy to behold too---projected images of lunar landings and bizarre educational films from the 1960's are followed by the appearance of the lead singer with a burning tv on his head. The band leave a hot and sweaty audience shouting for more, though they are (slightly) disappointed as the encore consists what appears to be a large inflatable van der graaf generator which blows out the electrics in the venue after sending lightning shots to the ceiling.

Out of this world indeed. (Stuart)


Read the rest of Robots & Electronic Brains
Get your own Free Homepage