Savages + Beak> - Camden Electric Ballroom – 21^st February 2013

Tonight’s gig starts with dancers performing on the dance floor in slow motion to lumbering doom-electro. They begin as the audience enters, and they combine together to make fantastical looking creatures. It is quite simply the most inventive and imaginative introduction to a gig that I’ve ever seen.

The invention continues with Beak>. This is the side project of Geoff barrow from Portishead; comprising himself on drums, Billy Fuller on bass and Matt Williams on drums. They produce ethereal electro art-rock designed to take the listener to far-away places. The obvious Kraftwerk comparisons apply, but there is also an element of early Pink Floyd brought into play here. They make time stand still, in a good way.

Savages return us to a sense of electrified urgency, with a long (accidental?) burst of feedback before breaking into “Shut Up”. They exude an air of glacial danger and otherness which is downright intimidating. They vent their ire for a while on the “lazy monitor man” who is apparently missing from his post.

They are even tighter and more razor sharp than when I saw them at Brighton Haunt in the Summer. They seem to remain just on the right side of being in control with Jehnny Beth hitting herself during “Hit Me”. They end with “Husbands”, “Fuckers” and as seems to be usual, no encore. There is no waste with this band – they are lean, mean and dangerous. 21^st Century music as it’s meant to be played. Savages will melt your cerebral cortex.

                                                                                             Mark Kelly