January 18, 2000

London Camden Falcon

For once, a band who instead of moping about onstage trying to cultivate disaffected indie cool, look like they absolutely fucking [I]love [/I]being up there...

For once, a band who instead of moping about onstage trying to cultivate disaffected indie cool, look like they absolutely fucking love being up there, like they wouldn't want to exist if they weren't doing this. There are seven of Wolverhampton's Papa Mantra squashed on the stage, they seem to have nicked The Beautiful South's brass section and everything they do with it is perfect. Whether it's draped all over 'Soft In The Middle''s beautifully slack-arsed keyboard refrain or stabbing through the breathy insistence of current single 'Out Of Your Tree', what comes across most is the total joy this band can't help generating.

The fact that they appear to have a mini-Norman Cook on bass and Alexei Sayle on sax hampers them not at all. They're in love with everything and just can't stop themselves letting everyone know.

They finish with 'Dirty Little Ways', a skittering, pug-nosed, edgy thing, which swiftly breaks into unfettered euphoria, layers and layers of weirdo sounds and big dirty brass making it scummy, sluttish and utterly irresistible. For now, we couldn't ask for more.