August 3, 2007

Shy Child: Club NME, KOKO, London, Friday July 6

Disco funk thunder from Klaxons’ pals

Remember Death From Above 1979? The two-piece ear-bleed punk-rock merchants of whom CSS told the world that they liked to listen to while they bonked? Well evidently, so do Shy Child, the New York rave-up duo whose set-up bears more than a slight resemblance to DFA’s up close and personal noisy drums and guitar combo. Except for one thing…Instead of creating evil techno punk they dole out brain-bending electric cyber-pop, and instead of a normal six string in singer Pete Carfarella’s hands, there sits that bastion of corny, ’80s loser chic – a bloody keytar. Thankfully he hasn’t got the lank ponytail and Miami Vice rolled-up dinner jacket sleeves to go with it.

Nate Smith, meanwhile, bashes away fastidiously on drums during the fabulous replicant disco of ‘The Volume’ and recent single ‘The Noise Won’t Stop’. And ‘Astronaut’ has such a natty way with astral imagery and cosmological soundscapes it sounds like Douglas Adams, the author famed for giving us The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, has risen from the dead and formed a post-rave space-rock band. Which is probably why Muse chose them as one of the support acts on the recent mammoth Wembley Stadium gigs – the clever bastards. Leonie Cooper

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