The Prosaics / The Infadels / Radio 4 @ Islington Academy, London 17 Aug 2004

A word of advice to all new bands: never name your band after an adjective that means ordinary. It’s an easy peg for dull-witted critics on which to hang a review of your pedestrian, run of the mill recreation of the sombre driving rock of Queens of the Stone Age. New York-based three piece, The Prosaics have earned the attention of Matador Records who have made them one of their few recent signings, and now they’re joining fellow Americans Radio 4 on a UK tour. At the Islington Academy they are content to get their heads down and show off their range of guitars and wrenched vocals from lead man Andy Comer backed by the rumbling bass lines of Joshua Zucker and drums from Bill Keuhn. It occasionally threatens to become engrossing but the songs are too short to really get into. Meanwhile there’s not much trace of hooks or decent riffs on ‘Tenants’, one of the lead tracks of a forthcoming EP. The Prosaics are not terrible and there are some good moments, but for the most part they are too mundane, unexciting and, you know. . .

It’s a sharp contrast to The Infadels, bursting out of East London with a swagger, a sneer and a sharp hat. The UK’s answer to !!!, The Infadels possess even more charisma than the New York funk rockers and generate an even slicker sound. When not storming through some high-octane punk, the five-piece are playing around with rhythms, engaging the audience in call-and-response or in the case of the keyboard player, just being insane. Lead singer Bnann alternates between frantic and charming, sometimes shouting straight into the faces of the audience, other times singing with a quiet intensity, while guitarist Richie is an enigmatic and amusing presence. The sweat pools forming around the braying audience at the end is proof that The Infadels done more than warm this crowd up.

The last time I saw Radio 4 they were upstaged by an electro funk outfit with a demented keyboardist. On that day it was The Faint doing what The Infadels managed to achieve with ease tonight. While Radio 4 were greeted with cheers their bloated, hollow rock hardly deserved them. They played track after track from ‘Gotham’ and their new album, ‘Stealing of a Nation’ but it all blended into one monotonous breakbeat. New single ‘Absolute Affirmation’ did break the tedium with a swinging pop tone but it hardly impressed. Still their most famous song ‘Dance to the Underground’ continues to be a funk rock belter but how they’ve only managed to produce such mediocre music since then is baffling.

words: Colm Larkin

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