Pop Review: Rock for young punks
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Your support makes all the difference.Music fanatics for the future generation have arrived early. You can tell by the baby hair moulded into feathers (the Oasis look), piercings on otherwise healthy-looking skin and the talk of so and so's brother who's in a band. Bruising vibrations spiral from the floor and well before Andy Wood murmurs, "Welcome to sound", we know that Ultrasound are parent- hating rock 'n' roll.
The five members of Ultrasound perform music for young punks with Abba- esque showmanship. Certainly Andy Wood has chosen hand flickers and arm stretches in contrary minimalism to his cavernous voice. Bassist and sometime diva Vanessa Green spends more time with her back to the audience; and the only member we can see clearly is the drummer (who has taken his top off by the second track). They possess an otherness that the A&R scrum have not failed to exploit.
Their debut single, "Same Band", launches the show with keyboard bleeps and bass guitar distortions like a Sega soundtrack to a pinball machine. It storms into short riffs and spins until Andy's calming wash of soul- searching lyrics begins. Not that the guitar stops, as a momentous climax once again spirals into speed solo. It's exhausting and explains the energy- saving choreography of their performance.
Enter "Suckle", a haunting lullaby about a time "once young"; it sounds like The Doors, a nostalgic nod with eastern echoes and storming lyrics. "Hey kids! rock 'n' roll is here, so scream all you like," sings Andy. He means it. And for some reason you let it slide that songs like "Stay Young" persist with the idea that you have to be young to rock.
The set ends with "Everything Picture", like a Britpop tune that supplants feeling for hedonism, with a touch of The Beatles and the ambitious soundscape of Pink Floyd, making it, in contemporary terms, somewhere between Pulp with soul and Oasis without the cliches.
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