Domenica 30 Set 2007, 8:39

It always warms the cockles to see a good crowd turn out for a deserving line-up of bands, so to see Highbury’s intimate Buffalo Bar packed for this instalment of the ever-reliable Silver Rocket night was reassuring stuff.

First up were up-and-coming London quartet Instruments, whose bright, energetic emo got the night off to a flyer. Though their love of Cap’n Jazz / Owls / American Football is both blindingly obvious (they have a song called ‘American Football or American Football?’ for Christ’s sake) and shared by a lot of young bands at the minute, Instruments are a revelation and, unexpectedly, a cut above everyone else on the bill.

For such a fresh-faced bunch, Instruments have some serious musical chops – the intricate interplay of their two guitarists anchored by roaring bass and flawless precision drumming, the band snaps between sudden shifts in tempo as if it's the easiest thing in the world – they're focused and razor-sharp, with irresistible melodies. Joyful stuff, and a band I expect (hope) to be hearing much more from in the near future.

But such an impressive opening makes Future Corpses’ job a lot more difficult, and tonight their performance is a little flat. They’re solid, there’s a certain charm to their Mineral-influenced instrumental emo and their guitarist uses loops to occasionally striking effect, but there’s nothing particularly memorable about this set, and the band seemed to look a tad frustrated. Perhaps that was just me though, and the Herculean quantities of Budvar I was steadily working my way through at the time. Well, not quite Herculean, but I like to think I made a respectable effort.

SonicFlyer are quite a break from the math-rock, their infectious shoegazer-influenced indie reminiscent of Going Blank Again-era Ride. They’re as introverted as you’d expect from a band who’ve clearly studied the poppier side of shoegazer rock to the letter, but their set is tightly delivered and easy on the ear. A band with plenty of potential, this one.

The night’s live entertainment was brought to end by Nottingham post-rockers Souvaris. Although the genre has started to slip into self-parody of late (as if the name wasn’t already awful enough), Souvaris combine the jazz of Tortoise and angular workouts of Don Caballero with Mogwai’s crushing crescendos and they certainly know how to put on a show.

The band close the set with a stunning rendition of the epic ‘The Young Ted Danson’, throwing shimmering guitars, raucous rhythms and, best of all, plenty of cowbell into the mix. The band even start a little procession around the club, marching upstairs and out of sight before reappearing in time for a rapturously-received encore.

And with that, I had to make my exit, otherwise I might have struggled to. Major kudos to Silver Rocket’s organisers for (again) arranging such a diverse bill of accomplished and exciting young bands – frankly, it was a top evening.

Tom Blackburn

(originally written for Time for Heroes)