HEALTH (London Luminaire, 01/05/08)

Checked out hotly-tipped noise rockers HEALTH on a complete whim on Thursday, and was pretty damned impressed. Atonal spazz-rock isn't normally my bag, but even though I still wasn't entirely sold on their music their live performance is a jaw-dropping explosion of sound and energy- flailing guitarists, frantic fretwork and SO MUCH DRUMMING. Seriously, the Zangief-alike drummer was fucking AMAZING on his own (I'm talking John Stanier good) but with all other members joining on percussion duties the set descended into a veritable storm of 100-decibel drumbeats that left my ears ringing for days afterwards.

Really enjoyed openers Pre, who were a completely mental blend of CSS and Melt Banana; the other band Skeletons came across as Dirty Projectors-meets-Yeasayer-meets-Menomena-meets-total-insanity; a bit outre for my tastes but they definitely couldn't be accused of being 'generic'...

(Photo: Exceedingly Good Keex (Flickr))