Matt & Kim @ The Relentless Garage, London. 23/3/11

Matt & Kim are an exciteable pair at the best of times, but tonight is a pretty special night for the Brooklyn duo. It's the first show in the UK that they've managed to sell out in advance and they seem just as eager to start playing as the audience are to start dancing. Their growing popularity seems to be mainly an old school word of mouth affair. Apart from popping up as background music on a few US tv shows and computer games there isn't any huge marketing spend at work here.

Their basic setup has stayed the same throughout their seven years of playing live together. Matt plays some fairly simplistic keyboard riffs whilst Kim lays down the beats on her pretty minimal drum kit/climbing frame, but these simple tunes reach a whole new level when played live due to the wild enthusiasm that the pair display at their shows. This frantic exuberance certainly seems to rubs off on the crowd. The whole venue has turned into one big party, which only serves to fuel the antics on stage. During the course of the evening we witness them leaping around like maniacs, dancing like strippers, standing on their instruments, crowd surfing and even crowd walking.

The set itself is a good mix of tracks form across the three studio albums with some cheesy covers thrown in to the mix (Better Off Alone, Sweet Child O' Mine and Just A Friend to name a few) and by the time the set ends with the final notes of "Daylight" the entire audience is one big sweaty mess. At this point the duo decide to join them for a "dance off". I'd imagine that they won.

Monotonix @ Upstairs At The Relentless Garage, London. 24/8/09

The Garage has just reopened after undergoing a fairly extensive refurbishment. After spending so much on the modernisation, it seemed rather odd that they booked in the band most likely to trash the place. Hailing from Tel Aviv (and rumoured to be banned from playing any of its venues), Monotonix are an act that puts on quite a show. They forsake the stage completely and set up their gear a few feet in front of it. They are all dressed only in the tiniest shorts I have ever witnessed. What ensues is utter chaos. Within the first five minutes we have a singer playing a floor tom whilst crowdsurfing, a guitarist climbing the walls and a drummer covered in beer – and this is just them getting warmed up.

The music consists of some fairly heavy rock jams with the odd song thrown in for good measure, but the music really does come second to the theatrics, raw energy and crowd participation. Members of the audience are now holding the bass drum up in the air, with the singer standing atop of it, screaming at and mooning the audience (gives a whole new meaning to the Gaza strip). I’ve lost sight of the guitarist completely. The drummer looks about to drown in his own sweat. A photographer tries to get a close up of the singer. He beckons him closer and then spits on the camera lens. I’ve spotted the guitarist. He’s behind the bar! Suddenly an hour has passed, the music stops and normality is resumed. I leave exhausted, smiling and covered in sweat and beer.

Oneida @ The Relentless Garage, London. 18/8/09

A rare London appearance for the New York 5 piece, promoting their ambitious new triple album, “Rated O”. How do you even begin to describe their sound? They are equal parts stoner rock, psychadelia, punk and garage - all played with the intensity of The MC5 at their greatest. The set is very heavily focused on the new album, with a couple of oldies thrown into the mix (“All Arounder “ from 2001's “Anthem Of The Moon” being a particular highlight). A projected light show , almost as psychedelic as the music, is covering the whole stage. The drummer is producing enough energy to power a small city. Tonight The O are about as intense as music can get. Long may they continue.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart / Hatcham Social @ The Relentless Garage, London. 4/8/09

So, finally the refurbishment of The Garage has been completed and, as seems to be the trend around these parts, now has a sponsors branding plastered everywhere. It's only a matter of time until i end up going to see a show at the Bodyform Luminaire or suchlike.

The first band i catch tonight are Hatcham Social. They start the set in a seemingly haphazard manner, which leaves me rather bewildered, but soon get into their stride. for a London based band, they have a very North West England vibe about their sound. There is certainly an Echo & The Bunnymenesue undertone to the tunes, albeit a more quirky tilt. By the end of the set, i am interested in pursuing them further (and not in a staker like way - just to be clear).

New York has created so many buzz bands in the last few years and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are no exception. I managed to catch their rather splendid set at Primavera this year, so i have some fairly lofty expectations for tonights show. Their debut album is certainly one of the catchiest debuts i've encountered since The Stone Roses hit the scene, and there are even some hints of the Manchester lads in the rhythm sections laid back beats. Add some shoegaze era fuzz into the mix and some uptempo keyboards and you have a most pleasant noisepop cocktail. It's also a pleasure to see a band having fun on stage and still keeping things tight. Overall, a solid performance of a great debut album.