ISA & THE FILTHY TONGUES
Edinburgh, Nexus
Live @ the Bongo Club
Friday 24th November 2006
The truth is, I didn’t quite know what I was letting myself in for with this show. It turns out that Nexus Live is a web-broadcasting event with the entire 3 hour show being beamed around the globe. Whilst principally about live bands there’s one or two other elements.
First up though are a band, ENDOR. They are pleasant enough, dipping into folk almost at one point, with the odd hint of modernity. But they really wash over me even though they generate a decent atmosphere as they have brought through a couple of dozen mates, who even do the clapping bit when bidden. Edges? Not really.
We then get a short stand-up set (amongst the audience) from an American. Edgy? Non-PC? Hmm, maybe but the trouble is he explores familiar territory and wasn’t really that funny.
The second band on, THE CUTS, have been attracting a little attention recently to the extent that even I have heard of them. The trouble is they seem t o want to cover as many noisy, shouty, bases as possible - Arctic Monkeys, Libertines, punk - they even close with a couple of numbers featuring a synth. At times it’s as horrible as you would imagine but at others they have a certain charm. What they need more than anything though is a sense of who the Cuts are rather than trying to imitate their heroes. Edges? Too many but none of them cutting.
Which I thought would lead us into ISA & THE FILTHY TONGUES. Not quite. First up is the bizarre BOX WARS. It’s kind of like Robot Wars but without the robots and with the sleek metal design aesthetic of the TV show replaced by, well, the not so sleek design aesthetic of your average cardboard box.
Cardboard box carnage with Box Wars!
Essentially four people are dressed up in fantastical cardboard box outfits then proceed to beat the shit out of each other. The aim seems to be to destroy your opponents’ costumes but it’s surprisingly violent. No one seems to get hurt though and a young girl emerges as the winner although the criteria for winning seems a little uncertain. Entertaining? Worryingly so. Bizarre – certainly!
So finally to the Filthy Tongues. When they take to the stage there is something of an artificial gap between the audience and stage due to the remnants of the Box Wars carnage littering the floor.
That’s quickly sorted but it seems a bad omen for the early part of the set. When I first saw them in May, my attention was immediately grabbed by the opening two songs. They play the same two songs to start with tonight but their impact is nullified due to technical hitches.
‘Nae Tongues’ suffers badly from Martin Metcalfe’s guitar disappearing completely from the mix at one point and even when he gets it back it still sounds muted. ‘Dreamcatcher’ suffers from the same problem, which is a big loss since the metallic guitar is one of the key elements of the song. The other key element, Stacey’s delivery of the vocals, suffers almost the same fate as her voice is very low in the mix.
Fortunately after such a flat opening things start to improve from there on in, despite the crowd being somewhat sparse. By the middle of the main set (and ‘Education’) the band are surpassing the recorded versions of the songs, even if the vocals remain disappointingly quiet. Compared to last time the set carries more impetus thanks to a little tweaking and it closes on a souped up version of ‘I’ll Do What I Want’ complete with a satisfying guitar wig-out to finish.
We get a couple of encores, ‘Big Star’, which had been played at the Swamp but which I had completely forgotten about since it isn’t on the album and a slightly uncertain and not entirely successful cover of ‘The Model’. Overall though it’s a good show if not quite touching the heights I’d hoped for.
The good news is that you should be able to see all of the above bands (maybe even Boxwars!) at www.nexuslive.com at some point in the near future.
Setlist
Nae Tongues
Dreamcatcher
She Said Yea
Sorority Girl
Trouble
Education
Finder's Fuckers
Celebration Girl
I'll Do What I Want
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Big Star
The Model
Links for this show
Isa & The Filthy Tongues official site
Isa & The Filthy Tongues Myspace
The Swamp review May 2006
Nexus Live website
The Box Wars official site
