Song, by Toad

[Photo a bodged version of one of David Forcier's pics.]

You have to admire Limbo.  How the hell they manage to put on a three-band lineup every week is frankly beyond me, but to do it and still have so many great bills is a seriously commendable achievement.  And this week, once again, they’ve produced a corker.

Findo Gask only have a couple of singles to their name, but they are both absolutely superb, particularly the slightly enigmatic, insidiously catchy One Eight Zero.  There are a lot of bands making catchy pop songs with an epileptic casio edge to them, however, and that is not, for me, what sets Findo Gask apart tonight.  The difference is in the excellence of the drummer and the elusive sadness of some of the music.  It’s not just dancefloor electropop by any means, although that is superficially what it can sound like, there’s actually a sense of longing in their somewhere which gives the music a really captivating element of mystery.

Maybe it’s Gerard Black’s keening vocal; his voice sounds a lot like King Creosote’s, albeit with just a little more falsetto.  It carries the same innate sense of yearning for something never quite explained, and perhaps helps explain why they have that little bit extra about them as a band.  Black himself is pretty camp, and viewed through that lens, I suppose you could start to view the music as slightly camp as well.  However, that extra dimension to the vocal and, I’ll say it again, the excellent live drumming keep the music in a slightly different territory and, crucially, well clear of pigeonholes.

They only have two singles to their name, so it’s very much premature to go making judgements, but on the back of both those releases and their excellent Limbo show I reckon these guys have serious potential.  Now, anyone know where the fuck I can get hold of a copy of Va Va Va on vinyl, because the bastards appear to have sold out.

Findo Gask – One Eight Zero

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Findo Gask – Wrapped in Plastic (Live)

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