Yes, Electric Spectre was at the geekiest of gigs. Because that’s how we roll. For those not in the know on cult geek rock artists, Jonathan Coulton is probably the worlds foremost slightly folky introspective nerd singer-songwriter. He’s responsible for such masterworks as ‘Re. Your Brains’ – a memo from a zombie office worker in anthemic indie rock, ‘Code Monkey’ – an upbeat lament of a lovelorn software engineer, and ‘Still Alive’ – the closing song from best video game ever (except Solar Jetman) – Portal. I know this because I spend a lot of time on the internet, and saw Coulton on his first UK gig in Dingwalls last year.
Paul & Storm – I know very little about. I’d heard the name, but not much more.
So – Paul & Storm. Despite looking like a pair of highly enthusiastic drama teachers, they had some funny, cool songs. Not quite as catchy or deep as JoCo, but with enough dick and fart jokes and vocal prowess – especially on Nun Fight – to make them ace in their own way.
Next – JoCo. Complaint out of the way at the start – it wasn’t as good as the Dingwalls gig. But that had nothing to do with the performance. The venue was too big. Acoustic gigs should be intimate affairs, with little by way of boundary between artist and audience, and the Empire can’t do that. But hey – it was still fantastic. With Paul and Storm providing backup the songs sounded ace and its great to see JoCo getting a bigger following. Next time Hammersmith Apollo with a full band? I hope so!
For people at the gig -it wasn’t a DS. It was an iPhone in a case. That was me. I think JoCo loses some nerd points for that blunder!
LINK – JoCo
LINK – Paul & Storm
