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The Noisettes, Land of Talk, and Thieves Like Us- Concert Review
Prog-rock, punk, and indie rock converge on Mercury Lounge in New York
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 Friday night, March 24th the Mercury Lounge in New York City hosted a multi-level arrangement of rock groups opening with Sweden’s electro-prog rock band Thieves Like Us, segueing into indie rock with Montreal’s Land of Talk and then plunging into boisterous punk rock with the UK’s premiere band The Noisettes. Each cauterized with their own individual sound and instrument phrasings, all prolific in their coiling lines and voicing’s, and all succeeded in engaging their audiences.
Thieves Like Us (www.thieves-like-us.com) started the show with synthesized symphonies of multi-layered timbres and tones careening through the tracks racing, trebling, and spuming with hydrodynamic sound waves made by the Korg synthesizer. The rhythm of the tribal-Celtic beats pumping the medleys ranged from wild and fiery to tottering grooves produced by the Roland octo-pads drum kit. The vocals floated along the melodic folds similarly to the progressive rock contours of The Cars and the more contemporary FischerSpooner. Band members Pontus, Andy, and Bjorn are looking forward to more clubs dates through England and Germany in the coming months, playing their rakishly inventive and booming atmospheric compositions from their debut CD Discoteque.
The show moved into the tonality of indie rock with Land of Talk (www.myspace.com/landoftalkmtl) from Montreal. Band mates Elizabeth Powell (lead vocals and guitar), Tim Chris (bass guitar), and Bucky Wheaton (drums) recently released their debut album together called Applause Cheer Boo Hiss. They performed the tracks with a deep feel for the interplay between their instruments and affection for the phonics and ambling chord transitions. This is a band that challenges and incites each other into a tizzy of riffling verses. Each is a catalyst for the others, prodding and tugging each other into a frisky bandy. Elizabeth’s vocal resolutions have a folksy texture comparable to Courtney Jaye and Holly Palmer of the Cardigans with a backdrop of rock riffs and sizzling crystalline drum rolls. Land of Talk continues to tour through the States and Canada in the coming months.
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The lively raid is boosted up to speed with The Noisettes (www.thenoisettes.com). A three piece band hailing from London, England with a definite UK sound not just in their British accents but also in their punk rock tremors, brash lyrical style, and pulverizing drum tups. Their music is a collection of all the vociferous elements that made The Sex Pistols, The Pixies, and The Clash a gravitational force for teenage angst in their heyday.
The Noisettes create razor sharp shrills, digging ridges, distorted riff concoctions, and dysfunctional mashups played with a subterranean intensity for their instruments. They rip through their tools with shredding sounds, lacerating vocals, and ballistic rumpus. Their intertwining lines vary from raucous, chaotic masses to a slather of sleek, balladry choruses and fluid resonance with tight vocal harmonies and soft rock rhythmic beats.
When the simmering welts, the band punts back into a pellet of bruising, chafing, blistering, and puncturing brunts. Piling the instrument sequences and tying them together in a clash of furious flusters and hammering frequencies.
Mounting the boisterous passages is lead vocalist and bass guitarist Shingai Shoniwa. Producing the tumultuous cyclones are lead guitarist Dan Smith, and bushy haired drummer Jamie Morrison. The Noisettes formed in 2003, as an offshoot of the UK band Sonarfly. The Noisettes recently released their debut album Moods Of The Noisettes. They have club dates through the States and have played a few shows at the SXSW (South by Southwest) Festival in March.
The Noisettes are as loud as their name supposes and as vividly rambunctious live with all the punk-osity of a native UK punk rock band that audiences have come to let loose with and fancy.
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Susan Frances is a music reviewer and features columnist for Musiqtone. You can reach her at