Spoon, New Pornographers

Unsurprisingly KOKO was heaving, on all four levels. The best place to be as always, downstairs in the throng. Spoon were excellent - all hypnotic drum rhythms, resounding bass and heavy chords on the keys. With hits from Gimme Fiction like I Turn My Camera On and Sister Jack I was an immediate fan. Not to mention their sinewy lead singer and we've-been-doing-this-for-years-and-we're-from-Austin-Texas performance. Jake (fan) was mesmerised.

And then the New Pornographers. This whole night was pornography, of the aural kind. So spectacular were NP that they eclipsed what on any other occasion would have been a hugely satisfying headline. Carl Newman heads up this Canadian collective - formed in '97 - which is now eight musicians strong. He usually shares front-stage with Neko Case, but she is off on solo things and his long-lost niece, Kathryn Calder, has stepped up to lead vocals (female) and keys. And my, does she do the job. Ignorant of this, I assumed they's been in partnership for years and that some of the songs were hers, such was the rapport between them and their voices.

Oh how I love the NP's poppy ('shooo wa-wa-wa' often a suitable substitute if you don't know the words), 80s, theatrical, off-beat, big style thang. Harmonies are divine and three-part, voices clear and strong and songs multi-faceted (read two choruses) and full of open eyes and humour. Twin Cinema - their third and latest album - is so good it's hard to pick out favourites from tonight's set but Use It, The Bleeding Heart Show, Sing Me Spanish Techno, Star Bodies and the title track all elicited much stamping / screaming / whooping / whistling. A word for the hugely talented rhythm section - the heights this band reaches owe a great deal to them. A residing image = the drummer's stick spinning above his head as things peak. Awesome. I was transported.

Venue: KOKO
Band websites: Spoon, New Pornographers
Myspace: Spoon (myspace), New Pornographers (myspace)
Pitchfork reviews:
Gimme Fiction (Spoon)
Twin Cinema (New Pornographers)