neon neon

by Ric Rawlins
Sun, 2008/07/06 - Cargo, London
ARTROCKER RATING:
Pulling up outside tonight’s venue in the car from Back To The Future, Boom Bip and Gruff Rhys get out, dust themselves down, and stroll inside like billionaire time travellers. On the pop gimmick factor of one to ten, it’s pop gimmick factor ten. The car’s the message of course: Neon Neon are obsessed with it’s cigar chomping, playboy designer John DeLorean. As Gruff himself puts it, tonight’s gig is about all about the man – “from birth to death in approximately an hour.”
it’s a relief to find that Neon Neon’s robo-pop is well suited to a club environment...
Gradually, the sheer corporate craziness of Delorean unfolds on the video screens. Whether it’s the porno-style imagery of his car racing across a tropical island, or photos of Raquel Welch modelling bikinis (the two had a fling), it seems he was The Man Who Had It All. After their strangely disconnected performance at Glastonbury, it’s a relief to find that Neon Neon’s robo-pop is well suited to a club environment: ‘I Lust You’ is mournful and haunting, while Har Mar Superstar slam dunks the stage during ‘Sweat Shop’. Of course, this would all mean nothing if the songs didn’t empathise with the human hearts behind the corporate greed. When Gruff sings “Oh Raquel, you’ve really got the power over me!” it may be amusing, but it’s strangely pathetic too. By tackling man’s worst excesses, this group have come up sparkling with soul.

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