Three self-produced albums down the line and one drummer up, Eepil Eepil open the evening in spectacular style. They play a mixture of Frank Zappa style discordant pop deconstructions and Can/Faust style out and out rock weirdness which both falls apart and holds together in a way which belies the fact that they've been playing together for years. It's loud, unpredictable and the whole place goes crazy. A tough act to follow.

Following them are the usually gentle and friendly Pervenche, their line-up beefed up after their brilliant Penguin House show a couple of weeks ago with the return of a bass guitar and the assistance of the omnipresent Guy Blackman on keyboards. Perhaps intimidated by the spectacle that preceded them or perhaps aware of the Showboat's more rock-friendly sound system, they rip into an epic krautrock opener with Masako Kato stepping down from vocal duties and concentrating her energies on ferocious violin abuse. They show their gentle side but the impact is lost in the guitar-heavy mix and they return to effects-laden Stereolab-isms to close their set. Ace of course but anyone who left the venue having bought their three year old album "Subtle Song" would probably not recognise them.

A couple of the Australians in the audience put forward the theory that "Aussie Rules" or "Cricket" would be a more suitable name for the first of the two Melbourne bands playing tonight. Baseball open with a short, sharp violin-punk tirade against Bush, Blair and their cartel-governments, incorporating frequent trips into the surprised and frightened audience. A drum machine and an accordion mix things up a bit later on to create a sound both desperately uncool and cool as hell.

Another victim of the slightly overbearing sound mix is Nagoya band G-Spot Hunter whose glacial post-punk sound is captured much better on record than it is here. Nevertheless they keep it simple and if they don't quite hit the g-spot tonight they at least reach "e" which has to be worth a shudder and a moan.

Last up then is Love Of Diagrams, the second Australian band of the evening. They seem a little uncomfortable with the mostly Japanese crowd so there is not much communication with the audience and again they have problems with the sound. Still, they tear through their largely instrumental set with professionalism, musical skill and well-modulated rage. Worth a cheap reference to Mission Of Burma as well while I'm at it. -Ian Martin, Jan.06.04

www.loveofdiagrams.com
Pervenche (Clover records)
Guy Blackman (Chapter Music)