Art vs. Science have had indie kids around the nation tearing up the dance floor since “Flippers” hit the airwaves mid last year. The boys packed up their party bus and hit the road on their Magic Fountain tour, stopping by Hi Fi bar in Melbourne for two sold out shows.
First on the billing were a group from Sydney called Jinja Safari. I arrived in time to catch the last 15 minutes of their set and instantly fell in love with their jingly, atmospheric tunes. Marcus Azon and Pepa Night could give Animal Collective a run for their money with their weird and wondrous experiments with sound, and their general fondness for the avant garde. The end of their set was a highly energetic affair, with the band members and their poncho’s tearing up the stage and making the most of their bongos.
Next onstage were some youngun’s from Western Australia called Tim and Jean. They started out well with their laptop’s and synthesiser’s cranking out some dance worthy tunes. However their set was rather stale, with all of their tunes sounding similar and highly derivative of an 80’s computer game soundtrack. The band lacked in personality and stage presence, with the highlight of their set being the boys from Jinja Safari storming the stage for some more bongo loving.
Moving right along to the three piece from New South Wales that everyone was here to see. Art vs. Science took to the stage and immediately wound the crowd up with some very loud, industrial, grinding, dance music.
With tunes like “Flippers”, the Run DMC inspired “Parlez Vous Francais?”, “Friends in the Field”, “Hollywood” and “Magic Fountain” its easy to see why the boys have cemented their reputation as purveyor’s of quality dance rock.
Their new tunes sounded much the same as their popular singles, all of which were well received by the crowd, who were dancing rather violently along with the band. If this had been my first experience of Art vs. Science’s live show it would’ve been more fun than a barrel of monkeys, as the boys play with energy and obviously enjoy themselves onstage.
However this set barely deviated from the last time I saw them in Melbourne, with the band cranking out the same cover version of Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince’s “Boom Shake the Room”, and their onstage antics rather lacklustre and devoid of personality.
Their music is fun, but as far their live show goes, Art vs. Science appear to be a blasé one-trick-pony, with the flashing light display seeming more passionate than the band members.
