It was a night of experimental mayhem with Melbourne’s finest art-pop hipsters Rat vs. Possum playing their last headlining show for the year.
Supporting them were Towels
, a relatively new band and a welcome addition to the local live scene. Comprised of James Unlimited, Zayd (Pets with Pets) and Tom Zimmer, the three piece and their minimalist set up make music that is wonderfully obtuse and wilfully avant garde, with fairy lights draped in front of the stage obscuring the audience’s view of the band, and Zayd sporting a portable strobe light which he had flashing underneath his shirt. Towels played a great set of their self-described “sandalwave/andrewgaze” tunes that was highly entertaining with the mood lighting and the band members pausing between tracks to talk up the release of their 3.5 Inch floppy disc with their tongues firmly in cheek. The three piece and their ambient atmospherics make for interesting listening and Towels is a definitely a band worth keeping tabs on.
Rat vs. Possum have a kind of legendary status amongst the indie elitist crowd for their unique live performances which have been known to leave the audience cleaning glitter out of awkward places for weeks afterwards, and they are highly deserving of their reputation. The five piece tore through a killer set of their loop driven, synth heavy, psychedlic jams that was magical, euphoric and bizarrely spectacular.
Rat vs. Possum are a cut above your standard post-rock experimentalists who do weird things for the sake of it, as they are a massively talented bunch who pen tight arrangements and execute them perfectly live. They had the Workers Club jumping to the sonic wonderland they had created with highlights including their Friday night theme song “Pills” with its great line “I think I love you but it might just be the pills” and watching the band, who are more of a collective with no front person or assigned instruments, cut loose on the array of floor toms, synthesisers and random instrumentation they happened to have lying around. Rat vs. Possum are on of those bands who need to be seen to be believed as words are heinously inadequate to describe the excitement and wondrous energy of their live shows. Be sure to catch them with a string of upcoming support slots for El Guincho and Sleigh Bells and appearances on the summer festival circuit.
