Institute of Contemporary Arts

Midnight Juggernauts

Date: 18 June 2008

Midnight Juggernauts. Photo: Dosfotos

Charlie Lloyd

What on earth were Wednesdays made for? Most days in our week have some kind of purpose. Sundays are lazy, Mondays are slow, Tuesdays are even slower and Thursdays the new Friday. Wednesday is like the most central point on a see-saw, things could go either way. Do the Midnight Juggernauts have the skills to get us through our mid week crisis? I think the weekend just came early.

Tonight's ICA headliners are a new dot on my radar and it's quite refreshing to be forming untainted freehand opinions. The do's and dont's page of Vice magazine have descended on the mall tonight to hold a dance party on her right hand shoulder. The ladies of hipster ville are complimented by moustache savvy gentlemen, all of which are key elements to tonight's beat happening crowd.

The Juggernauts get a killer welcoming as the room vibrates with an urgency to raise arms and sweat it out. Having recently supported Justice on their world tour it's fair to say these guys have already secured their certificate for cool school. Guilty by association or not, these three young men communicate themselves as musical novelists. They play music that has intergalactic sub plots making the most of those basic writing rules we all had drummed into us at school. Every book has a beginning, middle, and an end. The Juggernauts seem very self-assured with their ability to deliver songs with these very elements.

It's great to see a band of this beat dependent nature actually play their instruments. All to often we see these daft punk esque bands rely so heavily on regurgitated replica sounds. What Midnight Juggernauts bring to the table (or stage) is a real performance where every drumbeat and riff if personally gift wrapped and handed too you.  Opting for a very space age synth sound the room is decorated with wide-eyed faces. It feels like we are all taking part in some kind of movie plot that's thickening. We're riding the Milky Way and leaving a trail of beer cans, party scrapes, sweat and tears behind. The Juggernauts style of vocals bring back so many established voices. For fans of the new with additional party beats, Bowie in his prime, and the dirty slurs of eighties matchbox b-line disaster. You just won the euro millions.

Songs like "In to the Galaxy" from their new full length ‘Dystopia' bring back very diverse childhood memories. Fond ones of marathon dance offs at age 8 to the ‘war of the worlds' soundtrack on vinyl that my parents owned. So if your willing to embrace the child like qualities of imagination and self expression your destine to enjoy. Consider these guys a pretty sweet card in your deck of psychedelic indie top trumps . They're up there with the breaking names of this musical genre, and their super power you ask? Maximum body rocking. Enjoy.

Midnight Juggernauts. Photo: Dosfotos