Thursday 16/08/07 Kid Carpet @ Bloomsbury Bowling Alley, London

Bloomsbury Bowling Alley is one of those places in London that always seems to have something quirky going on, and chances are if you haven’t been there already, you soon will. As if the prospect of karaoke, kitsch ten-pin bowling, and delicious rum cocktails wasn’t enough to incite the senses – last Thursday Bloomsbury bowling alley was host to the aural delights of Kid Carpet.

Thinking there had to be a hidden room, Gigwise waited through the retro rock’n’roll records and took full advantage of the smoking yard (amusingly decorated in a pastoral manner avec la vache to aid the feeling that one was truly ‘penned in’).

At around 10.30, Kid Carpet (Mr Ed Patrick) rocked up to the front of the crowd and began his set – much to the joy of two overly-enthusiastic teenagers who nominated themselves as a constant source of amusement, distraction and finally irritation, with a wee dance show of their very own.

Kid Carpet’s music is a frantic fusion of samples, syncopated beats, pop-rhythms, synths and witty lyrics – in his own words, ‘Kiddy Disco Punk’. Playing in front of a 70s-style retro electric fire, dressed in a suit, playing on Fischer-Price tape-recorders and toy guitars – the show seemed surreally as if we were viewing some sort of flash-back to him practicing in his school uniform at his Nan’s as a kid. If you still can’t think of what it sounds like - picture a rave in the Early Learning Centre and you’re halfway there.

The audience giggled in agreement to the lyrics of ‘Employee of the Month’ ("I think I’ve got RSI, from picking up the phone and telling a lie") but the highlights of the night for us were ‘Your Love’ and ‘Can’t Stop The Pop’. Though it’s easy to draw comparisons with Kid Carpet's younger neoteric contemporary, Jamie T, watching him live it seems obvious to Gigwise that Kid’s act steals the one-man show.