Friday 15/07/05 Test Icicles, Cut Copy, White Rose Movement @ Fabric, London

Test Icicles make Gigwise want to take off our clothes, get onstage and dance around in our underwear. There’s something about this band that is so exciting that it sends any spectator into a whole body spasm. They sound like the bastard child of Slipknot, The Beastie Boys and The Faint; they look ace and are clearly completely mental. New single 'Boa vs Python' is going to be snapped up quicker than Michael Jackson’s porn stash and if you don’t buy it you are going to slap yourself continually, for the rest of your life. “We’re going to make a horrible noise and no-ones going to like us... so bear with us.” How wrong they are. Deserving a much longer set, the boys rip through an energy packed half hour which sees each of them jumping from amp-to stage-to audience and back again. It makes you wonder if you could ever sit through a boring gig ever again, Test-Icicles don’t need to try and make you like them, ‘cos its going to happen instantly, whether you like it or not. By the end of their set Gigwise is calling our friends mutha****as and trying to rap to the bar staff.

You’ve got to wonder how Australian sampling genii Cut Copy are going to follow such a performance, but they don’t rise to it. There are no crazy antics going on here just a mixture of New Order/M83 type tunes and some wack lighting effects. Cut Copy work so well in the environment of Fabric but on this bill where bands are exercising their freedom to entertain crowds with not only their tunage but also their awesome stage shows Cut Copy fall flat. It’s almost worth finding out where you can watch them on their own and truly enjoy the set, unfortunately tonight is not that kind of night.

This makes you enjoy White Rose Movement all the more, with their Gary Numan-esque vocals, matching blonde asymmetric look of the bassist and keyboard player and a really enjoyable set. Its like the Test-Icicles and White Rose Movement should play together for the rest of their musical careers just so they can maintain the energetic dynamic that has been created tonight. WRM debut single 'Love Is A Number' works so much better live than it ever could on the radio as it captures the energy of the band’s enigmatic lead singer and the whole band seem to work as one intense pop unit. Go and see all of these bands live, it will make you excited about music again, and after all that’s the feeling we all want when we go to a gig isn’t it?