大象传媒

OK Tokyo and Attack! Switch Attack! | Oakford Social Club | Reading | 15.03.08

See photos of the night here:

The Bleep Test at the Oakford Social Club has steadily become one of Reading's major players on the gig scene and I'm ashamed to say I'd not been to one until tonight.

But what a night to go.

The Persian carpet on stage is tonight bludgeoned by the petulant stomps of London's Attack! Switch Attack!

The trio wear your granddad's tank top sweaters but are as angular in sound as a WWII side-parting.

New wave guitars flail with bullet-splattering hi-hats while lyrics burst forth into a world of post-punk furore. Maximo Park, hand over your mantle.

The night however belongs to local lads OK Tokyo - inevitably so. Fresh from touring with Mumm-Ra, the three Reading adventure rockers bounce on stage for a much anticipated home-coming gig.

Within seconds they crunch down into the high-drama of their colossal indie rock, barely harnessing the power of the beast they unleash into the crowd.

OK Tokyo's single You Better Believe It

It's a relentless blast of energy with hooks flung at you from left and right. Sprinting riffs race forth while Sammy's vocals range from gallant roars to Muse-esque falsettos.

Frenetic opener Prehistoric Futuristic drops you into the OK Tokyo world of Ray Harryhausen-esque sci-fi kitsch, with plasticine T-Rexes and martians bearing down on you all at once while your heroes battle them in their retro safari suits.

Then it soon becomes apparent that the trio are just dexterously pelting you with one potential hit after the other, Electro Metro, You Better Believe It, Sums - all transmitted with such beat-laden bombast that it gets the disco dolls in the audience reaching fever pitch.

The set leaves the Oakford smouldering and afterwards all I see are a sea of arms grabbing vinyl copies of the band's new single, You Better Believe It, from Sammy's hands.

Watch out planet.