Neo Tokyo is about to Explode

Gig Reviews

Academy Unsigned 220
Club Academy

The only thing disappointing here was that the band didn’t have several albums that I could take home. This was incredible. Never quite staying in a genre, but always being well written. They can do heavy. They can do emotional. Unlike so many bands, they have a concept of dynamics. They even employed sung quavers in ‘Chimney Factory’. Leads, riffs, vocals, harmonies were all tight, flowing seamlessly from one section to the next. This is effortless creativity within genres that don’t hold that much scope for expansion. Well worth watching.

8/10

Academy Unsigned 235b
Academy 3
16/01/08

Well, this was a surprise. Neo Tokyo weren’t on the bill, which made it twice as sweet. UBS witnessed this, what can only be described as progressive punk rock, back in October, and were amazed. Tonight, we were quite literally stunned, actually requiring time to remain rooted to the floor to fully absorb what we’d heard, before heading back to the bar. Powerful, interesting riffs, vocal parts from a singer who can really sing, and plenty of creative, bombastic drumming (check out the swung time-signature on ‘Chimney Factory’); this was a joy of a set that we have come to expect from this band. Tonight however, we saw a new dimension to Kieran’s stage presence; the ability to easily fend off a few dissenting members of the crowd chanting for a previous band. He brushed them aside with a polite ease before ‘Slackjaw’s angular lead guitar, and ending with all band members in the middle for a jam session around some awesome harmonised tapping runs. The final song, ‘Weapons Aside’, a masterpeice of progressive song writting; an ambient and tension-building intro created by feedback and lead guitar, exploding into the mother of all riffs.
If Neo Tokyo become massive, then great; however, I think don’t think that superstardom suits this band, even though with songs like theirs, they totally deserve it. What does suit them, is that rare status of being one of those bands you accidently stumble across, who with their wonderfully original brand of music waste no time in launching your musical expecations to completely different and ridiculously high level.

10/10

Set list:

  1. ‘Rise Up and Slay’
  2. ‘My Little Victory’
  3. ‘Chimney Factory’
  4. ‘Slackjaw’
  5. ‘Drowning in the Shallow End’
  6. ‘We Live’
  7. ‘Weapons Aside’

Matt


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