Cold Cave / Natural Assembly / Naked @ Broadcast, 10 August

Naked's jarring, disorientating visuals and haunting VHS imagery creates a thick atmosphere from the outset this evening. The trio marry pounding industrial with delicate shoegaze; their music is dark-yet-frail, thanks to vocalist Aggie's soft, wispy voice and sombre stage presence. Broadcast's basement is blanketed in darkness, with laser trails tracing across the ceiling, drum-machine-led beats glazed with throbbing basslines and alluring guitar melodies. Their scope is ambitiously grand, their impact immediate.

 

Natural Assembly have more of a minimal set-up consisting of Zen Zsigo's blackened New Order beats and J. Cannon's echoed, distortion-drenched vocals. Their presence is more plain and less shrouded in vivid imagery, and there's an odd clash between Zsigo's enthusiastic techno headbanging and Cannon's solemn, moody shuffle. Still, the songs themselves are driving and accomplished.

 

Wesley Eisold's recording moniker Cold Cave takes the form of a duo for this live set. He's brooding, confident and stereotypically goth, channeling the energy of acts as varied as The Sisters of Mercy, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Nine Inch Nails. Eisold provides vocals over the melodic backbone of the unit, his style ranging from post-punk baritones to cathartic barks.

 

Some enthusiastic fans manically dance down the front, possessed by dark projections and the driving rhythms of the blunt-force drums. The chainsaw guitar buzz of Oceans With No End is a staple – as is the raw encore of USA – though their over-reliance on pre-recorded sounds throughout the set creates a that's mood somewhat plastic and disconnected, and less “real” as a result. [Ross Watson]