The Teenagers @ Cabaret Voltaire

Ever suffered the indignity of a lesser abled but more attractive colleague gaining promotion ahead of you? If so, then you can sympathise with American electro-loon Dan Deacon (4/5). Discerningly footing tonight's bill behind a group of tritely-contrived scenesters, Deacon pulls out a kaleidoscopic assault of demented bleeps and screwball synths on an unsuspecting but consenting crowd; creating delirious, head-spinning pandemonium with his strung out concoction of pulsing disco-tronica and childish party games. It's a performance oozing in sheer, unperturbed jubilance that whips the venue into a seismic frenzy before Parisian upstarts The Teenagers (1/5) take to the stage. Every inch the smugly stylised indie poseurs, this insipid trio quickly dissolve Cabaret Voltaire's party atmospherics with the burning acidic stench of their tuneless, sub-Velvets dirge. They may have somehow wangled their way ahead of Deacon but this derivative rag-tag collective will have to improve dramatically to avoid a quick and humiliating demotion. [Billy Hamilton]