65daysofstatic / Park Attack @ Cabaret Voltaire

Opening for someone with as famed a live reputation as 65days is always going to be a tough task. Unfortunately, when you leave the tunes behind and instead rely on messing up any sort of conventional structure or rhythm then you're going to have to come up with something incredible to fill the void. Tonight Park Attack make do with an out-of-tune sonic-assemblage; thrown together in the hope that from this disorganised chaos there may emerge a vague semblence of something resembling music. Their efforts are in vain. In contrast, 65daysofstatic sound both brutal and intricate in equal measures. They meld post rock bombast but refuse to quieten their sound where others may have looked for a respite. Instead they use piano and samples to create electronic fusions that, while individually sounding laudable, unfortunately come over the PA as one homogenous sound, making some parts indistinguishable from each other. Where they take the time to create their sound and when the subtleties are allowed to come across, they are incredible. On they way out it's impossible to shake the feeling that you've missed out on a part of tonight, but what did come over was inspiring stuff. [Garry Thomson]