Spacehorse @ Subway Cowgate
freshening a genre which is all too apt to staleness, when in the wrong hands
Travelling over from Stateside to bring a taste of the early San Diego scene to Edinburgh's Subway, Spacehorse belt out a pacey and comprehensive set of hard punk. Warming up an enthusiastic crowd are local boys BenCozine, a popular choice with the amassed hardcore fans for their fluent, unique and varied songbook with a distinctive and fiery vocalist. Following on come Yorkshire blow-torch thrashers Errander: guitars and vocals with the speed to melt the very walls of the venue, delivered with the icy cool cohesion of a band accustomed to the touring circuit.
Like the majority of their musical peers across the pond, Spacehorse combine a variety of locker-room punk idioms with wandering, belligerent bass and an energised, writhing frontman to freshen a genre which is all too apt to staleness, when in the wrong hands. This strain of hard punk can alienate the metal and hardcore elements of the crowd at times, but it equally delights the throngs of loyal punks who turn out and are accordingly rewarded with a well-earned spate of encores. [Jamie Borthwick]