RHUM

Hoo boy. It was a warm Wednesday at the Corner, all right, one of those February evenings where Melbourne is as hot and sticky as a particularly uncomfortable pudding. The Corner's air conditioners were shuddering in a manner that suggested imminent airy-kiri and this was not helped by Love Connection's thundering bass. Smarty and I settled under a fitful downdraft to take in this local support and it wasn't long before we were leaning in to each other between tracks to note, "They're pretty fucking alright, aren't they?" Written by Rhys Tate

Don't be fooled by the reedy no-fi on their MySpace; Love Connection are a muscular live proposition. Sure, their rhythm section looks like they're on work experience, but core members Michael Caterer (entertainingly unhinged frontman) and Kobi Simpson (Korg queen) have a measure of the indefinable 'it' - while Caterer yelped and banged things, Simpson followed Keyboardist Union rules to the letter (display no emotion, Simon says "Don't move"). Bookmark this band.

The Corner slowly filled to the brim with a stew of hipsters salted by a sprinkling of us old fuckers, who all erupted to a rapturous applause as The xx assumed the position. If Love Connection had set the Corner's fittings a-trembling, then The xx threatened to shake the whole pub off its moorings with lashings of brown noise bass. They quickly worked through 'Crystalised' and 'Islands', each song greeted with whoops of joy from a crowd who clearly liked what they saw.

The band, too, were clearly loving the vibe, with frontman Oliver Sim flashing small but increasingly enthusiastic smiles as each song ended. He even got a bit cheeky: "Fuck, it's hot," he said, pulling at the neck of his black shirt, "there are places goth doesn't work, and Australia in summer is one of them." Romy Madley Croft had pinched Tracey Thorn's hair and not an inconsiderable part of her vocal range, and looked more and more settled as the set progressed, giving the chilly atmosphere of the recorded album some live warmth.

The great thing about a band touring a solid debut album is that you get to watch them work through the whole thing - the way The xx expanded certain songs live suggests an inventiveness that will serve them well in the future. The shit thing is that debut is all they have to give, aside from a misjudged but well-received cover of Womack & Womack's 'Teardrop'. After fifty minutes and a one song encore it was over all too soon. But give these guys a decent sophomore album and some time and, really, you could have something very special on your hands.

 Read What Steve Smart said about the gig here!