Nottingham’s Bodega Club is a small venue – there’s no escaping that. What does assist in escapism, however, are the images projected throughout the equal measures rock and electronic music that make up Black Onassis’ show. Less a generic gig, and more an art installation with no in-between-track talks to the crowd– with no microphones at all in fact – during a show where the hypnotic visuals play a role just as important as the music. Assisting it, sometimes overpowering it, but more often complimenting it. (For anybody that stuck with Lost, a Black Onassis show is like a good version of Room 23, where Alex’s boyfriend Karl was subjected to brainwashing videos and sounds… It’s a nice, long but invigorating brainsoak! Particularly, and aptly, ‘Brain’, with recorded vocals from The Cooper Temple Clause’s Ben Gautrey.)
Founder Chris Karloff, who parted ways with Kasabian during the writing of their second album, offers an explanation here for why those “musical differences” (which break so many musical makers apart) occurred. While Kasabian went on to write and record music that verges on Pop (and there’s nothing wrong with that), Karloff clearly favours Art. Stood behind a tower of technology and with a guitar strapped on, Chris fellow musician Danny Greet resemble electronic pioneers Kraftwerk, had they been brought up in England on a diet of Britpop. In an almost seamless set (with few breaks for applause) the duo fight their way through a reordered version of album ‘Desensitized’, sampling the vocals of guest contributors, including The Duke Spirit’s Liela Moss on the warped waltzer ride of ‘Trip B’.
It’s an impressive show for those who favour something different, and a brave move for Karloff who – having co-written all of Kasabian’s debut – could have taken a more expected route. While Black Onassis still has some of those killer choruses (and the tracks with vocals are the more enjoyable ones), the dystopian themed instrumentals and computer generated vocals bring a new dimension to the experience of seeing the Leicester-born musician in concert, who also – and very impressively – contributes the majority of the drum work to the show. For their first UK tour, it marks the first step of an exciting journey for an innovative project.
Dan Bull
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