I went to see The Diskettes play a gig in Leicester last week. At least, I think it was a gig. They just set up in the corner of this trendy bar and played for 40 minutes to an attentive audience of about half a dozen. Which strikes me as a really awesome way of doing things – no money changing hands, no standing around for hours in a loud, dark room or any of the other things that can so often turn live music into such a chore. And more to the point, they were really great! They’re kinda like, I dunno, The Beat Happening covering Stereolab? God, don’t you just hate all this X meets Y crap people like me with too many records are always coming out with? Let’s try again; They’re kinda like really sweet lo-fi pop of the best possible kind with groovy flemenco-ish guitar flourishes and terrific foot-tapping rhythms courtesy of a horizontal bass drum and some maracas, and wonderfully worked out Beach Boys style vocal harmonies. Not Beach Boys like all that overwrought soft rock crap the Guardian says sounds like the Beach Boys, but more like if a teenage Brian Wilson had had two cool sisters and they’d kicked out the jams on a summer evening, sitting in the back garden and making up songs.
Yeah, that good.