Deciding to arrive atypically early to catch support act Islet, I am rewarded handsomely for my punctuality. This is a band I have no previous experience of - on record or in a live environment - but within moments of their opening song, it is apparent that something unique was about to unfold from this Cardiff-based quartet. Mark, JT, Alex and Emma don’t just request your full and undivided attention, they demand it and resistance is completely futile.

Whether it be by switching instruments on almost every song, wandering into the crowd whilst singing, playing their guitars or at one point dragging a large tom drum into the front row to give it a damn good thrashing, Islet are compelling viewing from the opening bar to the chorus of acapella wailing that brings their wild set to a suitably deranged conclusion.

Throughout the course of their performance, bass drum skins are flayed, amplifier leads go astray and guitar strings are split as they thrill and delight the swelling audience. At times the set verges on chaos, but the immense musical talent contained within this collective means that the music, which is impossible to pigeonhole, always comes first. God help the music producer tasked with transferring the excitement of their live sets onto record but I will definitely be checking out their output from here on in.

Following such a raucous set would be a tall order for most headliners, but I was confident that Gruff Rhys would be able to prevail. For 15 years or so, whether it be with the Super Furry Animals, his solo albums or side projects like Neon Neon, he has been nothing short of brilliant. So it was a great deal of anticipation that I waited for Gruff to take to the stage with Brazilian Tony Da Gatorra with whom he has collaborated on new album, "The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness".

What unfolds over the course of the next hour or so, is a huge disappointment. Billed as a collection of protest songs, by the end of the 14 songs set my eardrums were the main objectors. The main problem lies in Tony’s ‘gatorra’, which is a sickle-shaped instrument combining elements of drum machine and synthesiser, and the noise it generates. The syncopated beats it generates are nothing short of painful to listen to and are reminiscent of the drum demo's from the cheapest Casio keyboards of the 1980s. The good news is that since Tony Da Gatorra invented and built this instrument, it is likely to be a one-off.


While the sight of a Spinal Tap-esque protest singer shouting out random statements in Portuguese (Tony) and a grown man wearing a Mighty Morphin’ Power Ranger helmet while playing electronic air drums (Gruff) is amusing for a song or two, the joke quickly wears thin. While a devoted mob near the front loudly clapped and cheered every song, further back the sell-out crowd noticeably thinned during the course of the set. Experimental would be one word of describing the music on "The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness." Shit would be another.

Only ‘In A House With No Mirrors’ is vaguely listenable, the rest of the songs were poor in the extreme. Gruff glibly introduces ‘6868’ as a song “inspired by trying to remember my pin number” but lyrics about ‘streets on fire’ hint at the incendiary year of 1968 that saw mass student riots in Paris. By this stage however, I had pretty much lost all interest after being sonically battered for seven songs or so.
Only when they run out of material from this indulgent side project, is the crowd given something of a reprieve with a rare airing of the marvellous 'Valium' from Gruff’s group before joining SFA, Ffa Coffi Pawb.

Perhaps the real protest is at the blind faith of music fans that lap up anything put out by their musical heroes. If that is the case, then the joke is on all of us who went to Clwb Ifor Bach.

[Editors Note: Islet alone would have scored 85% but as this wasn't their gig, the score is what it is.