Live Review: Cull, Made In Japan, Bad Jeep

Bad Jeep, a wall of sax, keys, guitars and drums, had seemingly more members on stage than there were people in the crowd, and a sound as big as their drummer's hair. It seemed as though their stage presence could barely be contained by Goodgod's real estate. But the tunes they delivered were a terrific mesh of retro influences, a sort of chaotic soul-dance hybrid, with nimble instrumentalism at the forefront.

Made In Japan opened with What It Is, a brilliant, tightly wound track that showcased the precision of the two guitarists as well as the control and balance of the drummer, who also sang lead. A later track, an instrumental, aimed higher still, but came up a little empty. The song aimed for a post-rock effect, complete with build and resplendent burst, but the band played it out in fast-forward, minimising the impact. However, the crowd lapped it up, unanimously deciding to crouch down in the soft sections and bounce around in the peaks. By the time the last song rolled around we were on board again for a richly layered groove-based track that reminded this reviewer of Melbourne's Box Rockets playing Radiohead's Weird Fishies/Arpeggi (and how can that be a bad thing?)

Sydney psych-shoegaze band Cull's debut EP, Bà Noi, delighted with its warm, sticky bass tones and gorgeously warped guitar lines, but their show took the experience to another level entirely. A massively slowed-down and bent-out-of-shape cover of Pavement's Shady Lane was a highlight, dripping with delay and reverb, and juggling between massive walls of dissonant distortion and intricate effected lines. The set closed with the stellar World Inside Your Head, a woozy ballad that called to mind the likes of My Bloody Valentine with its tremolo pitch-bending, but soared to incredible heights with screaming walls of guitar sound. The creativity and versatility at the core of all their songs had this reviewer stunned. It's always inspiring to see a psych band that isn't just jumping on the current trend, and who are actually manipulating melody, rhythm and noise in interesting ways. Cull might just be Sydney's best.