Live Review: Label Of Love: Nun, Ooga Boogas, Time For Dreams, Exhaustion

As part of the Label Of Love series for Leaps & Bounds Festival, local institution Aarght Records have gathered up some of their finest investments and some mates for a night of all-out good times that unfortunately kick-off at the obscenely early hour of 6pm. The building not having a numbers-worthy blood alcohol content yet, Whipper kick things off and despite not having a massive catalogue, deliver quite a fleshed-out set of brash yet accessible pub-flavoured punk. Slab Knackers are up next and the ex-Eddy Current bandmates deliver of all things a set of true-blue hip hop that is strangely enticing. 

Establishing themselves with Future Eaters and following it up with last year’s equally impressive Biker, Exhaustion deliver a set that falls quite in line with what the ingredients list. It’s dark, it’s a little psych and it drips with dirge persona and as expected, it’s quality throughout, especially in combination with the rather appropriate visuals on show. Recently popping up at Tasmania’s Blacklist at Dark Mofo, Time For Dreams also unexpectedly pop up on tonight’s bill presumably in lieu of the mysteriously absent Rites Wild. From one track to the next they nail the hypnotic synth/dream-pop aesthetic; even when things get loud the atmosphere remains. 

With Heirophants out due to injury, it’s with great privilege that we’re treated to an unexpected rare performance from the ever-enticing Ooga Boogas and straight out off the gates through a series of covers this performance is worth the admission alone. Despite the notable electronic and funk-disco influence on the band it feels more like a rock performance. Crowd-pleaser Circle Of Trust is loud and completely balls-out while FYI comes across as if it was lifted from a Blaxploitation film but found and brought back to life along with Wake In Fright. The crown gem comes in the form of Mind Reader, which spirals into this amazing freak-out jam that could have gone on for at least 45 minutes and still have been better than any sex earned in any chillzone: a highlight of not only tonight but the local landscape so far this year. 

Nun somehow exist and are without doubt gaining some attention from assorted places with their goth-tinged, electro-whatever. But though Nun exist, their paint-by-numbers and I-hate-my-parents-and-am-gonna-wear-black-eyeliner approach is far from new or interesting. In the past their performances have benefitted from decent production values (eg last year’s Dark Mofo) but tonight they deliver a set of boring and uninspired synth lines and cheesy vocals — though not as bored or as uninspired as they look on stage. Yes, some of the crowd lap up every minute; perhaps with the band’s ‘underground’ alignment the audience is unaware how bad Crystal Castles were. Ultimately though, it’s not too late to trade in those semi-decent synths and effects pedals.