Live Review: Naked Maja, Keep On Dancin's, Ultra Material, Kindergarten

It's obvious local trio Kindergarten have put a lot of thought into their debut performance at The Underdog tonight. Projected against the backdrop to their bombarding wall of sound is a visual display of carefully selected, repeating black and white video clips, which results in an experience similar to what you might find at an art gallery: beautiful moving pictures paired with equally captivating abstract music. Sonically, they sound like a perpetually crashing wave, with each band member manipulating the most intriguing and surprising sounds from their instruments. This is definitely a band you want to see.

Relatively new to the scene, Ultra Material are next to take the stage, bringing with them super-sweet melodies and vocals. While Kindergarten were loud, abrasive and all-consuming, Ultra Material tone it down with almost pop-like sensibilities. Like all acts tonight, their set is brief and unfortunately they don't manage to leave a resounding impact on proceedings.

Local heavyweights Keep On Dancin's recently put out a new album, Hunter, a fact of which many were unaware because the band have kept its release and surrounding details pretty quiet. While they slip some of their more recent singles, like Ghost and Favourite, into the mix, it's surprising that for the most part they stick to their older material, which is a bit of a tease in a way as many punters were no doubt looking forward to hearing some of their new work. Despite this, Keep On Dancin's deliver a killer set, aided by the highly entertaining and provocative dancing of one of their fans.

Here to launch their stunning new EP, The Vagrant, Naked Maja set to work charming their audience with serene synths, superb harmonies and commanding percussion. While the aim of tonight's gig is to introduce us to some of their newer work, it's one of their older tracks that really steals the show. #59, from their EP, Disillusion, takes your breath away with its almost tribal beat, and reaches a whole new level of excellent when Cedie Janson whips out her saxophone, steering the track to fever pitch. Towards the end of their set they're joined by friend and local musician Chris Campion to help deliver some of the newer tracks, of which their latest dreamy single, Out Of Mind, is a highlight, as is Paradise, which is utterly hypnotic due to the haunting and repeating contribution of keys. This is a band that is all too easy to fall in love with.