Live Review: Pond, Doctopus, Mangelwurzel

The crazed and deranged shenanigans of Mangelwurzel get this evening's festivities off to a lively start. They only have a handful of songs to play for us but their distinctively loud and trashing angular rock comes with more attitude than most young bands can manage. Their energy echoes post punk legends X-Ray Spex and The Slits but there is a subtle hippie undertow at work that rounds off the jagged edges and adds an element of fun. The group that take their name from a type of beet not beat, are gearing up to release their Dead Pets EP early this month and judging from tonight's show should be one worth tracking down.

Loud, drunk and noisy, Doctopus give us a driving set of discordant lo fi garage that overflows with some pretty wild riffs. It's hot sweaty testosterone fuelled rock that acts as the perfective foil to the more feminine Mangelwurzel. Lead singer and guitarist Stephen Bellair charms the crowd with the wasted knuckle dragging persona he's projecting. Nick Allbrook and others from Pond are front and centre, enthusiastically getting down. They eventually jump up on stage and lend the lads a hand when they drop I Don't Wanna Be Here. The three piece from Perth showcase their album Buddies which they have generously made available for free on Bandcamp. As we found out, shout Bellair a drink or two and he will give you a copy of Buddies on CD.

Across five albums Pond have honed their progressive and psychedelic rock sounds and updated their retro influences with a pop twist. The release of their latest long player, Hobo Rocket finds them on a pre-Christmas promotional jaunt around the country. The heaving crowd packed into the sold out Corner is pumped and ready for a good time. It's with just the right amount distortion on the PA that Pond effortlessly deal their powerfully heavy sound, as we get into Xanman and Whatever Happened To the Million Head Collide. Nick Allbrook, resplendent in a Justin Bieber hoodie still fresh from a merch stall at Rod Laver, doesn't mind pulling a few eccentric oddball punches. Perhaps a little subdued tonight, he still moves like an adolescent mimicking Mick Jagger and surprisingly plays a flute on Torn Asunder. It takes Fantastic Explosions Of Time for the crowd to start bouncing and the front rows recklessly moshing and crowd surfing with wild abandon. Giant Tortoise and Allergies drift into dreamier more hallucinatory psychedelics. Jamming with members of Doctopus and Mangelwurzel to create a freewheeling house party vibe they bring down an exhilarating evening with a buoyant version of Midnight Mass (At The Market Street Payphone).