Live Review: Real Estate, Blank Realm, Thigh Master

Locals Thigh Master open up proceedings on this balmy Friday night with a loose intensity that permeates throughout a set littered with perfect little offshoot riffs and led by fantastically frenetic lead vocalist Matt Ford.

There’s some seriously interesting mechanics going on here, a splintery off-key and consummately dishevelled series of garage missives that prove nothing less than compelling. This Thigh Master manages to concurrently max the envelope while it pushes right past the burn; riveting stuff.

A quick journey to the bar to partake in the always delightful Zoo staff’s wares and then it’s back for the mighty Blank Realm. It’s all yelps, hair, keytar and jerky dance moves as these local legends further distinguish themselves from your standard jam merchants. Such treats to be bestowed on the rapidly building crowd include a supercharged Falling Down The Stairs as well as the jagged late ‘80s Cruel Sea vibe of Go Easy standout Cleaning Up My Mess. It’s the little nuances and deviations in Blank Realm’s honed motorik groove that stand out tonight, a brilliant mess that ties together superbly, such is the comfort that this well drilled foursome has playing together. A few new numbers are also unveiled, one in particular a quick-fire lovechild of Sabbath’s Paranoid and a Nuggets compilation gem, chaotically enthralling as always.

Put it down to this being the last show of the Atlas tour but New York by way of New Jersey’s Real Estate seem to have really loosened up in contrast to the last time they played The Zoo back in 2012. The previous tour’s somewhat inanimate figures are replaced with between song banter and faux start-ups of psychedelic versions of John Lennon’s Imagine.

They kick things off with Had To Hear and Primitive from the aforementioned album, closed eyes and swaying heads the order of the day. The sound mix is perfect as Days tunes Municipality and the mighty Green Aisles keep the languid groove going. Instrumental Kinder Blumen is so pastorally pretty you could be gamboling through a field on a summer’s day as Talking Backwards, It’s Real and Beach Comber prove further highlights. Vocalist and chief songwriter Martin Courtney is the epitome of smooth understatement throughout as Matt Mondanile demands attention with his superb musicianship and hypnotic guitar lines over these jangly classics. The encore begins with a cover of ‘70s power-pop luminaries The Nerves’ Paper Dolls before Past Lives and The Bend bring the evening to a gorgeous conclusion.