Live Review: BIGSOUND Live: Steve Smyth

The absolutely fucking FILTHY rock of hirsute, howlin' hero Steve Smyth is filtering down the steps of The Zoo.

And, it's instantly impossible to avoid letting out an involuntary "Yeeeeessssss" as the seedy grooves take hold of the lower extremities and create a magnetic field of attraction around the stage. Over the course of his sweat-inducing set, Smyth proves to be more than a one-trick pony, slowing things down for a gorgeous - if still gruff-around-the-edges - ballad-esque soarer midway through the journey; late standout Shake It (which gets a simply massive response, it must be said) demonstrates his talent for a touch of discord and quasi-crooning interspersed with deep grooves and metronomically precise, thundering percussion.

But despite the disparate aural aesthetics in which Smyth tends to dwell - not to mention the permeating rawness gleaming out from its core - the whole picture is uncannily coherent, genuinely exciting, visually enthralling - and more than worthy of the growing hype.