Live Review: Violent Soho, Roku Music, Postblue

There's an air of expectation and excitement in the cramped confines of Crowbar as the crowd files in to witness the unveiling of a new chapter for some returning local heroes, but first we're treated to a set by rising Byron trio Postblue, fresh from winning the local spot to play at the recent Splendour In The Grass bash. They seem to be mining similar territory to tonight's headliners – namely '90s alt.rock and grunge, with the occasional emo flash of bands such as Jawbreaker or Knapsack flickering in the mix – and they really seem to be feeling the music, which is sometimes half the battle. They're still pretty rough around the edges, but there's plenty to like about a fistful of songs from tonight's set.

Next up are Brisbane four-piece Roku Music, the ever-changing outfit formed around the nucleus of guitarists/vocalists Donnie Miller and Innez Tulloch, joined recently on drums by Thomas Roche (from The Rational Academy) and on bass by Jody Gleeson (The Madisons). They're immediately more in sync than the openers, locking in and letting Miller do his thing out front, although as the set progresses they mix it up a bit – when Tulloch and Gleeson start to harmonise it sounds like a different band (not better, not worse, just from a different time and space), and this versatility is beguiling. There are strange arrangements and proggy breakdowns amidst the default shoegaze textures, and even their most tender moments seem urgent and discordant. An already fascinating band dripping with potential.

The local man about town who's recently become famous as the nude cyclist in Violent Soho's clip for In The Aisle is holding court near the newly-refurbished bar, but it's the band who people are pumped to see, hence the rush towards the stage when the four familiar faces emerge from the backstage darkness and begin to take their places. Soho are here tonight to introduce new album Hungry Ghosts in the live realm, and the lack of familiarity with these tunes for many in attendance doesn't dim enthusiasm in the slightest, the crowdsurfers igniting from the get-go and giving the low ceiling a workout during opener Dope Calypso. The band stick to the tracklist of the new album for a while, frontman Luke Boerdam spitting venom during Lowbrow – which features a bevy of really cool guitar lines and tones snaking amidst the riffs – before the crowd gives in to the pummelling intensity of Covered In Chrome, the '90s refrain and quiet/loud dichotomy captivating in the extreme. Soho seem tighter than ever and seem to be having a blast digging their teeth into this new material, with hair flying liberally as we've come to expect, and songs like the hook-laden Saramona Said – almost a pop song except that the bed is so jaggedly heavy – and the aforementioned single In The Aisle don't disappoint, the writhing mass of flesh before them united in ecstasy. They detour from the album here and throw in last year's catchy single Neighbour Neighbour, before the groovy build of Liars and the frantic Eightfold bring us back to uncharted realms. They finish an incendiary set with Tinderbox – also from 2012's standalone 7” – and take their leave, but the sweaty and fired up throng are having none of it, an unrelenting chant dragging the Soho boys back for an encore of old faves Jesus Stole My Girlfriend and Scrape It, which somehow take the adulation to another level again. Tonight marks the second coming of this great local mob's already fascinating career; people of Brisbane, prepare to be made proud.