In the shadowy backstage of London’s hipster venue XOYO, an accordion drones it’s familiar nasal honk, whilst a far sillhoette energetically slugs a floor tom.
The four sassy, vintage clad beauties of Katzenjammer confidently take to the stage and break into the eastern european mystery of ‘A Kiss Before You Go‘.
Katzenjammer mix gypsy folk and pop melodies with infectious harmonies and a rather large pair of brass ones. the girls boisterous and sexy demeanor perfectly mesh with tales of morals gone ascue and dancing like a mentalist, whilst their instrumentation; utilizing mandolins, ukelele, keyboards, banjo, modulated acoustic bass and fiddles, back up the fact that they can both produce modern sounding tunes in their own fantastic bohemian style or dabble in styles of yester year such as 50’s doo-wop, a raucous take on skiffle and 30’s Jazz without it ever feeling forced or awkward.
Katzenjammer‘s set felt like a show in the traditional sense of the word. Well picked songs and their well rehearsed and professional ethic is almost overlooked as they look like they are just having so much fun.
‘Cherry Pie‘ sounded flawless, whilst ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors‘ is given a new lease of life when played live, the musical breaks shaking the rafters and the understated vocal melodies lingering with a poignancy and an unshakable air of confidence.
Where some bands fall short of energy mid way through a show and start dropping quieter or mellow numbers in, Katzenjammer‘s addictively upbeat rhythms never let up and are totally unpretentious. They deserve every success they get.
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Post by T.R. Wicks
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TRACKS:
Katzenjammer – Rock-Paper-Scissors
Katzenjammer – God’s Great Dust Storm
