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Charley Stone + Mave
+ Bugeye + The Ethical Debating Society
Silver Bullet, London N4
5/5
MULTITALENTED producer and musician Charley Stone kicks off a another Loud Women event with a covers set reflecting her eclectic tastes.
A great guitarist, she rips into a mixed bag of numbers, from the cartoon Octodad theme song to I Kissed a Girl, I’m Straight and Winner Takes it All. Joined later by Jen and Mel from The Wimmins Institute, this is the perfect relaxed start.
Spoken-word artists Mave — a revelation — is a fresh and raw talent.
Poetic, polemic and passionate, her fluid wordplay streams straight from the heart.
“Every woman is this room has been affected/whether that’s cat-calling here and there/or your man beating you up for what you wear/or the stares that cut you to the bone/but when you’re in a dominant man’s arms it feels everything like home,” she challenges on Why Am I Sexualised?
Later, the intensely moving Walking Through the Streets of London devastates as Mave chronicles the impact on a friend drawn into prostitution.
One to watch out for in the future.
“Disco punk” Bugeye from east London are a joyful breath of musical fresh air. Opener Closing Time is a raucous jamboree that gets the crowd moving and sets the tone for a great show which is less disco than on their records.
Angela’s buzz-saw guitar on glorious new single Bag of the Blues is perfect punk-pop fun, while Sweet Indiscretions is underscored by a superbly tight rhythm laid down by the excellent Paula on bass and Jack on drums.
She has a great Siouxsie-like voice that beguiles and inflames at the same time and the band’s songwriting skills really stand out on I’ll Sleep Alone, Disco Dancer and Never Let It Go. The wonderfully frenetic Hey You concludes the set, to justified acclaim.
The Ethical Debating Society gloriously and brutally assault the senses with their DIY punk, painted in prime vivid colours.
With a shock of hair bizarrely reminiscent of Toyah, Tegan belts out accusatory and abrasive guitar rhythms and vocals which align perfectly with Eli’s thundering drums and Kris’s precise guitar.
Their set — drawn from last year’s stand-out album New Sense — is a full-on barrage of killer hooks, razor-sharp riffs and shouted choruses that make the room jump and dance.
It doesn’t get any better than this.
Review by Bob Oram
