Relics Headline Final Neu ‘Hello 2014’ Show

The final gig of our new music showcases concludes at London’s Old Blue Last, with ‘Hello 2014’ seeing in the rest of the year, promises en masse. New Cross group Holy Milk open, their smoothed-out zenathon being compared to Warpaint even at this ridiculously early stage. They open not with heady bass notes or rhythmic jamming sessions closely resembling the LA giants, instead, there’s a tribal-style chant, a breathless breaking into motion that does indeed eventually resemble the band they’re already most compared to.

This is brooding, atmospheric stuff, tailor-made for those easier with open space than in-your-face, cutting riffs. Best of the bunch is ‘Born and Die’, a song that seems to take a lifetime to get into gear, but by the time it does, leaves nearly everything in its wake. Reverb aplenty - so much so it’s close to drawing out the scene - this is smart, sparsely applied and ready for much, much bigger things. Rhythms are often displaced, shifting and overlapping one another. Their closing track begs “I would have given you everything,” and it’s easy to think they’ve offered out everything in their brilliant locker thus far in 30 minutes.

Youth Man meanwhile offer a different strand, thrashy from the first split-second. They’re smaller than Holy Milk in size (three members does the job), but they make quadruple the racket. Instead of melting in their own sleepy, gorgeous atmosphere, they set the whole thing on fire without a second to spare. This music hounds and surrounds, barks and boils up. It’s like a topless drunk parading round city streets with a chainsaw. Menacing to the bone, there’s nothing capable of putting this to an early halt. A closing song breaks moments of snapping silence with devilish musicianship, adding dynamism to an overall terrifying onslaught.

Fronting Spring King is producer turned fully-fledged songwriter Tarek Musa. We say fronting. He’s actually behind the drums here. On record he plays all the instruments in demo form before getting other members to add their own flair to things. Live, it’s a really different prospect. Gang mentality runs riot, with chants being forced out in grand unison. There’s a loose sense of chaos, but in equal measure this frenzied nature is rehearsed to a T. Whereas debut Transgressive/ParadYse single ‘Mumma’ is an ear-friendly, insanely catchy number, the rest of the set offers plenty of other directions. One song even hints at hardcore, its BPM is so off-the-scale. Considering the apparent “lo-fi” beginnings of this project, it’s showcasing a whole lot more in the flesh.

There’s a big, monstrous siren that meets Relics, the final Hello 2014 headliners. Fleshing out a ‘Primary Colours’-style take on heady, industrial post-punk, opener ‘Ease’ is force epitomised, only it’s finding a more comfortable home. This is muddied knees, broken bottles and discarded suburban life. Like Eagulls with a similarly firm closing blow, there’s brashness and then there’s Relics.