shrag. v. t. to trim, as trees; to lop

Shrag, The Tender Trap, Arthur and Martha @ The Lexington, 2nd April

Arthur and Martha are big on synths, drum machines and other electronic gubbins, including an unwieldy theremin. Bleeps and bloops ensue. They in no way sound like Hot Chip however. Song title of the evening: "Squarewave to Heaven".

The Tender Trap: Women sing and play keyboards and drums standing up. Men play guitar and bass, also standing up. (Is that that bloke out of Nirvana on guitar?) The addition of two extra woman backing vocalists recently has filled out their sound a lot since last time I heard them, and their "ba-da-ba ba-da-ba"'s remind me of Stereolab and Teenage Fanclub. Which cheers me up.

Shrag: Energetic, occasionally profane, "jagged post punk". Again, men play guitars and bass and women sing, play dinky electronic keyboards, but also shout a lot and kick a considerable amount of ass on the drums. Great stuff. Hear more at their lastfm page.