Milk Kan - Putney Halfmoon (Live)
Milk Kan
Putney Halfmoon
[4/5 Stars]
Clad in pink lycra catsuits and with `Halagoogoo' emblazoned across their stomachs, please welcome the warm up act for tonights gig. To chants of `Hal-a-goo-goo, Hala-goo -goo', the band pumped out a range of upbeat funky tunes and wholeheartedly entered into the Christmas spirit, with their glitter adorned faces and tossing crackers into the crowd. With their enthusiasm and catchy tunes, these guys are bound to become a well known name on the London circuit.
Come 10.15 and Milk Kan make a modest entrance; it is evident by their casual dress and manner that these guys are not buying into the whole `product' ethos of the music industry. With the crowd warmed up, they wasted no time with small talk during their set, and allowed their unadulterated rawness to speak volumes. Milk Kan provide a wonderfully weird blend of satirical poetry, part-sung, part-recited to simple tunes. The journey of aspiring to fame has seen these cheeky chaps jet off from South London to New York and back again, along the way recruiting further band members to generate Milk Kan as we see them today. Named after the famous Houdini milk can escape, they are perhaps implying that all in life is not quite as it seems, and ultimately give a refreshing uncensored take on modern ways. Noone is safe from the wrath of Milk Kan's wicked wit, yet they somehow get away with it, using their cheeky appeal to go places others wouldn't dare. Obvious comparisons to be made are that of Milk Kan to the Streets, combined with the down-to-earth appeal of GLC and somewhere deep down I am sure I felt the influence of Blur. Make what you will of them, you have to give Milk Kan credit for their fantastically deadpan attitude towards the music industry. Forget the wishy-washy lyrics favoured by many bands today: these guys waste no time on menial subjects such as love. Instead, their lyrics are completely bizarre, though if you listen carefully you may begin to understand what was possibly not intended to be understood in the first place.
It truly was a shame that the audience was not larger; though the boys appeared not to care, and despite, as we were later informed, the set being plagued by technical hitches, this went unnoticed by the crowd and the set flowed smoothly. With their hilarious lyrics and catchy tunes they definitely deserve more appreciation. I can picture a room jam packed with bouncing revellers; if you are after that happy-go lucky, feel good factor then Milk Kan are the guys for you.
