The Goo 1
JUNE/JULY '25 Formed in late 2022, the band chann
els influences like Pixies and PJ Harvey, lacing gritty riffs with literate, emotionally charged lyrics. Their third song, Man Enough, made everyone sing along. As their recently released debut single, it clearly resonated, and the energy in the room shifted up several notches. From there, the set moved through friendship, identity, and confrontation. Songs never stuck to one formula—harmonic and melodic turns kept things fresh and unpredictable. The fifth track, tackling gender and societal expectations head-on, saw the frontwoman step directly into the audience, closing the gap with disarming confidence. With sharp songwriting, fearless presence, and a sound that guts and grips, Gag Reflex didn’t just close the night—they defined it. Nubya Garcia - Mermaid Arts Centre Bray - Brendan White The fabulous Bray Jazz festival brought some outstanding international artists to these shores for the first time over the May bank holiday. South African pianist Nduduzo Makhathini blew his audience away on the Saturday, while Nubya Garcia kicked off the festival’s first night with a set representing the London cohort. A singular aspect of UK scene is the gathering of musical threads from the many cultures of modern Britain: Mercury prize winners, Ezra Collective folding afrobeat into their joyous dancefloor jazz and Nubya’s Colombian heritage flavoured her first highly acclaimed album. The warm up for the night were the excellent vocal/ guitar duo of Christine Tobin & Phil Robson, taking us through improvised singing, evocative original compositions and choice covers from Brazilian pop to Bob Dylan. For the headline show, Nubya takes us through the entirety of her current, second LP, Odyssey. On record, the music is lush, beautifully arranged and largely orchestra backed. Live, the strings are out and her superb band provides powerful rhythms to her tenor sax playing. Elements of broken beat and dub reggae echo through the music in sharp contrast to the jazz coming from the US. This is most definitely a modern London sound. Nubya as a bandleader is effortlessly warm and charismatic; her music at turns feminine, muscular, spiritual and adventurous. In short, a leading light in the jazz renaissance. Wild Rocket - Bello Bar - Adhamh O’Caoimh Unbelievable Lake, a Belfast based power trio toting an Electric Sitar, a Rickenbacker and a man that must have been some sort of blacksmith behind the drumkit, were mostly enough to drown out the fucker next to me narrating the entirety of the evening to his presumably exhausted date. A wholly enveloping wave of psychedelic doom interrupted his explaining to her how the band “can’t start until the house music stops,” and didn’t let up for forty five glorious minutes wherein I thought of the Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe and Emil Amos infused version of Om, and perhaps more notably their short lived side project with Wino, Shrinebuilder, proving an excellent beginning to this bong tipping ceremony of an evening. As they finished, my neighbour told his partner that the band were probably delighted people enjoyed it. “If I was an aeroplane, I would definitely land safely” was the last thing I heard before Munich electronic duo UBU Imperator tore into the stage with storming cuts from their phenomenal ‘UBU.zip’ EP. Hints of Zombi and Grails, a touch of Death From Above and classic German synthesiser music, and even notes of much maligned stadium filling alarmists, Muse, melange into wholly enticing electronic sonic stew, at the heart of which absolutely stellar performance from drummer, Daniel Pizarro. Dublin/Belfast quartet Wild Rocket interrupted our ardent Romeo, now arm wrestling his paramour with a stellar performance of ‘Formless Abyss’. Equal shades of Sleep and Hawkwind, Wild Rocket are simply, a phenomenal band. World class riff writing, equal parts Hawkwind and High on Fire side project, Sleep, and boasting tonal severity that Matt Pike would stankface at, in the most approving of bong addled grimaces. Massive beards, flying V’s, space noises and space stations, sleeveless shirts and a solid appreciation for the best of 70’s inspired Sabbath worship. Painters of psychedelic, mountainous sonic landscapes. New music looms on the horizon. Familiarise yourselves. There’s nobody doing this sound better than these Wild Rocket right now. Hyperdawn - Bello Bar - Adhamh O’Caoimh Delivering a seminar in texture, Miched Oath served wild low end drones and clanging tones, molten waves of sine, lapping and crushing around digital tines and disembodied, deconstructed voices. Dunk Murphy’s latest project delivers on the man’s sterling reputation, curious clicks and clacks blossom into the most sublime, serene and evocative tapestries, nostalgic and triumphant. Emphatically recommended. Hyperdawn were a hitherto unknown prospect to these ears, but I try to make it to as many of the things Enthusiastic Eunuch put on as possible. It is always a discovery. Something remarkable. This is music you might imagine had been made through the clever employ of all sorts of modern boxes, brave new machinery and or Orphic programming. Witnessing it all created live before you with tape machines and loops is a humbling and enchanting experience, a deeply effective and simple light experience, delivering a devastatingly poignant set studded with moments of glory. 33