Githead at the Arnolfini, 29.10.08

It’s pretty culturally demoralizing that as post-punk supergroup Githead play the Arnolfini to a modest gathering of mostly 40+ men reliving their youth, less than a mile away the Mighty Boosh play the Hippodrome to a sold-out audience of screaming young fans going crazy for Vince Noir and Howard Moon’s overhyped hipster capers. It’s all a question of musical education, and Githead’s performance is an history lesson in itself – you can hear obvious nods to the work of each member’s former bands (although they never satisfy the vociferous desires of some eccentric crowd members to play Wire songs) – Wire, Minimal Compact and Scanner - similarities with the work of Factory Records (Joy Division, A Certain Ratio), Jesus and Mary Chain-esque walls of sound, and, despite Robin Rimbaud’s berating of the laptop for being “a really slow drummer!”,  Battles would surely be proud to call Githead’s frenetic percussion their own. Next time you’re about to sit down for an evening with the Boosh, why not dig out Simon Reynold’s thorough account of post-punk, ‘Rip It Up and Start Again’ and realize what you’re missing instead.