The Kut/Fuzz And The Felts/Novastatus
The Met Lounge, Peterborough 17/10/2019
It’s a midweek show, the weather has been shocking but there’s still a good crowd in at The Met Lounge for the second date of The Kut’s 10 night run. First band to hit the stage Novastatus come across like Blur’s angry nephew. The music is precisely played and well written while the vocals are sharp and crisp with a little hit of cheeky. You can tell these guys know how to play and crucially they don’t overdo things. On this showing the Stamford boys look to have a very bright future indeed.
Fuzz And The Felts feel a bit like a tin of condensed music soup. It’s all very tasty but you can’t help feeling if they’d try not to cram so much into their music it wouldn’t be quite so busy. The musicianship is quite superb. They even have a keyboard player which lends a prog vibe to what is essentially punk tuneage. And bringing samples into this area of music is very welcome. When it fits it works well and elevates the overall sound into something unique, but there are times when things sound a little drawn out. The band definitely stand out from the pack although sometimes being a lone wolf means making fans a much harder task.
The Kut are a seriously class act and show that tonight with a performance that manages to span a great segment of the music spectrum without ever losing focus. The drums drive things along and even lead the attack on occasion. The bass work has just the right mix of rhythm and flamboyance. Ringleader Maha delivers in spades on guitar with some lovely solo work while vocals, both lead and harmony are right on point. We get plenty of great songs, loads of variety, a stage invasion and they even haul a crew member up on stage so everyone can sing him happy birthday. It’s a flawless performance which goes to prove how strong the music scene really is at grassroots level. The Kut look destined for much greater things.
Review and photos by Gary Trueman