On the edge of rhythmic mayhem

MAKING their first foray out of the studio and to the live stage, the trip hop duo of Roisin Murphy and Mark Brydon were joined by competent and line up of backing musicians, who replaced Moloko's dance-tronic bleeps with a mix acid jazz, dub and funk. The band's hyper hybrid wasn't compromised in a way, however, and still managed to throw everything from spacy Theremin sounds to rocked up guitar riffs.

Roisin Murphy spun around the stage like a clockwork android, and her jerky movements underscored the break beats which keep Moloko's music at the edge of rhythmic mayhem. She looked every bit the party weirdo in her latex hipsters and spangly top, and her mad stream of hyper conscious vocals marked her out as the true oddball of the club.

Fun For Me saw Roisin giving full vent to her jazzy, jive talking style, and it wasn't the last opportunity to utter some of the daftest, dizziest lyrics in clubland. I Can't Help Myself allowed the band to build on the tune's bare electronic bones, while Lotus Eaters slipped gently into an opiated groove.

It's not all kitsch `n' kute, however, and Boo was reminiscent of Portishead's measured slo beat musings, while Where Is The What If The What Is In Why, despite its meandering title, was a straightforward, dub style search for meaning. On the other hand, Party Weirdo was a welcome arrival, a wild, wacky grab bag of glittery sounds, B 52s colliding headlong with Frank Zappa on their way to a Bjork, and ending in the barmiest band member introductions I've ever heard.

Moloko, like Heaven 17 before them, got their name from that famous Anthony Burgess novel, and they are indeed horrorshow, my droogies.