Electric Picnic review: The Murder Capital – jagged music aimed at the jugular

The Murder Capital

Other Voices
One of two things can happen to a band that leaps too quickly from the traps: success or failure. A case in point is The Murder Capital. Introduced by one of Other Voices' talking heads, Huw Stephens, as "a weird and strange band documenting weird and strange times", the Dublin five-piece make little apology from their first song onwards. With a shudder of noise that fans of Joy Division will be all too familiar with, they continue with uncompromising slabs of rhythm that chuck the word "intense" into the ha'penny place. The stage can barely contain them, as they get so under the skin of the music that they are in danger of being enveloped. With their jagged music aimed at the jugular, you could accuse The Murder Capital of trying too hard were it not for the commitment oozing from every pore, riff, piece of pinpoint guitar work, drum roll and voice. Midway through, however, the roughneck approach alters, with a slow Krautrock rumble of a song that shows a different, important side to the band and their music. Ones to watch, ones to hear. Leave the kids at home for this murderous bunch.