The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicLive music

Psapp at the Queen Elizabeth Hall

Psapp at the Queen Elizabeth Hall | Live review
20 August 2015
Charlie Bury
Avatar
Charlie Bury
20 August 2015

Music review

Charlie Bury

Psapp at the Queen Elizabeth Hall

★★★★★

Highlights

Wet Salt

Links

Twitter Facebook Website

Psapp are an electronic pop duo (formed of Galia and Carim) that have gained considerable traction in recent years for their exclusive ability to explore and use the sounds that surround them. These sounds will echo around the Queen Elizabeth Hall, where a wholesome crowd awaits a “very exciting” concert (as Galia consistently repeats in flourishes), selectively organised by David Byrne for his Meltdown festival – a seductive milieu of broad-minded artists.

After a very loud warm-up from Stealing Sheep, with a delirious video installation far more enticing than the music itself, Psapp begin their set in full funk with a plethora of home electronics in Needle and Thread, followed by Galia’s well-attuned vocals in Monster Song, mixing the somewhat darker subject matter with their tasteful pop and elevating edge. In fact, Galia has a certain affliction with death, telling the entire audience a story of how she breastfed a poor mouse to death in the Lake District (she was only trying to heal it). Such stories and random “awkward embraces” (a title projected on a large PowerPoint slide for all to see) seem to capture the alternative yet warm-hearted spirit of this duo. You can also expect the odd and remarkably straight-laced one-liner: “I can’t explain it, I’m not going to” Galia dictates in response to a picture of two queer-looking octopus cartoons. This is entertainment.

The audience is as eclectic in style, shape and retort as Psapp’s very own “toytronica” – their pioneering brand of music. A child shouts out “I have a cat”, to which Galia counters “I don’t know that child”, and everyone laughs. Over 400 Psapp-crafted cat toys have been handed out to the audience, each tagged with their very own cat-name. “Cat Name Bingo” ensues and some of the prizes include Psapp’s very own devices, including a trumpet that “sounds like a chicken”. This is all very exciting, but the show has enough frolicking to become dangerously close to mocking itself and its own melodious integrity.

Psapp end the night with a cover of Everybody Wants to be a Cat from The Aristocats – a no less childish piece than all their previous endeavours. A wonderful round of applause and a long queue outside for the merchandise stand suggest that Psapp are definitely something new, even though their recordings offer far more “earsome” pleasure than a live set.        

★★★★★

Charlie Bury
Photos: Kim Mihaljevic

For further information about Psapp and future events visit here.

Watch the video for Wet Salt here:

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Related Itemsfeaturedlive musicPsappreview

More in Live music

Bicep at Saatchi Gallery Online

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Laura Mvula – Under a Pink Moon

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More

Tom Grennan live in concert – online

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

The Cinematic Orchestra at the Southbank Centre

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Vienna New Year’s Day Concert at the Musikverein

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Rufus, Martha and Lucy Wainwright Present: A Not So Silent Night “Virtually Together”

★★★★★
Francis Nash
Read More

Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra: Ibiza Classics – O Come All Ye Ravers at the O2 Arena Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Courtney Barnett live from the Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Gorillaz: Song Machine Live

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Music review

Charlie Bury

Psapp at the Queen Elizabeth Hall

★★★★★

Highlights

Wet Salt

Links

Twitter Facebook Website

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Judas and the Black Messiah
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Laura Mvula – Under a Pink Moon
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Toll
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Black Bear
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Big vs Small
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • No táxi do Jack (Jack’s Ride): An interview with director Susana Nobre
    Berlinale
  • I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch): An interview with stars Dan Stevens and Maren Eggert
    Berlinale
  • I’m Your Man: An interview with Maria Schrader and Jan Schomburg
    Berlinale
  • I’m Your Man (Ich bin dein Mensch) press conference
    Berlinale
  • Moxie
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Souad
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • We (Nous)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Bicep at Saatchi Gallery Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Winter Lake
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Straight Outta Compton | Movie review
Sinister 2 | Movie review