Dry Cleaning at Liquidroom, November 30th 2022

 

To me The Stooges are not only quite possibly the best band ever, they also set up the template of the rock artist career. Their first album introduced their unique sound with dashes of experimentalism, but at the same time accessibility, perhaps as a compromise to a wider audience but still kept within the realm of the sound that we now identified as unquestionably theirs. The second album goes all out ditching any kind of compromise with full-on experimentation but with a sensual groove that’s definitely appealing. This one feel more like their own statement. The third one too, this time going back to the roots, to a more classicist sound. If the second one sounds like James Brown psychedelia, the third one sounds more inspired by late sixties Stones through a whole lot of fuzz. Raw indeed.   

I’m not saying that Dry Cleaning is The Stooges (yet), but their recorded output -pairing the first two EPs into one album- seems to follow the trajectory of The Stooges album trifecta. In the first two EPs their still testing waters, Florence Welsh's vocals haven’t yet nailed her characteristic deadpan intonation. They most definitely, though, like Feefo from Dead End Hip Hop would say, bump in the whip; in a post-punk kind of way, of course. The same can be said about their debut album. Head bopping to Tom Dowse’s guitar riffs and Lewis Maynard’s bass grooves is pretty much guaranteed. That record, New Long Leg, has the sensuality of Funhouse. Stumpwork, their sophomore effort, experiments with Welsh’s singing voice, which was pretty much not present in their first uncompromising output. The grooves are less and the riffs are more. What I mean to say is that this one is the most rocking of the bunch, if you will. Just like Raw Power. And like with The Stooges, each of the three steps is rewarding and fans will forever argue which one is the best. 

I think this was their first show in Japan. They are touring in support of their latest album, but they also played songs from their debut and first two EPs. They started the show with the second and third tune from Stumpwork. Kwenchy Kups first, with that tasty twelve-string guitar riff, set the mood for the show along with the short first single, Gary Ashby. Surprisingly they chose to play their best known song early on. The third number they played was Scratchcard Lanyard, the opening tune from their debut. The crowd energy was high throughout the show and I think it was this choice of playing a big one early that sealed the deal. Like it’s the norm at concerts in Japan, there were also awkward silent pauses between songs and brief applause at times, but that’s to be expected, to be honest.

The contrast between the deadpan vocals and the eighties post-punk guitar licks is their signature sound. Contrasts in general are even more evident live. Welsh is an intense performer that expresses her seemingly absurd but actually quite eloquent lyrics standing pretty much still the whole time. Holding the mic or stroking her long hair leaning on the mic stand, while her facial expressions and her fingers do the trick. She’s a captivating performer. On the other hand the rest of the band, especially Dowse and Maynard, but also to some extent the drummer Nick Buxton, filter the music through their bodies and that energy translates into lots of movement on stage. Like with Welsh, it’s also difficult to take your eyes off of them. I was in front of Dowse and his passion was definitely infectious and fun to watch.

The setlist included some of my favorites from each album. Stuff like No Decent Shoes for Rain, or Unsmart Lady. They closed the set with Magic of Meghan and that bass-guitar riff has been in my head since. One thing that I wished was that the vocals were a bit louder. The lyrics are a key element of this group and at times they were drowned in the background. They came back for an encore of two songs, the B-side Tony Speaks! and the opener of their latest album Anna Calls from the Arctic, Buxton played a saxophone for this one.

In almost every article I read about Dry Cleaning they’re compared with The Fall, so I’ll follow suit. I said The Stooges might be the best, but The Fall are one of my favorites. I Saw them a few times, but the one I remember best was the first one. It was at the tiny The Echo in Los Angeles in 2002. I was at the front and even helped untangle cords wrapped around Mark E. Smith’s mic stand. To me, more than the music is that sort of aura, difficult to describe, of an apparently distant detached frontman/frontwoman, possessing a magnetic intensity and surrounded by equally captivating individuals, that makes those two groups similar. If you add excellent music to the equation you got the makings of one of the most interesting and promising indie bands in the current music scene. 

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