MOUSE ON MARS/VERT/HRVATSKI

I hesitated to write this review last week since the US tour was overby the time the issue appeared, but it must be said that the groupsounded incredible this time around. Local gig whore, Hrvatskiintroduced the night with a usual schtick coupled with minormodifications. Keith Fullerton Whitman gets better nearly every time Isee him but tonight he decided to pick up the punchiness over the lasttime (which was obviously subdued while sharing the bill withLabradford and Pan American). Vert was next up and while his albumshave usually passed through the ears pleasantly, his live set made morestatements about his background as a pianist and performer. MOM's setbegan with a loud punch — a guitar, drum and bass jam with loads ofdistortion — the group wanted to basically get your attention and letyou know this is going to be a seriously fun show. What followed wasthe group continuing as a trio, most commonly configured by bass,keyboards and live drums. For nearly two hours, the group bombardedthrough a hand-selected assortment of their most fun, upbeat and bouncytracks — and it never got stale!