Live Review: Mangelwurzel, Milk Teddy, Footy

The Howler bandroom glows at the seams. Streaks of colourful light line the walls and provide a dim setting for patrons as they sit on the floor and intently watch Footy perform. The band face one another from behind their keyboards. Their membership of two is reflected in the minimal, stripped-back songs they perform. It’s mildly ethereal and mildly engaging: a curious opener for the acts to follow. The crowd watches on quietly. Meanwhile, others shuffle in and out of the room; the venue’s nearby bar proving too much for punters to resist as empty tinnies begin to litter the floor. 

Next up: Milk Teddy. Perhaps the most polarising band of the evening, their fluid and (at times) jangly creations are not everybody’s cup of tea. It’s nice and simple — too much so for some, yet just right for others. They perform upbeat pop songs that ride easily on the ears and they do it well. It’s pleasant, if you will. 

Then enter Mangelwurzel, the antithesis of pleasant. The Melbourne sextet stick to their usual energetic spiel, with the professed illness of their frontwoman Cosima Jaala doing little to hinder the band’s performance. Two boys and four girls churn out something that sounds like a Beefheart dream. It’s rabid and it’s certainly not pop music; horns prevail while time signature changes run rife throughout the tracks, yet it’s still catchy somehow. 

Jaala’s vocals varnish the music in strange ways. It’s saccharine and eerie all at once: a whisper transitions seamlessly into a scream. They play My House and Everybody’s Friend — their two most recent singles — as well as newer offerings like Gary. During these, there are points where the vocal delivery verges on rap. The band possess a whelming charisma, between the manic dancing of the horn players and the ease at which the rhythm section grasp punk’s weird and more technical cousin. This conjures a different feeling in the band room than we’ve experienced before tonight. Everybody is standing now, rigidly bobbing away to the music as best they can while a few let loose towards the front.

Mangelwurzel end with a song that they describe as being “a little bit different to the others”. It is quite different indeed. Slower-paced and more melodic than its predecessors, the sugary number Fly Paper ices the big, rich Bavarian cake that is their set. It’s a lot to digest at first but, by the end, we’re glad we did.