Camden Monarch, London	The Brain Farm
Nico Wasserman	2000

Les Savy Fav are one of those bands that you imagine stalk other bands. Formed in New York five years, they continue the East Coast Art school tradition of the Talking Heads and Velvet Underground, making weird and exciting music and in the sinister form of singer Tim Harrington they have a true star waiting to be unleashed on the world. Wearing a T-shirt inscribed "Worlds Biggest supply of Natural Gas" and running around the audience trying to strangle people with his microphone lead, Harrington, like all good frontmen, leaves you in fear that at any moment he’s going to whip of his trousers and do a poo on stage. A sturdy rhythm section trickles out layered with thick electronics squelches to support his random shouting and it is one of the most refreshing sounds you’ll likely to hear this year. It all ends in a collage of synths and drums with the band slowly walking off stage leaving guitars propped up on amps to give us feedback with frequencies reaching brain-exploding levels. You have to feel sorry for headliners Turn who try and match such an exciting performance with their blend of abused angsty singing and punk pop, but its like eating your pudding before you’ve had your Brussel Sprouts. Les Savy Fav triumph tonight, putting the art back into farting.