macrocosmica the 13th Note 8th March

The first time I've been to the new 13th Note club and macrocosmica are clearly playing in a basement flat. Possibly the bedroom, I can't be sure. Through the back in the kitchen a DJ spins records between sets.With the, er, intimate setting and the low roof and all, maybe the acoustics might not have been favourable, but no, the band are undaunted by such constraints and proceed to make an almighty racket as per usual. I'm still struggling to come to terms with the history of the band - BMX Bandits, Telstar Ponies et al, versus the current direction which to me is closer to Big Black and Shellac than most other stuff quoted - the Pixies & Nirvana, well, maybe, Husker Du, not so much, AC/DC? Well, if the latter were true then I wouldn't be here tonight. The band seeem to favour that always coolest of punk/metal crossover bands, Motorhead, which can be no bad thing, maximising your audience and all that. The band RAWK HARD anyway, maybe not dressed in the regulation black leather tonight, but still black of heart, with the pounding rhythms and ritual guitar abuse being an integral part of the set. They run through the Ad Astra album, pretty much, which goes down well as this makes inroads into the record collections and hearts of a nation of young Kurts and Lemmys. Ronding up with a chaotic version of Space Geek (the forthcoming single), the title somehow sums up their prog-metal-meets-anorak presents and pasts. Punk, rock, but not necessarily in that order.