An Acquired Taste
My hopes for Conan & The Mockasins are initially high, they have a lovely double bass, which of course spells out offbeat indie, however this band are one for those who really mean it when they say that they like their music eclectic. The group offer a mish mash of frenzied bass and guitar with singer Connan pogoing up and down like a jack in a box (well he is rather on the small side). They instantly divide opinion in the Tuborg Tent leading to a small exodus at about the point when a pretty young vocalist takes to the stage with fairy wings flapping behind her to add high pitched vocals to a 2 minute tune with a country swagger.
It only gets weirder as vocalist and guitarist Connan is soon incarcerated beneath a large turret-shaped construction with an extra head on top. The music itself is equally as wacky as the visual aspect; the vocals are a barely distinguishable stream of squeaky, almost cartoon pitch oddities that I imagine are best of untranslated. There are flashes of potential with some cool surf rock style guitar, but it's soon obliterated by the smurf singing, which really most closely resembles a children's entertainer on helium. Maybe Conan & The Mockasins are simply rewriting the musical rule book, doing away with conventional sense of routine pace and melody as some of the crowd clearly get it and even applaud the diminutive singer's efforts to engage them, however there's a fair portion who, like myself, just don't know what to make of this crazy cacophony. Yes there's some endearing experimental guitars and percussion but this doesn't make up for the points when the vocal racket sounds like the squealing of a tape recorder on fast forward.