Mia Thunderska
Lttl Mort take no breaks from their snarling synthetic post punk with unintelligible vocal effects. A new band, with no music out, and no breaks between songs to get a sense of the personality. Flashes of their inspirations rang out – an interpolation of Daft Punk’s ‘Teachers’ rang out early on from under the vocal effects, there seemed to be an ‘I Feel Love’-esque bass line that was in the earlier part of the set. The bass tone felt consistently in the world of LCD Soundsystem, with its live fuzzy feel, and it did start to shake the venue as it was coming out of the subwoofers, despite that band feeling antithetical to the aesthetic they were trying to build, with the drummer (shirtless, balaclava) standing up and roaring at the crowd before the last beat kicked in, the pulsing lights and synthesisers. Ending with a big rock backbeat with a touch of swing, the live band influences win against the cool clubland synths.
The crowd fell almost silent when the band took to the stage. The rhythmic breathing of vocalist Moe Kazra echoed around the walls. An exercise in tension building, there was never a clear build up, or direction of where it was headed. The opening synths of ‘Body Meat’ was an immediate explosion both sonically and physically. The crowd at the front was rarely still until the end of the gig.
Touring their recently re released album Attempted Martyr, Prostitute are a force. The album is a brutal and bleak look at anti-Arab racism, religious extremism, and self-centred indulgence, and wouldn’t be described as an easy listen. However, live the layers of noise rock that appeared on records were stripped back to give something more rhythmic and pulsing. Some of the grooves felt possibly even closer to indie/post-punk disco, though that could have been a reflection on the gold ceiling of the MOTH Club.
There are few gaps between songs and the ones that are there have a deafening silence that feels extremely intentional. The room is kept in complete darkness, while the lights behind the band strobe red. With a repeated mantra of “I’ve come to dance, so let’s dance”, at points it felt like an apocalyptic nightclub – Blade (1998) with guitars.
Sandwiched between cuts from Attempted Martyr were new songs. With samples processed like rave stabs and drum beats drifting from break beats to the archetypical rhythms of hardcore two-step sections, there seemed to be no difference in audience reaction. Bodies dived off the MOTH Club’s barrierless stage, almost knocking the stage lights off their truss.
Ending with the single ‘All Hail’, Prostitute are a force live. Few bands feel as confident with their blend of synthetics and samples (maybe apart from The Armed), and their ability to know a crowd’s exact reaction. Leaving the stage as once last ambiance played from the drummer’s SPD, the hectic energy of the set dissipated back into the unease of their recorded output.