The first of the month saw Melbourne local boys TTT, formerly known as Tic Toc Tokyo, launch their debut album Lands.

Helping the night pick itself up were the rather exuberant quartet known as World’s End Press, reminiscent of the Happy Mondays... if the Happy Mondays were on a lot less drugs. They exhumed this daggy, 1980’s vibe like a Duran Duran video, but their synth-driven pop tunes were fun, light-hearted and insanely enjoyable. Rather appropriately covered in their set was Pet Shop Boys’ ‘West End Girls’. Part of the fascinating nature of this band’s display were the three men at the front of the stage; keys, guitar and bass, dancing and jumping around in circles with an unbridled energy that definitely radiated the room.

TTT and their angular pop songs took to the small stage, in front of them a healthy crowd of punters. Their songs are made up of an erratic exhibit of weird noises; sharp metallic guitar stabbing at peculiar synthesiser sounds, drums moving rapidly with uneven beats. A particular highlight was ‘The River’, it’s opening bass riff loud, brash and heavy, as well as their most recent single ‘Animal’ shining bright with all its unashamed peculiarity. 

It was entrancing watching the quartet; the constant swapping between Nic and Simon, both taking up vocal duties though constantly changing their instruments amongst themselves, ‘Animal’ particularly showing the two men’s unusual vocals working together as they crashed away at a plethora of percussion instruments before them. Joining the boys for a couple of tracks was Andrew from another Melbourne outfit, Rat vs. Possum, taking up some duties on the timbales. The band’s songs are weird, but there isn’t pop music like this around, and they pull it off live perfectly.