New Zealand's Electric Wire Hustle have been around the world and back in the last few years. Since I last saw them play in Sydney early last year there has been a European tour, which even included playing at the iconic Glastonbury Festival. I was curious if these steps forward would be reflected in their performance on Friday night at The Keystone Festival Bar, as part of the line up with US based trio The Stepkids for the Sydney Festival.

My questions about Electric Wire Hustle would be answered within the first 30 seconds of the boys taking to the stage. I began to wonder whether this was the same band I'd seen? You see, when I last saw Electric Wire Hustle play I had noted they were not your usual 'loud, look at me' type of band. They played great music, utilising multiple instruments and equipment, managing to draw the audience in with their unique take on electronic soul music. This time around they not only did that, but they commanded our attention.

Opening with a track that was raw, psychedelic 60's rock/soul fusion pumping with energy, they most certainly dispelled any queries in my mind about the growth this band had gone through. They were vibrant and dynamic in their performance and it would stay that way for the remainder of their set. Yes, there would still be glimpses of timid fragility in lead singer Mara TK's stage persona, but his vocals have a unique beauty in them that belies his humility on the stage.

This said, it's clear when you watch Electric Wire Hustle that they are a 'band'; this is not about any one individual. As they played tracks from their debut album, including crowd favourite "Perception" and gave us a taste of what’s to come from the next album, it was clear that EWH is all about working together to create their sound. From Myele Manzanza's drumming that lifts the tracks (and that at times went from disjointed soul/hip hop beats to African rhythms), to Taay Ninh's jumping from keys to bass and his enthusiasm in his performance, to Mara TK's vocals, they worked together to captivate the crowd and show us just how out of the square modern soul music can be.

Speaking of bands that take soul music out of the safe square we've come to place it in the past few years, The Stepkids seem to embody this whole notion, as they continued with the same sentiments as EWH, taking it to yet another tangent with their set. Comprising of the members who all sing and are accomplished musicians in their own right, The Stepkids took us on a psychedelic rock & roll fused, futuristic, electronic funk soul ride. Confused? You should be. This is one band who clearly do not want to fit into any "genre", and after having experienced them live, I'd say that's a great thing. They have a way of blending all these genres while simultaneously taking us back to the 1960's, pushing the boundaries and creating music that could also be from the distant future.

The Stepkids live show is an experience to the say the least, incorporating projections into their show means that you see them in a distorted way, sometimes blue, sometimes red, sometimes covered in swirls, but always delivering perfect harmonies over music that doesn't quite fit into any genre.

At times it felt pure rock & roll, at other times soft and soulful... one thing was for sure: it was always intriguing. After a set that flew by the crowd was not ready to get off the ride just yet. And so the obligatory encore came around, but this encore was anything but ordinary, with The Stepkids giving us a spine tingling acapella version of Nirvanas "Heart Shaped Box", which further proved not only how far removed from any specific genre their music and its influences are, but also just how amazing music that doesn’t try to fit into any box can be.