REVIEW: Electric Wire Hustle At Tone Bar In Sydney

Have you heard about the kiwi mass-exodus to Australia? It was in full effect on November 17 at Tone Bar in Sydney when Electric Wire Hustle played the launch of their debut self-titled album.

The night started with Isaac Aesili and Rachel Fraser. Their mix of ghostly, soulful vocals, electronica and horns, they impressed and moved the crowd, getting them all set for the boys from Electric Wire Hustle.

When EWH did get out, the crowd was moving away from the bar towards the dance floor. As the boys warmed up, I found it particularly interesting to see the differences in the way each member got ready. Myele Manzanza sat in front of his drums, closed his eyes and rubbed his hands over his face in a sort of meditative fashion. Taay Ninh, got all his equipment ready, and had a chat with Mara TK; and Mara apart from laughing with Ninh, had a good swig at his bottle.

To say that the performance was entirely premeditated and ‘thought-out’ wouldn’t be entirely correct. I felt like EWH sorted the basis of their performance where from they just went with the flow. They worked through their set totally in tune with each other’s roles. Manzanza’s drums set the joint roaring a couple of times with drum solo’s that had the chick next to me yelling “the drummer’s hot!”, and then retracting her statement when her boyfriend gave her a funny look [“I meant he’s on fire…”]

The shit really went down when EWH called the enthusiastic Isaac and Rachel back on stage with one other to lend vocals and trumpets to the sampled Curtis Mayfield track and the mixed crowd went nutso. The boys left the stage here but came back for encore to perform They Don’t Want.

If Im brutally honest, it wasn’t my favourite ever performance. The reason I was so eager to see this set is because I am so in love with the album. But I still can’t hate. Because EWH are only getting started and they still rate high musically. I must say that the boys are going to do big things. They’re already raved about internationally (see: soulbounce US; pinboardblog: London and The Brag: Sydney) and the Australian crowds definitely loved them and wanted for more. As do I.

Review by Eliorah Malifa.