Review | neu waves 2nd birthday party with System Exclusive, Whitney K and Conor Clements at The Loft, Southsea: "A gleeful noise"

System Exclusive at neu waves' 2nd birthday bash at The Loft, Southsea on September 7, 2023

For the second time in a week I found myself in front of Conor Clements.

Last weekend the Hallan frontman was performing solo, opening for Fast Trains. He was again appearing under his own name – but this time with a full band. The jangly indie-pop-heavy set shows yet another side to this mercurial performer, and it is a welcome revelation.

He’s the opener at this second birthday celebration for the neu waves club night – a night which aims to showcase new, up-and-coming and left-field music from Portsmouth and, as in tonight, much further afield.

Next up is Whitney K who when he take to the stage, announces: “Welcome to Sweatfest 2023”, and he’s not wrong. We are in sweat-dripping-from-the-walls territory. It. Is. Hot. And some in the audience are clearly wilting, not to mention the band members on stage.

K is originally from the sparsely populated Yukon in Canada, but he has also lived in Vancouver and south of the border in the somewhat more populous Los Angeles. These contrasts feed into his music – there is the epic sweep of the open landscape in his hook-laden widescreen indie-rock. The War on Drugs spring to mind more than once. But he also echoes the urban drawl of Lou Reed (yes, I know he was from New York) in some songs’ delivery. And his guitarist can bust out a mean solo when required.

By the time California’s System Exclusive take to the stage, the audience has noticeably thinned, which is their loss.

The duo of singer/guitarist Ari Blaisdell and drummer/synth player Matt Jones rip through their truncated set – things are running a little late and there is a strict curfew – with a frantic passion.

Their synth-punk is a gleeful noise, with songs flying past at breakneck speed. Blaisdell is a fiery, commanding presence at stage front, while her husband is a blur of limbs behind the kit, occasionally dipping over to trigger something on his bank of miniature synths. Their cover of The Eddie Murphy/Rick James ’80s tune Party All The Time is a total banger.

Unfortunately the heat seems to have beaten quite a few folks, and System Exclusive deserve better – but there is another chance to catch them at the end of this tour in Winchester on September 29.