Cardiff’s Islet offer a devastating showcase of how to excel in self-promotion, Getintothis’ Mike Doherty, is on hand to pick up the bits of broken drum kits.
When the day’s conferences have largely been about how bands should promote themselves online as brands and how to offer themselves up as neatly wrapped-up products for their target market; Islet are the perfect antithesis of this industry panic.
They shun any sort of online presence, not even a Topspin account, and quite right too. They choose instead to concentrate solely on the live show, which is a lot like watching toddlers dizzy on too much lemonade.
They vault around The Kazimier like it’s their sandpit, shouting, screaming and willingly throwing themselves from the stage onto the floor.
This isn’t to say they’re childish. No, because there’s the touch of the enigmatic and unhinged, but also the very militaristically organised about this Cardiff quartet.
They swap instruments almost by the minute, play songs with all four members on the drums, but also know how to pull out an irresistible bass groove like on the only named song Horses and Dogs.
As long as we’ve got bands like Islet who push indie forward, the self-promotion should sort itself out.
Pictures by Conor McDonnell
