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Oxbow / Noxagt / Nĝught - London, ICA Sunday 29th September 2002 Now I haven’t seen Nĝught for a good two years, and how things have changed. Gone is that annoying oddity the theramin, and it’s right back to basics well Nĝught basics anyway. James still stands there with a further two guitars laying on keyboard stands, so he can play with either a screwdriver or an electric drill. The sound is beefed up even more than before with twisted tunes aplenty from the twin guitars, bass and keyboards, with the poor drummer keeping it all together with a gruelling non-stop performance. This is by far the best I’ve seen them play, and they can now match any of the “big guns” of powerful, complicated guitar bands out there. I often find myself during performances wishing it would stop, as too much of a good thing can become boring or bad, but this was one of those exceptions where I wish they’d played all night. [photos] Next up Noxagt from Norway, that consisted of bass, drums and viola. The bass took the lead with its heavy rasping sound, but unfortunately we couldn’t really hear much of the viola in the mix (except in the quieter bits). The drums were played pretty straight and mostly consisted of banging two drums at exactly the same time. They did have remarkable similarities in sound to Lightning Bolt, but without the mental drums. The set did go on a bit longer than our attention spans, but it was nice to see people pushing the boundaries without using the guitar. Oxbow – don’t even go there! If I wanted to see a man stripping down to his pants, grabbing his own cock and hitting himself, I certainly wouldn’t have come tonight. Cheap! I think the line-up was in the wrong order! Tom? skippy

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