Teddy Boy Kill, Shaa’ir + Func and Mouse On Mars played the Goethe Institut, New Delhi on March 21, 2009.

Mouse On Mars rock. Despite being generally proclaimed as pioneers of “electronica” and flown in by the Goethe Institut as the German headliner of their third annual “Festival Electronica”, these guys definitely do not just check their e-mail on stage while occasionally pressing play. That is, except when one of their laptops accidentally logs on to a latent Wi-Fi signal and receives a call on Skype! “Sorry son, can’t chat now, I’m rocking Delhi,” is approximately what Andi Tomas communicated to his son, as he and his partners Jan St. Werner and Dodo Nkishi very physically unleashed a frenzy of textured noise that only in these modern times could be considered music, let alone rock music.

At their best, Delhi-based duo Teddy Boy Kill sound like Trentemoller or Swayzak – elated and ecstatic. At their worst, TBK come off as a tamer, under-drugged Underworld or Massive Attack. TBK puts hard-hitting electro at the service of a sort of roots-rock songwriting, which works well when everything meshes. Ironically, even though I personally detest most forms of trance music, I find that TBK’s best songs are the spacey, almost psychedelic, thumpers overlaid with ambient synths and delay-processed, Liam Gallagher-ish nasal vocals. With the acoustic guitar accompaniment, the impression of being at a Goa beach party is complete (indeed, both members of TBK perform barefoot). However, when TBK veer from this vibe, towards downtempo glitchfunk numbers or high-speed drum & bass climaxes, the results are highly variable.

For many in the audience, Shaa’ir + Func were the highlight of this night. Their brand of electroclashy pop dhamaka seems to be quite the crowd favorite; a mainstay on festival and college circuits in India these days. This was my first time seeing them, and although I personally was disappointed with the music, I have to praise their energetic showmanship. Although Shaa’ir had to physically herd the sizeable, but seated, crowd to stand up near the front of the stage, once everyone was on their feet and shaking their hips, an okay show turned into a fun dance party. She stayed off the stage dancing in the midst of the audience for a couple of songs, much to the gratification of several female fangirls as well as ogling ogres. S+F do straddle the fine line between gimmicky novelty and genuine inspiration  – what with Randolph’s midi-goggle headset and Shaa’ir’s political diva routine – but I often wonder what a clear conscience is worth anymore, anyway.

Mouse On Mars launched into space like a rocket ship on a mission. Herr Kommandants Jan St. Werner and Andi Toma each stood before an eerily glowing console of flashing lights, knobs, buttons, faders and laptop screens with complex coded systems information. Their equipment was calibrated in a jittery countdown of whizzes, whirrs and warbles, followed by the thunderous rumbling of Dodo Nkishi on the drumkit, providing the thrust required to get the show off the ground. ‘Wipe That Sound’, probably their most popular single, was the initial burst that propelled the bobbing and jerking dancefloor cosmonauts skyward. MOM kept its combustion chambers fired up at full pace, accelerating over the next few tracks. Cutting through clouds, the friction added some dubsteppy bumps and the high winds sang like strings as they scraped the rocket’s exterior wall. Comrade Werner sounded a really loud, old air raid siren to signal that the stratosphere had been breached. A few minutes later, G-Force hit maximum as the rocket reached its most frantic ascent velocity, and the power suddenly blacked out! When the system reloaded, the crew was faced with the dire threat of pillows, flying over the crowd and occasionally at the stage like asteroids and orbital debris. Andi later informed me that this fun sport is called “Kissenschlag” in Germany (Babelfish tells me that this translates to “cushion impact”).

After an exceptionally eager effort on the part of several German fans, MoM returned to the stage for an encore of a couple of songs, followed by an all-out improv jam with all the members of S+F. Shaa’ir of course, stepped on stage with a bottle of brandy that she used to spray the front row with. Following that free-for-all, all the night’s performers were garlanded by the Institut Director, and we in the audience were returned from our fantastic voyage on the interplanetary autobahn to the mean, mutt-littered streets of Delhi.

Indiecision: A-