GoMA - Fri Mar 5

The crowd’s cool for Quan’s first songs, unsure whether to clap or nod appreciatively like he’s another installation. Then he plays Year Of The Jerk and the question is answered, everybody pushing closer to applaud his rockness. Quan could be about to break into dance or violence; he’s become the Christopher Walken of Oz music. His R&B number has the ’Gurge-loving dudes nodding along even though it sounds like Justin Timberlake (if he wrote murder ballads), which is using Auto-Tune for good. Elsewhere, the echo on his voice obscures punchlines like, “What do other rappers got that I don’t got? / Big black dicks and flow that’s what,” which is a shame. If there was any justice Quan would be the face of Australian hip hop.

New Pants were China’s Ramones, as their shouting “Gabba gabba gabba hey!” suggests, but along the way they discovered the ’80s. They reverse the new wave dynamic, with the frontman as the girly one who sings gentler love songs and the keyboardist a thrusting rock pig who takes over for a run of songs where he chants glorious broken English catchphrases like, “Sex, drugs and Internet!” Combined with their goofy dance moves, this is the highlight of a very fun set.

JODY MACGREGOR

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