Goat, KOKO - music review

Proving once more that the devil gets all the best music, Goat came to Koko last night to create one hell of a racket.

The masked Swedes claim to hail from Korpilombolo, a town rumoured to have a long history of voodoo worship after a travelling witch doctor settled there centuries ago.

The historical accuracy of this story remains open to debate, although there was certainly something magical about the band’s debut, World Music. Fusing funk, krautrock and Afrobeat, it crossed more borders than Michael Palin and placed highly on many of 2012’s album of the year lists.

However, there’s only one way to experience a band who refer to their gigs as “rituals”, and that’s live. Officially a trio, Goat swelled to a seven-piece last night, with each member appropriating a look that might be loosely described as “hippy Slipknot”: face masks, wizard hats and kaftans.

Non-singing guitarist Christian Johansson is the leader of the herd, although the focal point was two all-singing, all-dancing females who flailed limbs, shook maracas and chanted throughout.

Disco Fever’s Latin-rock/Afrobeat hybrid was the middle ground between Carlos Santana and Fela Kuti, while Run To Your Mama’s funky guitars and massed chanting nodded to Parliament.

Elsewhere, there were references to the folk-rock of Fairport Convention, psychedelia of The Doors and krautrock of Can — sometimes within the same song.

If there’s one criticism of Goat, it’s that their music can occasionally drift into undifferentiated jamming. But when they built in some dynamics, as on last night’s slow-building closer, they were an unstoppable beast.