Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip @ Mr Kyps, Poole

Teaming up a little more than 18 months ago they can already pump out a gig that is so tight, spiky and imaginative that most bands would find hard to match it - let alone better it.

Separately they could not sound or look any more different: Dan is dressed in a hoodie, enthusiastically bopping around behind his laptop creating electro-tinged hip hop beats, while Pip is fully suited, donning a cap and spitting out his spoken word lyrics with passion and character.
 
The twosome instantly get the crowd bouncing with one of their more well known and accessible songs 'The Beat That My Heart Skipped'. Barely giving the audience time to breathe they race straight to their second song. The track is a heavily spoken word piece that captivates the crowd.

"We've taken it pretty dark, pretty quick," laughs Pip, never one short of chat. The quick fire poet makes a great frontman-cum-host as he delivers his the set from a stage mocked up like a living room. He sips from his glass of rose he annotates the gig and provides visual accompaniments, which really bring the music to life. On the thought provoking 'Angles', a track that twists and turns, he uses simple but effective costume pieces to take on the persona of the characters.

Their next single 'Look for the Women', he makes use of the props around him, cleverly becoming both the female and male subjects of the song. This alone is worth the entrance fee. During 'Developments' Pip really gets to shine as he impressively wraps his tongue around the elements: hydrogen, helium and fluoride, with the Periodic table at his side.

So far, so Pip - it is easy to think this is a one-man show. But in the background Dan is adding boundless energy to his wizardry laptop skills. Simultaneously he enthusiastically mixes tracks, provides live vocals and effects and even a bit of cheeky banter for Pip to bounce off of. His beats are frenzied, whipping up a cocktail of indie, electro, jazz and hip-hop, even dropping some Motown and African jingles.

The gig draws to a close and the audience are still dying to hear the superb 'Thou Shall Not Kill'. The song is essentially a list poem littered with pop culture references that Pip preaches from his Bible, yet it never fails to please. Ever the entertainer, he adds fun to his contemporary commandments, name checking the cover artists plastered all over the venue: "Green Bay; just a band, Robbing Williams; just a band." Great Stuff.

The duo are clearly enjoying themselves. They are at complete ease with the audience, even including them and using them like one of Pip’s props. The way they work together is reminiscent of the great dynamic duos of past: Batman and Robin and Jay and Silent Bob et cetera. Slick, fun, observant and witty, you can’t imagine one with out the other. Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip are definitely not just a band.

by Kerry Mason