I've said it before and I'll say it again: everyone's Krautrock nowadays. This can be a good or bad thing - I quite enjoyed The Phantom Band's blend of Nick Cave-vocals, early REM-jangle, and Klaus Dinger-motorik beat. Then again, I'm baffled at the hysterical reception to the Horrors' Primary Colours, and when Kasabian and Oasis can do a passable approximation of Kosmische and Motorik-principles, it's proof that any mook can do this kind of thing.

Sad, as there are acts like David Bowie, Death in Vegas and Om who have managed to take these influences and take them further/elsewhere - perhaps it's a matter of balance. Evidence that anyone can buy a Neu! reissue now and imitate accordingly - I lost track of the times people told me 'The Shock of the Lightning' was Krautrock. No, it was a stock Noel Gallagher slice of drivel nailed to a porridge that aspired to sound like Dinger-Rother!

This might be where Wooden Shjips come in: I certainly wouldn't revere them as groundbreaking, and I'm not sure they're doing that much with the Krautrock-thang - the reception to their recent Dos LP has been less than excitable. But taking in the timetable and realising that I can see the Shjips and Roky Erikson and hearing a blast of 'We Ask You To Ride' during the sound check, who could pass them up?

Essentially the Shjips take that motorik beat, nail it to the minimal groove of Suicide and drop in equally minimal riffs reminiscent of Loop and Spacemen 3 - they even speak to the audience through an echoed mic that recalls the intro to the latter's 'Suicide.' The thing is, unlike Kasabian and Oasis, they do the pastiche thing quite well and successfully blend three elements I'm a sucker for - Krautrock, Suicide, and that pre-shoegaze expansion of rock. If they got two-drummers, I'd probably offer to blow them...

Once they hit the stage, it was impossible to resist - the whiff of dope in the air and perfect sound where their psyched out grooves became most effective. O.K., pretty much all the songs started and ended the same way and all settled into a Neu! fronted by Alan Vega formulation, but this is mesmeric stuff and the Shjips are always great live.

Hard to say what songs were played as they all sound quite similar and I was probably having flashbacks to the two times I saw them play last year - there was definitely that very long one that recalls Can's 'Mother Sky' and they might have played their fantastic take on The Sonics' 'Have Love Will Travel' known as 'Shrinking Moon for You' - but essentially they played "that one!." Even a cover of Neil Young's 'Vampire Blues' (from the mighty On the Beach) sounded the same as all the other songs - if they hadn't said it was a Young-song, I doubt that I would have recognised it (despite owning a 7" of it!!).

I'm not sure any of their albums are classic, though I'd love a Wooden Shjips live album - certainly one of the great live acts and the first truly great performance at The Green Man 2009. They might be a three-trick pony, but it works for me; and I'd bet my soul that The Horrors' new direction was probably based on them!!