Fujiya & Miyagi @ The Arches, 11 Apr

"Sock it to me, uh!" Silhouetted by flashing short films and lights shining from behind them, their faces unseen, Fujiya and Miyagi stand before us. David Best's whispered come-ons are a exhortation to the dancers down front, and he mixes up stream of consciousness lyrics, "like pixelated scraps of jazz mags in your head" with humourously unnecessary beat boxing: there is, after all, a drummer and sequencer already kicking out the jams. An air of irreverence circles around their kraut-funk: opener Pickpocket is one of the laziest songs ever written, and is duly lauded with muted applause. It is this inconsistency that keeps them from brilliance; the spine chilling grooves of Photocopier and Knickerbocker are tempered by the occasional dross, but live, they are able to cherry-pick the hits. Their nonchalance could lead to their downfall, but when Fujiya and Miyagi get the balance right - as they do tonight - the results are quite splendid.