Silver Jews @ ABC, 9 May

David Berman pauses mid set to comment on support act Monotonix as "the guys nobody wants to bring on tour." It's as heartfelt a tribute as could be paid. This Tel Aviv garage punk trio produce a breathless, manic set; all beer spraying and instruments flaying. With the whole room doubling as the stage, it equates to 20 minutes of the naughtiest party you could hope to be invited to. Catch them next time!

Silver Jews themselves prove the antithesis of the preceding riot, but perhaps this is a deliberate ploy, allowing the audience their moment of madness before basking in the effortless evocation of Berman’s lyrics. The bulk of the set lends itself to tracks from the Jews’ forthcoming LP Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea but, since that particular album is a poetic marvel in itself, this is no bad thing. The highlight of these proves to be the band’s unusually visceral delivery of My Pillow is the Threshold but Berman’s carefully selected highlights from 6 prior albums, including Slow Education, I'm Getting Back Into Getting Back Into You and haunting closer Pretty Eyes demonstrates the formidable verbal acumen of the music industry’s self-styled anti-hero.