Moon Duo, Southbank Centre

In what could be one of the best Southbank Centre concerts 2014, witness the futuristic noise wash of Moon Duo. Southbank regulars will be in awe of these space rockers

Moon Duo: the clue is in the name. The San Franciscans produce high-octane space rock designed to send you into orbit.

Vocalist and guitarist Erik “Ripley” Johnson and organist Sanae Yamada, produce a sonic rush, caught in an airlock between 1960s psychedelia and a futuristic reading of Krautrock.  

Moon Duo's psychedelic space rock is propelled by Motorik beats from their drum machine and hypnotic organ corralled by lacerating guitar fuzz and reverb-heavy vocals that sound like they are being sucked into a vacuum.

But look beyond the relentless kinetics of the music and there is a certain fragile beauty lurking underneath the monolithic soundscapes; Johnson’s heavily-treated vocals contain kernels of the purest pop melodies.  

Sleepwalker , the lead track on their 2012 album Circles, grinds into a spacey groove with buzz cutter guitars slicing across Johnson’s far-out vocal, before taking off on the shimmering chorus as he and Yamada harmonise.

The Southbank Centre will see the American pair touch down for a performance on 19 September.