Talc are performing ‘Modern Sleep Over,’ a track from their recent long player ‘Sit Down Think’ which has won the quirky outfit deserved acclaim from big players as diverse as Gilles Peterson, Todd Terje and Bill Brewster. I cast a glance over the crowd at London’s Jazz Café and it reveals an audience that is captivated by the performance of the 10-piece in front of them. Some people are laughing amongst each other and jokily swaying to the beat, the rest stand wide-eyed, with their mouths hanging open. It’s not that Talc are bad. No, they’re just weird (but wonderful). ‘Modern Sleep Over’ deals with the love between a woman and her computer and the assembled masses struggle to hold back hysterics when the vocalists deliver lines like “Love it when you touch my screen / You know what I mean, baby.” Indeed, all of the tracks that the band perform have in common a twisted story or theme and as they rattle through tunes on “cheese dreams” and riding bicycles whilst drunk, the onlookers continue to battle with their collective listen-or-dance dilemma. So the onus is very much on a comedy show as well as a live music gig. This is manifested not only in Talc’s droll lyricism but also in a number of witty quips, some rehearsed and many seemingly spontaneous, that take place in between and in the middle of the tracks they perform. I wipe a tear from my eye when a band member sends his thanks to the crowd using a vocoder (which features heavily throughout the show), warping his voice into a robotic squeal. With the humour a top priority, you might expect the quality of the musicianship to be less than adequate. Thankfully, this is not the case with Talc. Each member of the band contributes an accomplished performance and they lay bare their talents with tight harmonies and improvised endings, without so much as a note out of place. What is more, clad in suits with trainers and some sporting ninja-style face masks and others bowler hats, the boys look fun and the resulting energy they emit is infectious. Though the recorded material is perhaps less impressive, the live experience has both style and substance together will all of the ingredients for a jolly good show.