THERE are some bands who just look, and probably sound, so much better under the twinkling stars and smoky haze of a festival skyline.

Take the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players.

The New York three-piece hail themselves as - wait for this - an "indie-vaudeville conceptual art-rock pop" band.

Phew. Darlings of the alternative festival circuit, they consist of nerdy dad Jason (vocals and guitar), mum Tina (guitar and costume design) and precocious ten-year-old daughter Rachel (drums/vocals and increasingly irritating interruptions).

To say these modern-day, music hall Von Trapps are unique is an understatement laced with a double shot of downplay.

In a near hour-long set, the Family last night played about half a dozen songs.

During that time Jason nattered away twenty-to-the-dozen like a man rejected from Woody Allen's Annie Hall for talking far too fast.

When they finally decided to treat the audience to a song, they showed a selection of slides in the background.

Obscure images - from Vietnam soldiers and corporate goals of fast food chiefs, through to obscure snaps of people with pets and traffic education shots from mid America - neatly matched the lyrics of tunes that echoed dewy-eyed pop of They Might Be Giants, if they fell out of a tree... backwards.

From New York to old York, these self-styled satirists are probably best enjoyed in a Glastonbury field. And that's no laughing matter.

Updated: 09:38 Saturday, September 11, 2004