Primitive CalculatorsSat 28 Nov – Static Age Festival
This was supposed to be something a bit more in depth, but as time has passed, my memory of it has dulled... Also, I'm lazy.
I arrived late, just as Rebeiro / Andrews were packing down. Some guy punched some other guy in the face on tram ride there though.
I think I detected a Swans influence in The Whulge's sound... well in the repetitious, primal drums and sparseness anyway. Drums, keys, bass and vocals... Sort of post-punk sounding... Its an ugly, awkward name, but I'm definitely interested in checking them out again.
Justice Yeldham's make-face-love-to-a-piece-of-amplified-glass set was quite entertaining. Some great tones were coaxed from his setup, and the progession toward the final climatic spazz-out worked. Due to him performing on the floor of the ballroom, as opposed to the stage, the lighting sucked. i.e.- I didn't know he was bleeding until I'd seen photos a couple of days later.
Abject Leader was somewhat of a headfuck, it took me a little while to actually figure out that their set had begun... misdirection... they "played" from the balcony of the theatre stage, abstract films projected off-centre of the room. Self-hypnosis tapes and static noise... I got a slight headache midway through this set when they projected an alternating red and blue hue at a rate that seemed to be every alternating frame... mmm, visual distortion. Pity the sound dropped out in the last quarter: it totally killed the flow that they'd spent the set building.
Robotosaurus, I guess you could call hardcore, with a liiiittle sludgyness thrown in... (Hah, marvel at my inept descriptions) The weren't exactly my cup of tea, but it's always great to watch a band that can (and do) put their energy into flailing about. Fun.
I think it was after their set that I gave into my hunger pains and went and bought a banana from the nearby IGA- due to this I missed the start of Ivens's set... I couldn't make out what he was saying over the p.a. which was a shame; that basically reduced it to noise beats and unintelligible vocals. Energy and presence was there though. Fuck, I am rambling. His crowd interaction- pouncing on the theatre seats and running as deep into the audience as his mic lead would allow- was particularly noteworthy.
I just couldn't get into Naked on the Vague. Something about the out of kilter guitar really grated on my nerves. I think the vocals weren't really doing it for me either. I walked away after 2 or 3 songs.
Primitive Calculators were great. Really. Completely unpretentious, noisy, punkish rawk. Their cover of
Shout was hilariously awesome. Fun fun fun!
I spent the Grey Daturas's set in front of Bonnie, shoegazing/geeking-out over pedals and trancing out over their droney-noise-squall. For me it was a meditative experience, I was totally focused in on the band. Great set; if you've seen them before then you know what to expect... Damn, I'm going to miss them... Grey Daturas tribute band anyone?!
I was mentally exhausted after Grey Daturas, so the Embers Big Band was a little lost on me... I've seen them in a different configuration before, so I knew what to expect, but... I vaguely remember a couple of moments that were great, but at this point my attention span was shot to shit, I needed to mentally recover from the Daturas set. One of the drummers towards the end started building a tower out of his drums. I was hoping for some kind forceful knocking over of said tower, but it didn't happen. Well, it didn't happen whilst I was there. As soon as they stopped playing I made a beeline for the ballroom, to get a good spot for...
Lighting Bolt. I danced. I sweated. The crowd was awesome for this, everyone else seemed to be having fun, and there was just the right amount of pushyness (encouraging movement). Good times were had. I pity you if you missed out.
It was a great night. It needs to happen in 2010, and every other year from now on...
----Appendix!
Some great recordings of then night are available here:http://fanmaderecordings.blogspot.com/
(be sure to thank SeanceMascara)
Some photos:
http://www.messandnoise.com/galleries/3814454
And a more concise, professional report here...:
http://www.messandnoise.com/articles/3814475
This was supposed to be something a bit more in depth, but as time has passed, my memory of it has dulled... Also, I'm lazy.
I arrived late, just as Rebeiro / Andrews were packing down. Some guy punched some other guy in the face on tram ride there though.
I think I detected a Swans influence in The Whulge's sound... well in the repetitious, primal drums and sparseness anyway. Drums, keys, bass and vocals... Sort of post-punk sounding... Its an ugly, awkward name, but I'm definitely interested in checking them out again.
Justice Yeldham's make-face-love-to-a-piece-of-amplified-glass set was quite entertaining. Some great tones were coaxed from his setup, and the progession toward the final climatic spazz-out worked. Due to him performing on the floor of the ballroom, as opposed to the stage, the lighting sucked. i.e.- I didn't know he was bleeding until I'd seen photos a couple of days later.
Abject Leader was somewhat of a headfuck, it took me a little while to actually figure out that their set had begun... misdirection... they "played" from the balcony of the theatre stage, abstract films projected off-centre of the room. Self-hypnosis tapes and static noise... I got a slight headache midway through this set when they projected an alternating red and blue hue at a rate that seemed to be every alternating frame... mmm, visual distortion. Pity the sound dropped out in the last quarter: it totally killed the flow that they'd spent the set building.
Robotosaurus, I guess you could call hardcore, with a liiiittle sludgyness thrown in... (Hah, marvel at my inept descriptions) The weren't exactly my cup of tea, but it's always great to watch a band that can (and do) put their energy into flailing about. Fun.
I think it was after their set that I gave into my hunger pains and went and bought a banana from the nearby IGA- due to this I missed the start of Ivens's set... I couldn't make out what he was saying over the p.a. which was a shame; that basically reduced it to noise beats and unintelligible vocals. Energy and presence was there though. Fuck, I am rambling. His crowd interaction- pouncing on the theatre seats and running as deep into the audience as his mic lead would allow- was particularly noteworthy.
I just couldn't get into Naked on the Vague. Something about the out of kilter guitar really grated on my nerves. I think the vocals weren't really doing it for me either. I walked away after 2 or 3 songs.
Primitive Calculators were great. Really. Completely unpretentious, noisy, punkish rawk. Their cover of
Shout was hilariously awesome. Fun fun fun!I spent the Grey Daturas's set in front of Bonnie, shoegazing/geeking-out over pedals and trancing out over their droney-noise-squall. For me it was a meditative experience, I was totally focused in on the band. Great set; if you've seen them before then you know what to expect... Damn, I'm going to miss them... Grey Daturas tribute band anyone?!
I was mentally exhausted after Grey Daturas, so the Embers Big Band was a little lost on me... I've seen them in a different configuration before, so I knew what to expect, but... I vaguely remember a couple of moments that were great, but at this point my attention span was shot to shit, I needed to mentally recover from the Daturas set. One of the drummers towards the end started building a tower out of his drums. I was hoping for some kind forceful knocking over of said tower, but it didn't happen. Well, it didn't happen whilst I was there. As soon as they stopped playing I made a beeline for the ballroom, to get a good spot for...
Lighting Bolt. I danced. I sweated. The crowd was awesome for this, everyone else seemed to be having fun, and there was just the right amount of pushyness (encouraging movement). Good times were had. I pity you if you missed out.
It was a great night. It needs to happen in 2010, and every other year from now on...
----Appendix!
Some great recordings of then night are available here:http://fanmaderecordings.blogspot.com/
(be sure to thank SeanceMascara)
Some photos:
http://www.messandnoise.com/galleries/3814454
And a more concise, professional report here...:
http://www.messandnoise.com/articles/3814475
