While I’ve written about a decent number of crazy freaked-out “Noise-Rock” bands under the Blogarhythms banner over these months, I haven’t written about much, if any, live music. But since I just got home from a crazy freaked-out “Noise-Rock” show (attended with 12XU and friends) a few short hours ago I figured there’s no time like the present to jot down a few lines about the experience in general, and one particularly radical band specifically.
The show was at a slickly decored, and maybe a little too-trendy, venue in New Haven, Connecticut called Bar. Seriously, the fluorescent glow-illumined room in which the concert was held is apparently called “Bartopolis,” and their website instructs visitors to “dress to impress.” I didn’t know any of this ahead of time (if I had I might’ve rethought the Shamiq From 212 “Where My Killa Tape at God” tee-shirt), and was surprised by the environs. It’s not the sort of image I usually get when I think “Noise show.” But God bless whoever books that place for giving shows like this a home.
The opening act was Tim Holehouse, an experimental Folk artist from the UK whose pretty acoustic finger-plucking was accented by haunting vocals, spooky spoken word pieces, growls, howls, yelps, screams and a lot of foot-pedal looping and effects. Parts of his performance reminded me quite a lot of the so-called “apocalyptic Folk” of Current 93, so it was nice to hear he’s a fan of the group’s work from the man himself after the show.
Michigan-based drone-meisters Wolf Eyes, who drew some pretty serious headbanging from a few audience members during their set of industrialized noise, drum machine beats and guitar shreddery were the night’s headliners. But the energy seemed sucked out of the room to me by that point. And the thrumming atmospherics of the music, which some find abrasive, only reminded me of many nights sleeping near the noises, and vibrational hum of a train station. So I found one of the only two chairs in the place, drank my ginger-ale, and tried not to fall asleep.
Sandwiched between the two was a performance by the Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn duo The Usaisamonster, which was anything but sleep-inducing. Using just a guitar and drum set (and a handy synthesizer) group members Colin Matthews and Thom Hollman exploded the room with jaggedly asymmetrical riffs, skull-crushing drumming, complicated compositions that featured multiple rhythmic, tempo, and time-signature changes in one song, and lyrics bemoaning the state of our environment, consumer culture, and the plight of Native Americans. It was like the tongue-in-cheek Prog/Glam/Metal of Muse’s Black Holes and Revelations, on a diet of steroids and psychedelic chemicals, smacked with the topical nerdery and experimentalism of Devo with some tricks learned from Math-Rock and Free Jazz thrown in for good measure.
If anything, I don’t think Wolf Eyes could maintain the furious energy Usaisamonster brought to the stage. Which is understandable, because Usaisamonster was a monster in their own right. If you get the opportunity, check them out on tour (with Tim Holehouse opening) over the next few weeks.
-El Keter