I had to get drunk quite fast to be able to stay sane in the Kulturhuset atmosphere. Rescued Tommi and went to Malmskillnadsgatan (the hooker street of Stockholm) to find a place to drink. We found the russian themed KGB bar, actually the first time I have been there. Nice but semi-expensive. A couple of glasses of wine + some Standard vodka was all we had time to get before we "had" to get back to the artsy people. Lots of black clothes, horn-rimmed glasses, turtlenecks and bad postures. There was a bar also, and I made sure to give the bartender some extra tip, I felt sorry for the guy who had to work in that environment.
The first act was two guys with what sounded like acoustic guitars + percussion. Pretentious and awful, so I remained faithful to the bar.
This is my tax money paying for this stuff, by the way. I think it's cool that my money is paying for Tommi to come over here and give a show, but he's not even mentioned in the program ffs. These guys were.
Up next were two girls playing elaborate turntable setups under the name Vinyl Terror & Horror. Perfect loopy stuff for any tipsy person, and I was impressed with their set. Looking at discogs, I see they have a bunch of records out, I think I'll grab them soon.
Then Tommi played a solid set of laser-y harshshit. The volume was limited to 100 db, due to these prissy sound environment yada yada laws of Sweden. Tommi even turned the sound down after a few minutes to ask if the PA was even on. After that it got slightly louder/better, but it could have been a lot louder if you ask me. Like I said, laser was promised and laser was delivered via the Serge synth Tommi had borrowed from EMS + his trustworthy Sherman filter bank. Contact mics + heavy fuzz arsenal coupled with the Serge sounds made for great multi-layered wreckage of the highest order. I was rather wrecked myself by this time, and I enjoyed the set a lot. I feel sorry for the noise geeks who missed it.
Then the night continued with more focused drinking at Södermalm, at an old water hole I hadn't been to in some time. Drinks were handed out, I met people I haven't seen in years, good times, more drinking, more haze, finally stumbling through the back streets while my eyes (turned the colour of frozen meat by then) stopped working.
Please note that I have abstained from using the word artfag in this post. Oh snap.
