Excellent weekend of noise and experimental music. Highlights for me were:
The Rita
Amazing hearing this set through the megalodon PA at Pioneer Works. I was commenting with some other people throughout the weekend how I could feel my t-shirt fabric vibrating around even by sound waves in the mid-range which was insane to me. Sam mentioned the sources were the sounds of skateboard decks being snapped in two and puck slapshots with a hockey stick. Perfect intersection of noise and performance art.
Aaron Dilloway
I mean, what more can be said about this guy. Every performance he plays is phenomenal. One of the few artists (maybe the only one?) I've seen where every performance is nothing less than incredible. Dude can't be stopped! Big bonus points for the Hawkwind sample outro to end his set.
Kate Rissiek
Perfect control of extreme oscillations via her signature theremin (and I believe a synth box or two but I could be wrong). Her solo work is like Rusalka but feels more controlled and intentional. As time goes by, I continue to lose interest in very composed noise with several intentional movements or parts, but when it's done seamlessly and still retains the power of a wild and loose harsh noise set like Kate did with this one, I'm down. This set was also a favorite in terms of the complementary visuals that were projected onto the stage backdrop, a mix of cosmic bodies and man-made objects blended together in an abstract fashion that just worked really well with the noise. And of course Kate made sure to set up to the side for full audience viewing of the visuals.
Kwami Winfield & C. Spencer Yeh
Just an amazing improvised noise set. It was cool watching Spencer use his violin for extended feedback, but never actually playing it which was a welcome surprise to me. Maybe the most "pure noise" set I've seen Spencer be involved in too, felt far off from most of his other solo works, collaborations, and BxC stuff I've heard....(cont. below)
Also great to discover Kwami whom I had never heard of previously.
Slacking
I knew Jim was going to be a highlight and of course he was. He's really good at making noise that has movements and parts without it sounding too intentional I suppose, like new sounds come in and they're gone instantly, then he's onto something else. I like this because it throws me off and keeps things exciting, even if there are parts played where I'm thinking "God, I could listen to that loop for at least another minute straight" or whatever. It keeps me wanting more. And Jim is great at blurring the line between noise and music with all the stuff he plays, which I often find to be nostalgic and pleasant-sounding.
Xome
Fucking Xome! That was the first time I've caught this project and it was perfect. HIGH energy pedal noise, great control and variety of sounds. Bob's not re-inventing the wheel and I thank him for that. Just good fucking dynamic harsh noise, grateful to have been finally able to witness this project after first getting into it nearly twenty years ago. Also really cool to chat with Bob about the old days of
noisefx.com and
harshnoise.com, both massive influences for a then-young harsh head like myself.
