Live show reports / comments

[FreakAnimalFinland]

TOWER TRANSMISSIONS III
A one day event of Power Electronics/Dark Ambient/Avant-Garde
Sept 28. 2013, Dresden.

Line-up:
GRUNT (FIN)
FOLKSTORM (SWE)
ATTRITION (UK)
ANTIchildLEAGUE (UK)
IRON FIST OF THE SUN (UK)
JAAKKO VANHALA (FIN)
SEX COMMUNION (ger)


Sex Communion: Below masks was hidden at least mr. Human Larvae. Knowing his talent in both recorded and live noise, I was sure it was going to be good. First started with pretty much acoustic noises carved from metal objects. 3 members doing very tasty and crispy sounds. Easy to connect every move to specific sound. It progressed into brutal harsh noise and while it was indeed enjoyable, I think the connection of physical action & sound had more impact in less distorted noises. Some people seemed to consider video unnecessary. I don't think so. Good film. What was it? Would like to have it !



Iron Fist of the Sun: Started with already classic IFOTS track, going through little hit & miss moments. I think little technical issue was blurring the sound at some point, but overall very good show. His sounds and vocal style is very unique.



Jaakko Vanhala: It's kind of hard to praise too much guys you're friends with and artists who's albums you've released... but there is a reason why I released those albums. And that's because he is so good! Among the absolute best harsh noise gigs I have seen what comes to utmost accuracy, ability to control, compose and react on what is going on. More dynamic than almost anyone these days, but not losing into maze of gimmicks. Sheer harsh energe!



ACL: Seen her play several times, and this was about 100x better than anything before. Set was well planned, well composed, no technical flaws. Noisy, yet atmospheric mix of industrial-noise and power electronics. Synth drones, bounding rhythms, blasphemous vocals, little stage performance and video art. Very nice!



Attrition:  I'm very much outsider what comes to gothic & electro music scene. Had not heard of this project before, and only learned on venue they'll do special set of some soundtrack music this time. Well, that it was. Two keyboards, factory standard digital piano sounds, ghastly cinematic effects, dance moves in gothic ghost-dress. I'm quite sure there is audience in goth circles, but in this gig, seemed kind of out-of-place.



Grunt: There was two songs of "World Draped..." album (Fucked By Steel and Dance For The Genocide), but also from other releases. Caught (from split with Taint), Seer of Decay (from Seer of Decay), Saws Are Waiting (unreleased, only played in handful of live gigs). Video included similar collages as World Draped... but vast majority of them do not appear on album cover nor Anti-Social Realism book, but was first seen on this video.  Few minutes of the video was already shown in Deadly Actions (Lille, France) in 2003! Now 10 years later finally the complete footage.





Folkstorm: First time seeing any of Nordvargrs project live! I did enjoy quite a lot early stages of Folkstorm. Also MZ's "nordik battle sign" of roughly same era. Like many artists in end of 90's, there started intense creation of releases. If bands like Aube or Merzbow was kings of the mass production, Nordvargr hit similar path. His solo works as Hydra Head 9, Muskel, Nexus Kenosis, Toroidh, Vampiir Kremator, Vargr etc..  and in groups like Econocon, Goatvargr, Incinerator International, Körperwelten, L/A/B, Lorv, Marvargr, Mz.412, Pouppée Fabrikk.....  And for a while it seemed like just about every month there is bunch of new stuff. It was probably something what wasn't true, but just impression. Now when looking Folkstorm discography, he really didn't more than roughly 10 albums during decade. Hardly an overkill of any kind... One could say I'm more guilty of flooding stuff out.. hah!

And about the gig? It was much better than I could have expected! Electronic beats, modular synth noise electronics, aggressive vocals shouted by giant who was bouncing on stage like maniac. Gig was long and linear in style of songs, but worked well. I think early Folkstorm had little more dirt in its sound. Now with beats and electronics, this could probably satisfy audience in more "dance" oriented events, although it has also enough aggressive edge to qualify for power electronics crowd.





Thanks for organizer & crew, artists and audience for very good festival!

[Levas]

Control over Europe, Vilnius

I guess because of the promo campaign and even new label or something like that, that was started right before the gig, you had to go there by default. Impressions are quite dual.

Velemara - the new industrial star of Autarkeia under all these huge promotional texts and pompastics happened to be the non-moving guy, standing behind his laptop and playing truly boring sounds. It's not that bad that I've got there a little late so I didn't need to listen to all of his set. If you've heard the debut album - it sounded like that just without any guitars so it was plain boredom for most of the time.

Girnų Giesmės - Despite my high hopes for the project (as it is always), this was not one of the stronger performances of his. Someone said that he had some technical difficulties with cables or something like that in the middle of the set and then just couldn't return back on track. though I haven't noticed that, it started as a good drone, but never reached any peak and just kept wandering somewhere around, then pause, starting over and quick end. But apart from what I've written here, it was perhaps the second best that evening. The sound and you could smell a little mood of that great Girnų Giesmės atmosphere

Bad Sector - I remember seeing him here years ago when he presented the material from Kosmodrom. This time the stuff was more varied, but at the same time it lacked that atmosphere. Of course you cannot play Kosmodrom ten years, but I guess the bar was set so high that at least for me it's been difficult to listen even to those few Kosmodrom tracks. They seemed dry and I was glad that Bad Sector didn't play the promised hour or so, but finished earlier. Anyways, they fitted good with Girnų Giesmės and for both of them - silver medal

Control - The supposed highlight of the evening. I remember when I saw him with a bunch of other projects in Berlin (Consumer Electronics I think) his stuff was far more interesting and noisier. Now we were chatting by the bar with a couple of friends when some passer-by said "control plays so weird" and that muzak in the background was in fact him. Soon after the more traditional power electronics/industrial sounds started - pulsations, vocals under decent effects, etc. But it was one of the many projects and that's it. Though you could call his music and sound as good or ok, his behavior on the stage made that impression far worse. The word "plastic" came into mind while talking about the gig afterwards. Perhaps that's the problem with my evaluation of music etc. - I want to see that a person is not lying, not pretending, but doing it from all his heart. Control was gesticulating, shouting ME ME ME I I I MY MY MY pointing everywhere around with his fingers and overall showing how angry he is with something. No.

Body Cargo - was the best that evening and it's a pity that most of the people left the concert hall after the stars. Simple, lo-fi set, going into wall and returning back from it, slowly developing through those 22 minutes. And quite a lot of people were talking afterwards that comparing him and Control, Body Cargo was far better so it's not only my opinion. Good atmosphere, pleasant sounds and no nonsense.

[P-K]

Manifesto: good Death Industrial, but at first I was thinking that it would be nicer to listen to at home, later in the set there was a throbbing track which was really good. So, I heard someone say to another guy on which album that track was and decided to get it too, still have to listen though.

that track should be "Barren"....awesome night. nothing to ad :-)

[Mikerdeath]

Just saw Goblin live, it was excellent. Great selection of songs and they had video projections from the films for each song.
The classic dawn of the dead track was spot on perfect, and they closed with il profondo rosso, which was also perfect.
It was worth going.

[impulse manslaughter]

Dutch newcomer Nawa Shibari last saturday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF1GNDh_N_A

Show was fun!

[Levas]

It's been a busy weekend here. Friday - XXth birthday of Dangus (one of the oldest labels in Lithuania that deals a little with electronics etc., though mostly folk stuff now and also organizing MJR gig). I came late so that I wouldn't have to listen to all that folk music etc. So most of the stuff was Lithuanian industrial/rock/folk bands and artists that had released something via Dangus years ago or so.

Nulis - side project of Laurynas from Girnu Giesmes. I think he was playing most of the stuff from his legendary album S:S:S:S. Well, I don't know if many of you heard of it, but if someone would ask me about Lithuanian industrial classics, this would definitely be the album I'd mention first. Lash from Autarkeia was on vocals in the record, during this live gig, there was another guy, but anyways, the sound was great and the atmosphere - right.

McKaras - very short set. 15 minutes perhaps. Interesting development and quite minimalistic set in sounds and visuals (the guy behind the window, Lithuanian context. Few seconds loop). It was good.

When he finished playing, I still managed to get to another stage where gothrock oldschoolers Siela was playing. Well, they have something nice in their sound - rather unique voice of the vocalist, usually a little bit out of tune and quite catchy melodies. Good.

Vilkduja - the trio playing somewhat industrial/neo-cabareth or whatever. I don't know where they fit in. The show was good though there were some sound problems, but it was truly enjoyable. Good old hits and some newer stuff.

Allerseelen - someone said that Gerhard's default trio on stage is him with two girls now. Well, they looked really good on stage and though the stage was quite big, the work with lights and so on filled it right. It was a mix of older and newer stuff and I had to listen to some 6 songs while I finally got on track with their sounds, but solid and good performance with that famous dance of Gerhard. I also bought that book from Ajna. Will have to check it.

Next evening - Vilkų Žiema. It's like an intro to another big summer festival in Lithuania Kilkim Žaibu. Different material and far from industrial, but anyways. I came on time on

God's Tower - pagan metal band from Byellorussia. Never liked them so just peeked what's happening on the stage and went on to have some beers and talk with people.

Saturnus - never saw them live before, but damn they are good. You can call them emo or whatever, but the sound, performance and support was somewhat fantastic. Of course there were people whining that "I'm going to sleep now", but whatever. I was going to sleep when

Church of Pungent Stench started playing. Damn it's some boring stuff. Macho death metal or whatever you should call that, but neither sound nor anything else was good about that. Even people who were into Pungent Stench were quite disappointed.

And though it was already quite late, it was a must to wait for a band, winning the golden medal for the most ridiculous title Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult. True black metal from Germany with the woman vocalist from Poland who is lesbian and bodybuilder. Everyone was WOW after that rumour and it was a must to stay. Anyways, the music was good and the sound and her voice etc.

All in all nice gigs and nice weekend. Today the article appeared in local newspaper that one Italian gay activist who came to the concert was beaten up by somebody after the concert. He was with some Finnish guy and they were asked are you gays. Finn guy was clever and said NO, Italian said yes and now some sort of fart bubble is forming here. heh. I remember these times when you could get beaten up because you had long hairs or somebody didn't like how you look like so it's funny how people manage to get into newspapers because of this.

[64]

Saw Puce Mary, Pharmakon and The Haxan Cloak about three weeks ago.

Puce Mary was masterful: one vast, immense, seamless sonic tapestry woven from many layers and threads yet each single one stood out on its own. The set started off with some half-processed field recordings and a weird mellow accordion-like droning in the background, and until it shifted to a heavier, noisier direction, the overall vibe was very close to certain Second Sleep releases. Then it naturally ventured into more familiar industrial realms with sonic images of derelict, abandoned factories gradually falling into disrepair and ruin, finally mutated into the title track from the recent LP and continued more or less in that way (the closing sequence sounded like a bit warmer Iron Fist of the Sun, though). The addition of ghastly, shimmering purple/violet light and smoke enhanced the atmosphere immensely, and when the time had come to deliver the vocals, Ms. Hoffmeier looked like a vengeful banshee intent on visiting death and destruction upon every soul in the audience (and it would've been rather fitting for the hipster half of the said audience since they were pretty clueless to what was going on). All in all, a great performance and an unforgettable experience. I only wish her future LPs will have more in common with this than the somewhat tame and mechanical debut.

Pharmakon didn't impress me at all, let alone this much. At first it sounded like a Frankenstein assembled from Deutsch Nepal pseudo-tribal rhythms, The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath a Cloud brass sections and Brighter Death Now high frequencies which was decent for a while, but quickly turned into a trainwreck as soon as the vocals kicked in. Those belonged in some bedroom tribute to Burzum and Abruptum rather than a PE set, I think: hopelessly distorted, abrasive shrieks that ultimately lacked both conviction and power and failed to leave an impression other than that of slight bewilderment, although I guess this was more due to the very simplistic and one-dimensional music: just some distorted, noisy beat/rhythm repeated for about five minutes only to make way for another similar one. In the end, it was merely disappointing (as opposed to annoying) to watch.

The Haxan Cloak I hadn't heard of before so I hardly had any idea of what to expect other than some very general press blurb by the event organisers. Turned out to be some inoffensive hipsterish quasi-ambient vaguely akin to bvdub (but significantly bass-heavier) with occasional forays into techno-like territories. Seeing him dance and prance behind the equipment was not unlike watching Gerhard dance, in a way, except it gave off a (mercifully misleading) impression that a full-blown discotheque was going to erupt in the very next second. Given the venue, it was a quite likely course of events. Strangely enough, the crowd had noticeably thinned prior to the beginning of his performance, and it was only about 22:00. Anyway, a decent enough performance, I suppose, just not my cup of tea at all.

The venue was a regular night club with a surprisingly decent PA system which provided a good, detailed sound even in the back of the room (or, rather, hall, as it was circa what, 20 meters in length, perhaps even more), and even the bar right in the middle didn't provide a distraction. Apparently the event was plagued by technical issues as the gaps between the acts as well as before the beginning were each about half an hour long with the entire audio crew on stage fixing something, but luckily it had no noticeable effect on the sound. And what was one of my personal highlights of the evening, there were no laptops to be found anywhere in the equipment.

[STREETMEAT]

I only wish her future LPs will have more in common with this than the somewhat tame and mechanical debut.

get the new tape from freak animal, not to be missed!

[64]

I only wish her future LPs will have more in common with this than the somewhat tame and mechanical debut.

get the new tape from freak animal, not to be missed!

I bought it from her at the concert, actually, just haven't had the chance to play it yet as I worked nearly every single day during these three weeks. I hope it lives up to the high expectations!

[post-morten]

The Haxan Cloak I hadn't heard of before so I hardly had any idea of what to expect other than some very general press blurb by the event organisers. Turned out to be some inoffensive hipsterish quasi-ambient vaguely akin to bvdub (but significantly bass-heavier) with occasional forays into techno-like territories.

Ha, I had pretty much the same impression after seeing this artist live at an event sponsored by Red Bull a couple of months ago. I also hadn't heard the music beforehand but had read good things in e.g. the Muhmur blog. Initially quite decent faux-Coil soundscapes rapidly morphed into bland ambient dance grooves. I suspected that he kind of succumbed to the pressure of being put in this totally commercial context with club kids making up 95% of the audience, but seems this is his normal performance mode then. Incidentally Pharmakon were supposed to play on the same bill, but she never showed up. Noone seemed to know why. The organisers hired by Red Bull were totally clueless. I suppose the Haxan guy at least got payed well, and Red Bull earned some hipster cred in the process.   

[Steve]

Re:Haxan Cloak. I still think that the first 12" is excellent, however this year Haxan Cloak seem to have turned a very strange corner moving in to bland new-age dub style areas. http://muhmur.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-haxan-cloak-3.html I apologise Mr. Mortem - I'll buy you a drink next time we meet to cover expenses eh?

[bitewerksMTB]

Did anyone see The Sodality perform this past weekend?

http://colloidalsemantika.blogspot.it/

I was hoping Andrea Cernotto would be involved (he could well be as I didn't watch all the video).

[Ritual]

According to a Bloodlust newsletter I received this morning, he was. There were some photos of them setting up where he is shown, for instance.

[bitewerksMTB]

There was a photo of Mark with all 3 (Andrea, Eraldo, & Paolo)of them taken in a train station (or airport) posted on fb but none of the live photos posted, so far, feature anyone other than Mark on vocals.  During part of the video, it sounds like another vocalist in one song but it could be samples or, maybe, Andrea stayed hidden...?

UPDATE: I shot a msg to a young lady who attended the festival & she wrote "Andrea Cernotto was there but didn't reach the Bandera-Solotroff-Bernocchi unit on stage..." Other than that, she enjoyed the performance.

[Cementimental]

Idwal's review of the excellent Multiple Tap festival last weekend:
http://idwalfisher.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/multipletap-cafe-oto.html

My photos: :D