Noise acts performing on bills with conventional acts.

Started by calaverasgrande, October 04, 2017, 09:41:14 AM

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calaverasgrande

So my show last weekend was kind of interesting.
The other two acts were in a more IDM vein. Certainly more melodic than my stuff.
Surprisingly we all got about equal respect from the audience. I guess the people that came out should be commended for their eclectic taste.
I do have to say, I rather enjoyed that my stuff probably benefited from a contrast with the previous act's more laid back approach.
Certainly I sounded more aggressive than if I had been preceded by a HNW or power electronics type act.

Curious what other performers think about sharing the bill with more conventional acts.


Soloman Tump

I am all for eclectic line ups.

There is a monthly night here in my home town of Oxford that prides itself on being as eclectic as possible - its been running for 15 years.  Noise is thin on the ground around here, but they have had various electronic and drone projects play in amongst country, rock, ska, punk, acoustic etc....


Deadpriest

I don't think there were many people in the crowd expecting a Whitehouse prefomance so I figure they were all there for some shitty techno gig ( I've read about them preforming at one before) or something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-3qVqM4VBM

lol Peter spitting into the crowd.
My book of poetry: http://www.histergrant.com/

NaturalOrthodoxy

Mixed line ups are great in moderation.

I have certainly played shows as the only P.E./industrial act on the bill and it has changed the perspectives of some audience members and piqued a genuine interest in a new genre, while others have been utterly disgusted by it which I guess is the point of such a polarising genre.

I suppose the ideal would be for diverse acts who share a common spirit to play together. I guess you could take the idea of neofolk acts playing with P.E./noise/black metal bands as a good example.

Duncan

Meh...obviously there is something satisfying about those instances where weird, mean underground stuff gets unleashed upon a large, unsuspecting audience but from the perspective of these things actually taking place underground I often feel you get bullshit tokenism more than anything else. I definitely prefer gigs where you get some variation on the bill instead of 5 harsh noise acts in a row but there needs to be a bit of a methodological through line for it to not seem pointless. Similarly I have been to hardcore/metal shows with a random noise or PE act shoved in and that has mostly been bollocks too.

I'm probably just spoiled and jaded but it is what it is. Live music is not the same as listening to music at home and I'm probably never going to feel like listening to the specials, vomir and autechre anywhere else but in my record collection like a nerd.

Also at least one act in a bill like that tends to inevitably suffer a total sound/tech disaster in the name of all that eclecticism.


calaverasgrande

as an audience member I greatly appreciate the more eclectic bills. I've been in a lot of bands and several solo projects, one offs and such. As well as having been a club sound guy for about 15 years.
So I'm a little jaded?
Especially with the more challenging music/sound. You kind of run into a wall after a while where you can no longer appreciate each act on its own. It's just part of the overall onslaught.
As an artist I put a lot of work into my sets. I rehearse them. I've got a rundown of stuff to do in my set. An actual checklist on a clipboard. And I don't want to put effort into performing my stuff if I'm just going to be the background music for some mating ritual.
I've purposely avoided playing on bills with IDM/EDM type people in the past because I really fucking hate dance music.
But on the other hand, I've not had very much success over the years trying to foist noise, experimental and industrial type stuff on a punk crowd. They seem to be pretty closed minded musically, even if they are closer to the kind of people I actually socialize with.

There was a period of time in the 80's when I remember seeing a lot more wierdo bands at punk shows.
And in the early 2000's there was a noise band/punk/metal crossover thing going on. Largely I think due to MITB/Bastard Noise. But also in the Bay Area at least a few acts like Noisegate were in the same social circle as the punkers and BM/Thrash guys.

But as of late, it seems all that crowd want's to do is get drunk, do coke and listen to really shitty knockoffs of bands that broke up decades ago.

FreakAnimalFinland

In Finland, there has often been extensive cross-over of noise and power electronics and other genres of music. This includes not only live shows, but also labels/distributors, and naturally the people in general.

You have people like Keränen playing from "hipster festivals", to warm of some sort of action rock or whatever. You got Umpio playing with just about any kind of bands, from sludge to noiserock to punk/grind/hc. Bizarre Uproar and Grunt has played in several big and small (black) metal gigs and festivals. Actually it seems to be fact that for example Grunt has played much more at black metal gigs than "pure noise gigs" for 10 years. Also warming up bands like Eyehategod or such or warming up big electro-goth bands in gothic festival, hah... Jaakko Vanhala warmed up Jex Thoth, which was probably quite shock for some listeners who came for "female fronted doom", and face full blast harsh noise attack. And so on. I think in Joensuu region, there has been lots of cross-over of noise and some sort of "techno" stuff.

And so on. It is very usual this happens. And over here, I don't think it is anything made out to be so "special". Crowd is surprisingly same, whatever genre you pick. Sweetest neo folk may be one step from most brutal harsh noise.

While labels like Freak Animal as "label", is exclusively experimental stuff, most people are aware they get vast variety of other underground music from same place. My strong assumption is that it's not like this everywhere in the world, but over here mixed shows are nothing unusual.
E-mail: fanimal +a+ cfprod,com
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LABEL / DISTRIBUTION: FREAK ANIMAL http://www.nhfastore.net

PTM Jim

That is how we built up the Chicago scene to what it currently is now. House shows with noise/PE and grindcore or black metal acts.
We then did a one-day fest that included mostly noise/PE, but had a few local grind bands, Bone Awl and Bongripper.
It's a good way to get people interested. Mostly younger kids that had never heard that kind of stuff before. A few of them have now grown into fairly impressive local PE guys that put on shows of their own.

urall

Quote from: Duncan on October 04, 2017, 07:54:14 PM

I'm probably just spoiled and jaded but it is what it is. Live music is not the same as listening to music at home and I'm probably never going to feel like listening to the specials, vomir and autechre anywhere else but in my record collection like a nerd.


Well in some cases this is true, but every time i saw Autechre for instance, they blew every home listening session away. If the PA is good your home setup can never match the brutally of huge subs tingling your balls.

Duncan

Quote from: urall on October 06, 2017, 04:44:10 PM
Quote from: Duncan on October 04, 2017, 07:54:14 PM

I'm probably just spoiled and jaded but it is what it is. Live music is not the same as listening to music at home and I'm probably never going to feel like listening to the specials, vomir and autechre anywhere else but in my record collection like a nerd.


Well in some cases this is true, but every time i saw Autechre for instance, they blew every home listening session away. If the PA is good your home setup can never match the brutally of huge subs tingling your balls.

I think my wording was a bit off in that comment.  I meant that I'm almost never going to want to experience that kind of mix in a single live setting and so can enjoy eclecticism from home rather than some totally stupid mismatched gig.

For the record though, seeing Autechre last November was one of the best live experiences I've had in years and I'd definitely sit through some shitty ska to see em again if I had to.  Or even better do as I did at that gig and come just in time to see them, skipping out on all the dogshit DJ sets before hand!

Soloman Tump


collapsedhole

i pretty much hate IDM, but Autechre is damn good, would love to see them live. they fly off the handle on too many recordings to just be passed off as another electronic act.


OT: back when i frequented many gigs was always extra enthusiastic about punk/black metal in the mix. experimental jazz type shit or drone will work to in the appropriate time slot.

tilde44

Daniel Menche opened for Autechre in Portland back when "Confield" came out.  Yes it was as amazing as it sounds.

calaverasgrande

Part of what I find kind of off about conventional acts playing on bills with noise/industrial type acts is that the approach differs.
Your jazz or neo-folks are trying to make nice stuff which will make people smile.
Noise acts want to make you frown, and they are making bad sounds. Or at the very least such unconventional timbres that your average guy will consider it that.
I see some kindred spirit with BM, grind, punk and even hip hop. They are not there to give you a good time. They want to make you sad about your life, not encourage hippie sex stuff.