Was hoping to post about this sooner but time flies...
I saw the last night of the tour in Philly at Heaven's Gate. Deterge, MBD, Spiteful Womb and Balkan Gaze played. the weather was shit and the neighborhood was sketchy. nothing like walking through rain and trash filled streets to get to and from a venue. It was my first time at Heaven's Gate and while it was a good experience, I can only imagine how much of a shit show it would've been if the crowd was bigger and the cops had actually shown up.
up first was Balkan Gaze. I've only heard one tape by the project so I didn't have much in the way of expectations. to me it sounded like relatively easy listening noise. maybe it was the lethargic nature of the tracks, but there was nothing violent or explosive. the sounds were good but it didn't really go anywhere and the set itself seemed really short. it felt like 5 minutes tops, though maybe it was longer I wasn't keeping track. perhaps with some more time and development within the set it could've become something more memorable but as it was it felt like I was listening to a C10 loudly in someones basement.
next was Spiteful Womb. I was especially interested to hear this project live. I've only heard a few tracks online so I didn't know quite to expect but it seemed like it could be an interesting contrast to the headliners. the set itself seemed like it didn't come together the way it was intended to. essentially things moved from one main loop with some background stuff to the next main loop with some more background stuff, etc etc. there were some good sounds but things never fully meshed. at one point there was some kitchen knife on mic'ed up metal pipe action which seemed like it could've been gotten wild but it didn't quite get there. and the artist's mic didn't work either which was a bummer. still, i'd be interested to properly check out some recorded material to get a better idea of what this project is all about.
then MBD kicked things up several notches. essentially non-stop blasting of gnarly synth tones, feedback and noise. i immediately had a smile on my face. the vocals were especially piercing, being done on a trucker CB radio mic. the pace was fast and while the elements didn't change a lot, the balance between them did. good shit the whole way through, with the highlight being the last few minutes where the sounds started to get really damaged and breakdown. will definitely be checking out more MBD in the future.
and to close things out was Deterge. a high-intensity set which went through several distinct tracks and got progressively more unhinged. i especially appreciated both the vocal effects and the variety in the delivery. the other highlight were two different sections in which the electronics veered away from balls out power electronics and into breakcore/power noise territory, which was a nice curve-ball. nice to finally see a full Deterge set after only being able to catch part of his set at MAPS II some years ago.
overall an enjoyable evening! it should be mentioned that all of the bands suffered from the fucked up and uneven PA system that was used. the right channel was significantly louder than the left which fucked any sort of stereo panning. but good conversations were had and good noise was heard.
