Vesper
User

Soundoffs 2
Album Ratings 810
Objectivity 90%

Last Active 05-24-12 4:55 am
Joined 09-30-10

Review Comments 3,085

 Lists
06.07.12 Concert Review 6/6 ♦05.04.12 Gilead Media Music Festival Recap ♦
12.31.11 Vespertine 201110.08.11 Badges Of Honor
08.25.11 New York Is The Place To Be. ♦05.08.11 Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?

Concert Review 6/6

Concerts I've been to so far this year, plus a few to come this month. (I know it's 6/7, but I'm going to leave it as 6/6, because I started writing it yesterday and it's a better number.)
11/20: Crazy Spirit/Brain Slug/CREEM/Goosebumps @ 538 Johnson

First show of 2012, and my introduction to Crazy Spirit courtesy of Skrapyard. I didn't find the openers to be particularly memorable, although I liked CREEM more than the other two. But Crazy Spirit was deservedly the headliner for this show, tearing into their noisy brand of punk with the crowd exploding into a mass of limbs and studded jackets, with the occasional mohawk slicing through the fray. Walker, the vocalist, sounds like a chainsmoking weasel - I don't know how else to describe his voice, but it's great. I loved this show.
22/4: Stillbirth @ The Stone

Dominick Fernow (Hospital Records, Prurient, Vatican Shadow, etc.) curated two weeks of noise shows at The Stone - two acts per night, $5 each - but I only ended up going to a couple, including this one with Skrap. Stillbirth apparently improvised the set, fiddling around his intricate set-up with finesse. I haven't been to many noise shows, so I'm not really sure what to make of them. I think I prefer not to see the musician, honestly, unless they do something interesting, as I think it kind of breaks the incorporeal feeling I get from listening to noise.
32/8: Burning Star Core @ The Stone

Some excellent noise courtesy of Spencer Yeh, to whom I awkwardly introduced myself after the show to tell him I liked his set, ha. I hadn't actually heard any of his stuff before, but went on a whim and I was very glad I did. His brand of noise manages to be warm, soothing even, yet while maintaining a measure of detachment and distance - his moniker seemed extremely fitting in that respect. While his loops were going, he even pulled out a violin and began playing, alternately soft and plaintively and then sawing savagely away at it. This acoustic aspect of it really added to the performance and added much more visual interest for me.
42/9: The Body and Braveyoung @ Saint Vitus

The bands were touring together to promote Nothing Passes - seeing 'Song 2' performed live with both the bands was fantastic. I've already seen The Body before, and their performances are generally pretty consistent, so no surprises there. Also, the Jones brothers from Braveyoung (guitars/vocals and drums) are total fucking foxes, omg.
53/2: Nomad/Deformity/Zatsuon/Sad Boys @ Lulu's

7" release show for Nomad, a local hardcore band with a Japanese vocalist, and an all-around excellent, noisy show from all bands. I don't like Sad Boys that much, as their songs are all pretty similar, and I can only take the vocalist's yelping so much, but they definitely work better live. Zatsuon was when patrons of the bar started leaving, because of the earsplitting feedback and layers of noise that started emitting from the amps - so good. This continued through the raging, fist-pumping hardcore of Deformity and the shameless but totally satisfying Disclose and D-Clone worship of Nomad.
64/1: Ilsa/Ruin Lust/Scowl @ The Acheron

Last minute show with my favorite local metal band, Ruin Lust! Scowl put on some decent grindcore, and Ilsa was pretty enjoyable - more than I thought they would be from a brief listen to a couple tracks online. But, yes, I mostly went to this because of Ruin Lust- helps to be friends with 3/4 of the band, ha. It was the best performance from them yet, and their new second guitarist adds quite a lot to their sound. Watch for a new release this summer.
74/6: Bone Awl/Negative Plane/Villains @ Saint Vitus

Bone Awl's ten year anniversary show! Of course, it was sold out. Villains was pretty shitty, and really pissy about it when someone yelled at them halfway through the set and told them they sucked - the drummer made a point to flip her off AFTER they were done, lol. I didn't like Negative Plane quite as much as I hoped I would, especially as the vocals seemed really off to me, but I still enjoyed their weird brand of black metal. Bone Awl, on the other hand, was nothing but enjoyable with their primitive black metal/punk that translates so very well live.
84/7: Bone Awl/FFH/Pharmakon @ Red Light District

This one wasn't nearly as packed as the show from the night before, because RLD is all the way out in Far Rockaway in the basement of someone's house. Kind of a weird area with somewhat seedy looking suburbs juxtaposed with large mansions. The basement was weirder with cut-outs from porn magazines collaged on the walls, with blue and red lights washing over everything. I ended up chatting with my friends next to a large picture of a woman getting gangbanged, and we stayed back there through the two noise openers, since we didn't really feel compelled to be right up front (and since this was a small basement with no incline or stage, you really couldn't see anything if you weren't right up front anyway). I made my way to the front for Bone Awl, though (spent most of the set helping to keep people from crashing onto Marco's kit), and I much preferred this intimate space to Saint Vitus, and being close enough to see the sweat coming off the band.
94/8: Hoax/Veins/Raw Nerve/Divine Right/Chain Wallet @ 538 Johnson

Last show for Raw Nerve in New York (their last two shows were back home in Chicago in the following days) with a stellar farewell line-up. Well, Hoax and Veins. Divine Right were decent and Chain Wallet weren't too memorable. Then, Veins came on and tore the place up. This is actually in a large loft (next to the space where I saw Crazy Spirit in January), so there were people jumping off ladders and shit. It all continued in a similarly unrelenting fashion, with a huge, testosterone-fueled mosh pit raging and slamming into the vocalists from Raw Nerve and Hoax. Probably the most exhilarating show I've seen without even being in the pit. Also, yes, this was a crazy weekend.
104/20: Puerto Rico Flowers/Rosenkopf/York Factory Complaint @ The Acheron

A local deathrock band, Anasazi was originally on this line-up, and I meant to go for them and Rosenkopf, but the former dropped. I went anyway, and enjoyed the power electronics of YFC and the psychedelic gothic space rock (they're just weirdo goths) of Rosenkopf. Rosenkopf was really the only highlight for me, as I left four songs into Puerto Rico Flowers. He was mindnumbingly boring, especially as he decided to not have any session musicians, so it was just him singing mournfully over keyboard and synths. None of the guitars or drums of his recorded tracks... Why?!
114/21: Lustmord &Biosphere/Jacaszek @ West Park Presbyterian Church

Part of the Unsound Festival, this was a wonderfully immersive show. I thought Jacaszek actually stole the show with his incredibly moving set, incorporating a live bass clarinet and oboe, I believe, which worked remarkably well. I still really enjoyed the Lustmord and Biosphere collaboration - they created a song especially for this performance and debuted it to clips of apocalyptic wastelands and nuclear bombs - a fitting (if a bit overused) visual accompaniment to their sometimes subdued, but always dark, even menacing, piece. I thought the church setting was a little weird, but it totally worked.
124/28-4/29: Gilead Media Music Festival

HOLY FUCKING SHIT (see previous list)
135/4: Autopsy/Funebrarum/Unearthly Trance/Undergang @ The Bell House

I was so fucking stoked for this: Autopsy's first appearance in NYC in almost twenty years, and they fucking delivered. One of my favorite shows, as far as performances. The crowd left something to be desired, especially during Funebrarum with Daryl Kahan actually getting kind of annoyed at the listless crowd. Mostly, it seemed like a bunch of hipsters showed up for Autopsy's set, probably because they don't even know who Funebrarum are.... Anyway, I was up front for both sets, and had a great time worshiping at the feet of two fantastic death metal acts. Undergang were good, although lacked the stage presence for a larger venue like the Bell House (I think this show should have been at a smaller venue - less awkward moshing), but I didn't dig Unearthly Trance all that much, although they certainly weren't bad by any means - just incredibly outshone by the other bands in attendance. Hyperion also drove up for this, so it was cool to see him again! :D
14 5/19: Ulcerate/Tombs/Svart Crown @ Public Assembly

Went to this show with AngelofDeath, since he was in town. Svart Crown were entirely forgettable for me, and Tombs were pretty good, although I thought their set got somewhat tedious near the end. It didn't really help that I was pretty tired... But I woke up once Ulcerate began playing. God damn, these guys are something to see live. The drummer has the most splash cymbals I've ever seen on one kit, and they would look almost cute, except for what's done with them, heh. Their dense atmosphere is just about palpable, as if you can just feel it crawling all over you - my appreciation for this band definitely increased after seeing them, and I was very happy they played "Everything Is Fire". There was the most annoying hipster at this show, though. I think she just drunkenly wandered in with her friends, but she got mad when people began moshing and began pouring her beer purposefully on people, including me. At that point, I grabbed her and pushed her back, away from the front. She apparently spent the rest of the show yanking on Angel's hood. Never seen such outrageous cuntishness at a show, but I suppose it had to be a hipster asshole.
156/4: Merzbow/Wold @ Saint Vitus

Best birthday in a while. I had Indian food with Ruin Lust, hung out in a bar, then headed to the later show (there was one show at 8 and one at 10:30, both sold out). I'm pretty sure the frontman of Wold is actually crazy, as he kept doing weird shit throughout the set, but no matter, because it was great. His live drummer had an industrial fan and an oil drum to bang on, and she was pretty intense too, beating away with powerful, mechanical precision. Although Merzbow isn't my favorite noise artist, I was still excited to see what he would do. He had a live drummer (who has performed with Venetian Snares and Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble before, to name a few), who added a lot of intensity to the set, while Merzbow had this weird custom 'guitar' (it looked like a film canister strapped to a power strip with some springs, while he used a tin can and a pasta fork as 'picks') to provide a live feed to manipulate with his array of effects. I was right up front and center for this, so my body was literally buzzing with the immense noise he was creating. All in all, a great experience.
166/7: Planning for Burial/Thisquietarmy/AUN @ The Acheron

DEATH TO FALSE GLOOM. PfB is opening, but I'm going for him. I hope all this rain and cloudy weather holds out until the evening, haha.
176/10: Antisect/Morne/Perdition/Death First @ Europa

Didn't even know Antisect were still around, but cool.
186/24: Rosenkopf/Violator X/Spicoli @ Rosendome

Official Rosenkopf fan here.
196/28: Death/Gorguts @ Irving Plaza

I'm actually kind of torn about this, because I'm not that psyched about seeing Death with the vocalist from Obscura, but $30 to see Gorguts with only one original member? Eh, I'm going to wait on this a bit longer.
206/30: Martyrdoom Festival @ Public Assembly

Dead Congregation, Encoffination, Cruciamentum, Father Befouled, Grave Miasma, Sanguis Imperem, Kommandant, Prosanctus Inferi, Anu, Perdition Temple, and Evoken for $20- enough said.
But, seriously, cannot wait for this.
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