Sunday, August 28, 2011

Sept 18th 2011 - Seattle



Rad, Self Com is playing a show.

Seattle's 2011 HipsterDeathFest


Hipster Death has announced the 2011 HipsterDeathFest line up. Ambient, Noise, Doom, Rock, Fest







  • Wed Oct 12 THREAT Presents: Night I @ Mercury 1009 E Union St 
  • Thur Oct 13 Night II @ Teatro de la Psychomachia - 1534 1st Ave S
  • Fri Oct 14 Night III @ The Highline - 210 Broadway E
  • Sat Oct 15 Night IV @ The Highline - 210 Broadway E
  • Wed Oct 19 BURN closing party @ Mercury 1009 E Union St




Pig Heart Transplant (CA/WA) - needs no introduction
Megaton Leviathan (OR) - doom from Portland
Sistrenatus (BC) black ambient noise
Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule (AUS) - occult theater
Rusalka (BC) harsh noiseTaskmaster (BC) harsh noise
Royal Talons (CO) - sludge/stoner rock from Boulder
Blue Sabbath Black Cheer - harsh noiseSioux City Pete & the Beggars - low down dirty roadhouse rock n roll
Same Sex Dictator - hybrid drums/bass/vocals duo
Elks Blood - old school style metal
Bell Witch - heavy/dynamic doom metal
In the Age of Terminal Static - all hail the bee
Noisepoetnobody - modular synth/other
Danse Perdue - Butoh dance performancePathogens - death industrial
Pulling Out the Light - modular synth/other
Cathartech - modular synth/film/other
Seeing Red - dark ambient set


new collaborations & projectsand more to be announced soon!
Coming soon: festival poster by Ogo Eion http://www.iokaos.net/21+


Hipster Death Fest Night IV:

I'm running late and probly missing the opening act, Pathogens, but I know Blue Sabbath Black Cheer has an early billing in the evening, which is somewhat uncommon. Usually, BSBC headlines or plays last at local fests, but HipsterDeathFest's curators have shaken it up by placing them in the sophomore seat. I think this was a brilliant marketing move. HipsterDeath knows BSBC can draw a turnout from the far wide. HD also knows that a many of those folks happen to depend on public transportation to and from far-and-wide; so they've add'd extra incentive in hopes that show-goers would arrive early, pack the place out, and have more time to mule over the beer selections and merch booths with the promise seeing the goods up front instead of forcing HarshNoiseFans to choose between missing their last bus home, or missing their favorite local act BSBC. I arrive just as Pathogens is finishing up. Cool, just enough time to smoke and pay my way into the newest hippest bar in the hippest part of town. The place anit half bad though; spacious 2nd level bar, nice sound system, drink specials named after metal bands and shit. It's always a treat to see such a good turnout for shows like this in legit venues cause most wouldn't usually be apt to letting some crusty Noise night gobble up their most money-making est night of the week, but hey, its early in the night, this is a packed Fest, and just about any one of these acts alone would be worthy of dragging yer ass outta the house to go see.
Blue Sabbath Black Cheer don't fuck around. The set blasts off with an extremely loud rush of full blown harsh static.Tables and chairs in the place empty as the crowd clamours for a good viewing of the 3 BSBC bog wraiths cloaked in ragged & frayed black burlap draped from face to feet. Their sound resembles a densely thickening wall of perpetually burning, distorted hate. The three wraiths subtle knob tweaks delicately shape and manipulate the raging river of sound while the over-exaggerated full-body headbanging from the hip, screaming walrus-style into dual microphones and ultra-violent fits of nihilistic guitar abuse appear to have little affect on their overall wall of sonically potent distortion music. Perhaps these aesthetic gestures provide a visually audible source of fuel for the wanton firestorm of infinitely delayed, distorted & maimed signal looped into & on top of its infinitely distorted and delayed self. This is all casual and familiar territory for the likes of BSBC. Their tried and true roots formula still piques the morbidly curious imaginations of audiences again and again. The only surprise was the absence of recently inducted band member, Crystal Perez, but filling her shoes on this occasion was none other than Hipster Death's own Joy Von Wraith conjuring up vintage dirge on synth. Their set scorched it for about 11 minutes when the chemistry dis-cohesively ceased. Short and bleak, I got exactly what I bargained for.
I imagine Taskmaster spending all day waiting in border lines and fighting hours of hostile traffic, plotting to unleash a barrage of pent up tensions fermented in a tightly corked bottle of rage with an explosion of blistering sharp, hearing-loss inducing HN walls. You know you're in for a punishing Harsh Noise endurance test when TM-HN is on the bill. A searing hot brain breach so painful that you keep checking your ear-holes for signs of bleeding. It hurts so goddamn good, you dont want it to stop but then it does.Well, that's how Taskmaster sets usually come off down here, but this time was slightly more stable and restrained than the sheer brutality of the times before. The Harsh Noise was still there, it rumbled pretty damn loud, churned and chugged along with brief stuttering drop offs that would return in full force a second later and pour you back into the harsh groove, but the set didnt really explode out of the gate at first. The club's Sound-Guy may have played a role in this. I bet he was just playing it safe and starting all the Noise acts off with a low ceiling, and gradually increasing the master volume of the PA once he felt confident that the artist was not going to damage the house equipment. I also wonder if the Sound-Guy had intentionally removed certain bandwidth frequencies that are known to cause harmful damage to hearing, because my ears didn't hurt nearly as much as I'd anticipated.
Same Sex Dictator wasn't a must see on my priority list, plus I assumed they weren't going to playing a quick and dirty set, so I figured I'd have some time to smoke, peruse the abundant merch tables, or browse through the adult store down below. After all, these guys are just a two-piece bass and drum duo and not exactly Noise, but after making a few rounds, I found myself drawn into their jams. They'd been holding a crowd this whole time, which is quite a feat these days. Primitive pounding drums and illusory bass riff drones & dual vox play off one another so well that I am instantly taken back to the days of first discovering bands like Neurosis or Isis who also incorporated elements of noise into their respectively jam-heavy styles.
Rusalka has been working in the HarshNoise therimin realm for years now. Her craft is so dialed in that she exhibits a stoic calmness, almost zen like quality, while focusing on delivering abrasive high-gain sinusoidal holography.  Her Therimin is sitting next to what looks like a 1940's era industrial grade bicycle tire hand pump.
Sistrenatus crept in like the slow rising vibes of an acid frenzy. Far off waves of murky ambiance crash over your lifeless body, washing you out into a haunted sea of darkness and fear. His set actually sounded like a truly disturbing 'spooky sounds for halloween' tape but without all of the cheesy cliches.
It's no wonder Pig Heart Transplant is headlining this finale night of HipsterDeathFest. They're a band comprised of a rotating cast of westcoast DIY underground all-stars. On this occasion, PHT featured at its heart, the members of Iron Lung, flanked by members of Self Communion & Silentist, fronted by dude from WALLLS. With a solid backing of the rhythm and noise section August Alstan was able to profess his lyrical poetry and numbing stare. "A prison can become a home, if you have the gene" "You do what you want, and I'll do what I want"

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Lurk at this! Aug 26th 2011

Strange Sights will be seen.
Heavy Vibes will be felt

SCYPHOZOA 

PINK VOID

PATHOGENS 

ARDENT VEIN 

GROUND TISSUES



Lurk for them at the Josephine august,        26th.2011.9pm

the sick
the twisted
the depraved
all are welcome 

Seattle DebacleFest 2011 per Debacle Records UPDATEd

In Seattle, when shit starts to get hot, shit starts to get weird. Mid-late August is nearing and Seattle's Debacle Records have rolled out another heaping helping of Experimental/Noise/Other in live and/or recorded format for this years DebacleFest.... what do you make of it? 

Thursday, Aug 18th
The Josephine
Doors 8:30


Thunder Grey Pilgrim (CD release)
Mildlife Vacation
Slates
Hellgrammite
Josh Medina



Friday, Aug 19th
The Black Lodge
Doors 7:30


Tiny Vipers
This Blinding Light 
Hive (CD release)
MSHR
Garrincha & The Stolen Elk
The Polyps
Crystal Hell Pool 
Mind Alien (CD release)

Saturday, August 20th 
The Black Lodge
Day show
Doors 2:30


USF
Big Spider's Back
Sorry (CD release)
Vitamins
Megabats (CD release)
Secret Colors (CD release)
U (CD release)

Saturday, August 20th 
The Lo Fi
Evening show
Doors 8:30


Brain Fruit (CD release)
Konntinent
Operative
Golden Retriever
Brother Raven
Plankton Wat
Panabrite

DJ's
Garek Druss
DJ Slow
Sunday, August 21st
The Josephine
Doors 8:00


Blue Sabbath Black Cheer (CD release)
Demian Johnston & Mink Stolen
Summon Thrull (CD release)
Karnak Temples (CD release)
LA Lungs
Paintings For Animals
Wind Swept Plains