Espers - Paradiso, Amsterdam 7-11-2009

Yeah! Espers 'live' on stage again! I was really happy when i found out they were visiting our country again, and also they had a new album to go with the tour. A little on the album later.
It was a very early concert, starting at 6:30. It was again in the small room, where i heard them first a couple of years back; then as part of a festival. The early start was due to another gig in the main hall later.

The small room is more like a stately drawing room. with wood paneled floor and walls, and as such it already has a very warm atmosphere. The room was well packed with visitors and Espers themselves -it's six people- had filled out the stage completely.
They started quickly; that is they were immediately at their best. They played songs from the new album and old songs. But, as Greg Weeks already commented, it was a little more rough then before, although his vocals were still as warm and careful. This was most obvious in the drums. Where in the past there was very little percussion, it was now all out. But then again, Greg Weeks on guitar was still as agile and adventurous on guitar.. amazing timing, beautiful phrases. Helena Espvall on cello was great too; at times wild then strong droning. Far more upfront.
Brooke Sietinsons still did a good guitar fill.. i think the use of the space echo was new? I'm not sure i heard that before. Meg Baird was still as angelic in vocals and guitar. I think she made the old Espers with here vocals; now she got a bit lost in the rougher play; but that might be due to balance.(which the new album 'Espers III' confirms..)
The drums and bass. Strongly present now.

But apart from all the technicality's.. It was again such a warm a heart lifting experience. The audience was nicely warm and mellow and obviously captured by the spirit.


Espers


Then on the album:
There's a lot to the new Espers III album. Strong songs with good foundation. I must say though it's a lot less 'clever'. Far less surprises and ingenious solo's. And so maybe less intimate, but more lyrical.
I'm listening the album while writing this and... i must say it grows quickly on me! I'm thinking Kate Bush all of a sudden; the later work of Kate Bush.

Espers have just started this new tour and will be off to the UK next and after that around the States. Go see them when they get near you! Do check the Espers Myspace page!

Thanks again Espers. Fantastic concert!

Thanks for tuning in!

Bas.

Eat This Festival: 78rpm, N, Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation, Troum - Theater Kikker 09-10-2009

A night dedicate to guitar drones.. Yes! Interesting! The good people of Eat This Media program across the musical board and they always seem to be able to stretch niches to a comfortable and well programmed festival night!
This night already held one most interesting act i knew well: Troum. The other acts were unknown to me.. so time to hear many new groups as well!



The night started off with Dutch act 78rpm. It was two electric guitars, bass guitar and laptop. They presented what sounded like an improvisation.
It all was started by mingled guitar sounds from laptop; which was not entirely expected. Slowly the other instruments kicked in. The sounds all heavily processed by electronics. After a while it got a bit complicated to my ear though. Had one member a beautiful drone going, then another member cut in fairly heavily and the flow was disturbed. Each had a beautiful thing to say, but it could have done with some more mellow mixing and build up.
But all this said, they had really captured the audience.


78rpm

Next a one man act from Germany: N. Guitar played through effects and it all seemed to well planned as he had spread out an impressive score on the ground.
The whole act was based on a single set of features. Striking a chord, slowly adding volume through paddle to a looping device and building on that. This took a while to 'form' at the beginning, where in short succession chords were added.
As things grew and grew it turned into a fantastic simmering landscape of droning sounds that made the listener (me at least) really drift off on the sounds.
Magnificent act!


N

After a short break the stage was set up for Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation. Which was a two man formation this night; as i understand the Corporation changes in setup over time. It was electric guitar by one and trombone and modular synthesizer by the other. They were clearly working the fringes of establishment with elements from drone to jazz and psychedelic.
All the instruments were presented in all three fields. The guitar had a basic droning role, but trombone in drone was absolutely hardest and best done by a very careful combination of slow sliding and circular breathing.. that must have been very difficult!! And clearly these efforts were rewarded by a little breather time fiddling the synthesizer.. which at time just broke the mystery a bit though, which is again a treat of jazz, although the sounds again were more psychedelic.
Ha, ha.. yeah, it wasn't easy listening! Maybe a bit too much was the over five minute ending of the session with continuous whispered play on the instruments, but in all a nice session.


Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation


Final act of the evening was Troum. Now to the background of all the other bands of the night it was a clear change in approach and presentation. Troum is a well established act and they've always served the slow and droning in the field of ambient. They get all their elements from natural sounding sources; shunting away from computer and synthesized sounds. While elements came from recordings, a lot of wind instruments were used. The sounds were then processed by an array of electronic effect boxes to, again, produce sounds that seemed far from natural. It made a very beautiful light-ish blend of sounds. To that they had a nice video background of what seemed to be close-ups of natural rock formations and processed nature scenes. Knowing Troum by a lot of CDs it was not a true surprise tonight, but it's such beautiful music.. i could have listened to it all night. Brilliant.


Troum

Riding back home on my bike, through a heavy downpour of rain, the sounds kept my warm and comfortable and i was only brought back to reality by the slushy sounds of my shoes and the water dripping from me when i got back home.
Thank you Eat This Festival. Fantastic night!

Thanks for reading!
;)
Bas.

Spherical Disruption, The [law-rah] Collective and many more! - Summer Darkness 08-08-2009

Saturday was filled to the brim with great acts! A first this year was the integration of an edition of the Noise Central Festival into the Summer Darkness program, with no less then 10 consecutive acts on three stages! I did visit six of them.
Obviously starting off early, at 13:00, the opening sounds were to be heard in the nice little dungeon of SJU Jazz. Excellent room for the two acts there, the session being opened by Spherical Disrupted.

Spherical Disrupted is a one man act from Germany in Mirko Hentrich. An impressive deep, dark ambient/industrial act that really warmed up the good and dark cellar! A very good hardware setup with racked synths and controller but also there was a table with assorted metal objects that were mic'ed. Impressive dark drones and beats were the result, and i must say the SJU sound system is fantastic. The playing of the metal objects got a bit lost; i couldn't make them out at all on the sound system. And maybe it was a bit too tentative in comparison to the strong backing. But a fantastic show that really opened up an hypnotic state. I bought the cd 'Null' by Spherical Disruption, which was also great on a first listen!


Spherical Disrupted

Next, the floor was to a home player team in The [law-rah] collective from Utrecht. The collective was Bauke van der Wal and Martijn Pieck and a table plastered with electronics ;) They did a really well worked out piece, with awesome, gut wrenching deep dark drones and loops. It was a dense forest of colorful sound that stretched across the entire frequency spectrum. Maybe it was a bit too busy at times; a little difficult to get a good appreciation of singular elements. But for sure the renewed co-operation of Bauke and Martijn is growing by leaps! (And big thanks to both for the new 'Live in Münster' cassette! Awesome beautiful drone piece; highly recommended!)

The [law-rah] collective


Then it was an easy stroll over to Ekko for the next part of the program. It took a while for Ekko to open it's doors, but with the fantastic sunshine, it was a joy to sit on the canal side. No less so then to share it with an ever growing collection of fellow visitors; which grew to an odd mix of exuberantly dressed Goth and Neo-Folk fans.
Time for what was dubbed 'The X-Rated Stage'. This due to the fact that the breaks in the program were filled by DJs Arjen Grolleman and Bob Rusche, who do a joint three hour radio show on KinkFM on Sunday nights. Always fixed listening pleasure in my week. This afternoon, and into the evening they spinned the darkest cobwebbed music; brilliant!!

And this all to weigh down the acts, which opened with :Golgatha: from Germany. :Golgatha: is a threesome neo-folk group with guitar, drummer/percussion and lead singer. It was a varied set that drifted through styles like ambient and neo-folk. But it was in all not too strong; it all wavered a bit. It sounded a bit tired and it didn't capture my attention.

:Golgatha:


More so with the next act Brighter Death Now. It's two members did an exemplary dissection in sound and imagery. Growling noise, loops and glitch were causing havoc on the sound system. (Which to my taste is not too well suited for this kind of act). In the darkened room, the visual stood out most prominently. It was an ongoing nightmare of the hauling of human bodies and the clumsily hacking and sawing of corpses. Ieech! Strong stomach required! I got a bit mixed feelings about it in the end.

Brighter Death Now


Up next was a strong switch to Triarii, a strong neo-folk act. Triarii draws strongly on the Roman and German imperialistic; as is common with the neo-folk genre. Their set was energetic and strong. But with the close constricts of the genre...to me it became a bit much of the same in the end.

Triarii

By now i had regained a strong appetite again and went for dinner back home; which is just a stone throw from Tivoli de Helling, where i dropped in to see Klangstabil late at night. Arriving at Tivoli de Helling i found the place already in a steamy IBM mood. The place was packed with dancers and the DJs did their best to fry the compressors of the sound system.
But then it was to Klangstabil. Strong danceable music, at least when they got properly psyched up, which Boris May took a long time to accomplish on stage. He and Maurizio Blanco took turns in operating the electronics and singing. It was a fantastic raw and varied show and the dancing hordes were well served!

Klangstabil

Fully saturated by the day i drifted back home; what a day!

More later on the Summer Darkness Sunday; stay tuned!

Thanks for reading!
Bas.

Cybercide, Uberbyte, Sieben - Summer Darkness 07-08-2009

Summer Darkness on Friday had again a friendly loaded program! Although i did pace myself a bit as the Saturday was filled to the brim.

I headed off to Tivoli de Oudegracht because i wanted to see Uberbyte.

Starting the Tivoli set was Cybercide who had the difficult task to get the afternoon visitors into a dancing mood, but they did so admirably!
Cybercide did a high octane set with keys, guitar and song to backing tracks. Great control and they played the room very well.

Cybercide

Next up was Uberbyte and immediately they presented the same UK power as Cybercide did! But with five members it was a true live set, with e-drums, great keys, electronics. I thought it was a great performance, with dramatic breaks, build-ups and good chorusses. A refreshing change to all the more sequenced and laptop-ed music!

Uberbyte

Later in the evening i went to the concert by Sieben, in the Dom church. Sieben is a one man act in Matt Howden on violin and vocals. But by using an elaborate set of loops and effects he was able to build an entire band! Now with the generous and stern dictated reverb of the church he had some work tuning the loops and effects to work with the natural atmosphere, which he did magnificently. Bouncing around the little stage, eyes screwed, ears pointing towards every direction of the church he worked hard to find a balance. At times he started over, but with these rare brakes covered by a witty comment it got part of the act.

The songs were warm and romantic, the lyrics were very direct. But main ingredient was the violin that was used in every conceivable way. From traditional bowed, to plucked, to tapped upon to get rhythmic loops, by being blown into or the bridge worked by a stubbly chin to get noisy droning or again rhythmic effects and even sung into, to get an filtered, hollow voice sound.
Also parts were played into a loop and halved in speed, so an upbeat fiddling part became a slow, cello like, backing track. Also pitch shifting was used in combination with a loop, so sounds got increasingly lower in pitch towards a low bass drone.
The whole experience of the ever changing build-up elements to a full backing track, followed by the very beautiful singing, was mesmerizing, although in the end it maybe was a bit too much of the same.
There was one short exhibition song he did, that was entirely different though. It was like a gimmick: he re-tuned several strings on his violin at top speed without sounding them and then toggled the open strings in one stroke on each turn, producing a precise, on pitch chord!

Now this performance by Sieben was one to remember always! In the end the well packed church rose to give him a well deserved applause.

Sieben

Stay tuned for more reports!!

Thanks for reading!
Bas

Veljanov, Ifran, Kelten zonder Grenzen - Opening Summer Darkness 06-08-2009


Today was the official opening day of the Summer Darkness festival. There was a public address at the museum Catharijne Convent; a highly tasteful medieval location. The event took place outdoors where the visitors were met by a beautiful sunshine.
Before the public address there was a really beautiful musical coloring by Kelten zonder Grenzen (Celts without Frontiers), accompanied by three highly talented dancers; who later enticed the public to join in in a Jig. Kelten zonder Grenzen will do a public performance on the Domsquare on Friday from 19:00 to 20:00; highly recommended!


Kelten zonder Grenzen (Celts without Frontiers)



Official Summer Darkness opening address

After the address there was a little reading on the history of Utrecht in the Middle Ages and several poetry readings.
An excellent and warming start of Summer Darkness!


Then it was a quick bite to eat and off to Tivoli de Oudegracht for two concerts. I'm not sure if this was part of the Summer Darkness program, but ticket holders had free entrance.

First up was a band from Bulgary called Ifran. Ifran did a beautiful set, where the use of lute, percussion, organ and flute already gave a warm oriental feel. To that was fantastic song by the very charismatic singer; a true diva!
The style was very much like Dead Can Dance and i must say some songs were probably very much inspired by well known Dead Can Dance songs.
There was also a guest appearance by an Utrecht Lute player and they did a fantastic instrumental piece

Ifran

Up next was Veljanov. Also new to me, but it seems Alexander Veljanov has a long standing career that brushes rock, dark wave and electronic music.
Tonight showed every aspect. It ranged to a strange mixture of dead on pop/rock songs, to electronic dance and, to my ears, highly laden political Macedonian banner songs. But what was very strange that, apart from some very well composed poppy songs, most songs had a great chorus, but in between there was just some idle and long instrumental play that led nowhere. So i got a bit mixed feelings in the end..

Veljanov

But all together a nice and mellow day; which is good, because tomorrow things will heat up good!!

Thanks for reading!

Bas.

Lacuna Coil, The Foreshadowing - Summer Darkness, Tivoli 05-08-2009


Woohoooo!!! Another round of Summer Darkness is here in Utrecht! And i think the program this year is more varied and adventurous then any previous edition: Brilliant!!!

Tonight was the opening evening.. or the concert before the official opening tomorrow.
On stage were Lacuna Coil and opening was The Foreshadowing. Not too much a genre i'd go to in the first place, but it was an absolute surprise and a great evening.

The room filled up quietly, as there first was the ritual of obtaining festival bracelets. That's one for entry and one for alcoholic drinks.. he, he.. i hope this is valid for all evenings or i'll become like a Christmas tree ;)

The Foreshadowing opened the evening. They told this was there first appearance in the Netherlands, so welcome! It was a fine set. Solid energetic rock, with some slow numbers mixed in. Very professional setup with lead and backing guitar, keys, a great bass, drums and singer. In was when they had really warmed up, it became clear the room sound system somehow killed all dynamics from their play and the whole thing became extremely flat. The bass disappeared completely at times, as did the singer.
But listening through this, to me, it was a great introduction to the band.


The Foreshadowing


Following a stage change it was the floor to Lacuna Coil. To my shame i must admit i'd only heard few tracks by Lacuna Coil a long while ago, but tonight was a great new introduction to these fiery Italians!
It was guitar, bass and magnificent drums.. it was a feast just to follow that drummer; great control and immaculate play! Fronting were a female and male singer; taking turns and doing duets. Breathtaking singing.
In all fantastic rock, with lots of changes in style. It all breathed a happy atmosphere. In style i heard a bit The Cult and Metallica. Ha, ha.. that Depeche Mode cover.. they really didn't need that; their own songs were great!
Next to the great songs they were absolute crowd-pleasers. No fourth wall, but always addressing the public. Not to difficult, because the packed room was on fire. Dancing, singing along; great atmosphere!

Lacuna Coil


Well, it was only openers, but i already went home like a happy convert ;) Way to go Summer Darkness!

I'm going to water my earplugs now; i'm sure they'll grow on me these coming days..

Thanks for tuning in!
Bas.



If music be the food of love, play on, play on... (Shakespeare; Twelfth Night Act 1, scene 1, 1-3)

Proeflokaal #72 - Theater Kikker 19-05-2009

To me it had been too long visiting an edition of Proeflokaal at Theater Kikker. You can always tell by the tell-tale numbering of the venues; this was already edition 72!
As the high number count indicates, it's a huge success and Proeflokaal's always a treat of the best in new music and performance!
This Tuesday evening no less then five acts.

Starting of with a fast settling in to some of the quietest of audio performances with a composition by Aliona Yurtsevich called 'Still'. Aliona took center stage with as main instrument what was called the 'Tedra'. A very interesting kind of string instrument with as a main feature a movable bridge to produce sliding effects. She also had a large collection of 'gadgets' that were ever so slightly manipulated to just get an impression of their sounds. This was all carried by slight drone and electronic treatment on computer by Klaas-Jan Govaart. Next to that there was Michael Fisher operating all the basics of violin and saxophone; in that all the sounds were just as basic as the whipping sound of a bow, little rumbling of fingers on the instrument.
Beautiful retained presentation. With beautiful layering; although maybe the electronics was a little too present at times.


Left to right: Klaas-Jan Govaart, Aliona Yurtsevich and Michael Fisher

Up next was a video and sound collage by third year HKU student Michael Dzjaparidze. He took a start in quantum physics by deriving sound and vision from a set of equations by Schödinger; a renowned mathematician who caused a good stir by introducing rules to uncertainty. Basically the rules state a 'likelihood' of where particles are at a time. Kind of like what is very nicely demonstrated by the hand movement in the picture of Dzjaparidze talking to Proeflokaal presenter Jochem van der Heijden before the showing!
I think it was a movement through the equations where light and dark represented likelihoods. The sounds were derived from these as well. As explained the pitch and intensity were linked to the equation outcomes. Very nice collage it was; far less chaotic then i anticipated.

Michael Dzjaparidze and a screen shot of his work.

Dominykas Vysniauskas, a Lituanian trompettist and Kristjan Martisson, pianist from Iceland, did a piece next. In part pre-arranged in part improvised it was based on the experience gained in a New York subway ride, I think it had more then that: it had a very clear New York Buzz. Free jazz style. I'm not too well versed in Jazz, but i found this piece absolutely fantastic! Lot's of air and room for both instruments to do their part. It has to be said these artists 'lived' their instruments; although it was still a bit guided by principles.


Vysniauskas (trompet) and Martinsson (piano)


After the break it was 'Pick Up'. A duo formed by Martin Luiten on semi-acoustic guitar and Frans de Waard on electronics. A rare treat! Especially with Frans de Waard being a well established experimentalist! Tonight they did a piece with guitar treated by e-bow and very unconventional play. These sounds were helped along by treated 'found sounds' from laptop and processing of the guitar sounds. It got to be an energetic and solid performance! Really great how they bounced off each other; it was a bit like Free Jazz in that way.


Pick-Up; Martin Luiten (guitar) and Frans de Waard (laptop)


Next up was a very solid show called 'Tanto de Nada'. Evelien van den Broek spoke texts in several languages to a live electronics composition handled by Danny de Graan. On the back wall distorted images were shown of Evelien.
It was a long stretched composition. It was maybe composed for a bigger setting or to accompany an exhibition; just a little too large for this stage. But it gave a very good impression of how to use modern technology in a more formal composition!


Tanto de Nada; Danny de Graan (front), Evelien van den Broek (background)

In all i think 'Proeflokaal', which would translate to 'trial stage', has grown exceptionally over time. From basic trial to very refined experimentation in sound art. Has experimentation come of age? He, he.. who knows.. i'll for sure will check my calendar more thoroughly to not miss the next Proeflokaal!

Thanks for reading!

Bas.

Wouter van Veldhoven, Ignatz, To Kill A Petty Bourgoisie, Boduf Song - Lentegruis, Kargadoor, 8 may 2009

This was the first evening in a three day program called 'Lentegruis', which would loosely translate as Spring-Grit.
It was at a typical Utrecht venue called the 'Kargadoor' with a room based in one of the ancient canal side storage vaults. It gave this evening an extra special feel, albeit it got a bit stuffy with -i guess- some eighty people turning up!

Listed as an evening of experimental music, this was very well programmed with the four acts tonight.

Wouter van Veldhoven was up first. He had to tell this unfortunately would be his last performance for a long while due to study.
Beautiful music. A long loop made with two open reel tape recorders, of about ten seconds, formed the basis. Little, careful played sounds and samples were played and a slow and mellow atmosphere was built.
Instruments were bowed guitar and hammered dulcimer and an array of little glitchy, percussive sounds.
Added to that was some effects processing with as main core an electronic system with a huge array of pulsating red LEDs adding a nice visual effect.
I've seen him work this setup a couple of times before but it remains a very special experience.


Wouter van Veldhoven


It was a little switch in style with Ignatz up next. New to me, but what an impressive act by this man from Brussels, Belgium!
Gritty lo-fi guitar drones and song. The songs were varied, but in basis they were built from first playing a background, fed to a loop, and then solo guitar. Very good guitar play! But these sounds all melt into each other and at times the loops were changed.
To that some lyrical, but hard to make out singing. As all was fed to a traditional guitar amplifier with spring reverb turned up high it got a lo-fi far out feel. Ha, ha.. it made me think of hearing Elvis perform in a remote sports-stadion, through a poor tannoy system, while being in a train as a listener. Safe to say it got the mind floating in all directions ;D
Great act!


Ignatz

To Kill A Petty Bougoisie from the US impressed very much to. This was a very well tuned foursome with keys, electronics, laptop, laptop beats, guitar and song. Careful constructed songs and unison revealed the group was very well prepared. It all formed a one sounding lo-fi droning experience that captivated. Beautiful warm emotions.

To Kill A Petty Boursoisie

Boduf Songs from the UK formed the most powerful and final act of the night. I knew Boduf Songs from an earlier concert; and the more from the cd Lion Devours The Sun. I thought the cd reflected the calm better then the live experience then, but tonight it all came together in the dead quiet surroundings of the Kargadoor 'dungeon'. The public was spellbound.
Man and electric guitar turned to low volume. Whispered song. Second man on percussion/drum, which went no further then an occasional brush or single refrained striking touch. Slowly developing breathing music. Shoegaze tiptoeing on socks. Hush music. Dream, dream, dream.
The singer whispered thanks for the room for being so quiet. Fantastic experience.


Boduf Songs


Thank you artist, each and all, thank you Eat This Media.

Shhht!



(bas)

Burial Hex, Eklin, Môgô - Vechtclub, Utrecht, 06-05-2009

Hey, hey, hey! Something new in Utrecht! De Vechtclub!
De Vechtclub is a new cultural center housed in a derelict old warehouse near the Overvecht Shopping Center. It is part of a huge building that used to be a distribution center with ports for lorries to drive up to the building.
The surroundings are well littered with used cars and campers... the perfect surroundings for tonight's program!
The hall is great, with nice acoustics and a friendly bar.
Do have a look at their website!

And i think some 50 people turned up to enjoy this good night of rebellion!


First up tonight was Môgô. Môgô is a one man act and the style was listed as 'Loops 'n Drones'.
It was a great, noisy sound collage. Base track from cassette and then lots and lots of effect processors, a nice little Casio SK-1, bass guitar used for drones.
It was all well executed, with nice changes throughout; maybe a bit crammed together. Very nice introduction to this artist!


Môgô


Next was a threesome in Eklin; listed as 'Electronoise'. One was using voice and effects, second was on drum and effects, third was on synth and effects. It was a bit of an unfocused show. It was like the members were surprised all the time by the effects they produced. And maybe there was a bit too much feedback from the room amplification. The speakers were in an awkward position behind the artists.
Both voice and synth made ample use of loops and distorts for a nice gritty sound. The drum was used in a long looped delay to get repetitive percussion effect.
In all i think the single parts were very nice, but it could have done with some more co-ordination.


Eklin


Absolute topper and the last act tonight was Burial Hex from the US. Listed as Horror Electronics.
Single man; lots of effects, voice, reverb coil as a noise source.. and piano.
The act started with some simple noise drones and then it moved to song and piano.. which was a little long, but it was a nice mellow move towards the searing end!
Ranting, hurrying over a great collection of boxes, Burial Hex exploded in fantastic anguished noise! Great act!


Burial hex

Tonight was in fact a nice prologue to a festival 'Lentegruis' which will take place 8, 9 and 10th of May in Utrecht, on several locations. Please have a look at lentegruis.eatthismedia.org for more information!

And of course.. the Utrecht gang was here again! Hi Bauke, Tiny, Jan Erik!

Thanks for reading!
Bas.

Svartvit, Obselete (Office Equipment), Messias, Mental Plastic Body Filler, Conjo di Christo - Sonic Terror 2, Electron, Breda 01-05-2009

Woooo!! busy and noisy night in Breda again!! Tonight another nice side edition of De Rebellenclub with open stage NOISE!! And with five acts again, no less!
Already well steamed up by a En Nihil on the way to Breda -thanks for the ride and music Bauke!- we arrived good in time to give our ears another good cleaning.
And oh, man.. a CDs and record sale stand. Jummy, jummy, jummy.. found some nice new things again! Ohww, and some new Kristus Kut works from friend George!





Starting of the night was Svartvit. An energetic and classic one man Noise act. Very well put together! With some base from laptop, it was great to see some home-brew electronics boxes giving off the wildest noise and glitches! Nothing like the real thing!
And a fantastic opener!

Svartvit


Next up was Obselete (Office Equipment). Again one man.. without a mission? He, he.. this seemingly retired office worker produced just the finest Noise! Very eventful, full of changes and absolutely geared to reset the brain! He, he.. got me in the zone anyway ;)
Brilliant sounds! Stage performance.. hmmm.


Obselete (Office Equipment)


Then it was to Messias. Wow! What a lot of boxes with lights! It was wild noisy EBM type dance, with many sequencers and rhythm boxes fighting eachother! And as Messias was again a one man act, he had a busy time working over all the controls. Some serious dancing developed in the room and i think he well exceeded his allotted time; with that shear energy he could have gone on for nights on end.
Very nice act, although it got a bit long and a little less varied as it progressed.


Messias


Then it was welcome back to our De Rebellenclub friends Mental Plastic Body Filler! Opening up with some really interesting music; a lot of warped sampling and effects.. it at times reminded a bit of Coil in fact. But a lot wilder; very interesting! Then the show shifted to the main soft-SM act with the female part of the duo being guided on stage.. Ha, ha.. i didn't get to see much as the crowds moved well in front to see the show! Musically it got a bit less interesting, but hey, how do you work that being tied up in other matters. But judging by the public it was all well received!

Mental Plastic Body Filler


Then it was time for another good insult to the ears again with an agonizing twosome Conjo di Christo. A 'bootyloving' Stirner & Kristus Kut side project. Woooowww!!
Full out noise from the two hooded men! Sparks flying front to back searing full roast Noise! I think in the end there was just one microphone left working giving an earsplitting feedback.
Two gutted artists dropped of the stage in the end. Noise they way it's supposed to be! ;)


Conjo di Christo



Thanks for the awesome night again George; and artists! Had me ears glowing all the way back to Utreggggggggggggg!

And warm hello's to the Utrecht gang in Bauke, Tiny and Jan Erik!

Thanks for sharing!
Bas.