Show Review: 5/30 DIY Show

Show review written by Keenan Ketzner

It’s hard to overstate the exuberant and chaotic energy of a noise show, let alone one at a

house venue like the one tonight. Shows like these happen on the outskirts of town, since the

downtown bars can barely handle the musical magnetism of homespun weirdness the likes of

which were seen tonight. They crackle with a grit and charm that you can cherish forever, rather

than a rote night of music to prelude a run of bars.

Upon entering the undisclosed venue (navigating this type of crowd requires a certain amount of

personal investigative research that I find makes the reward of actually seeing the performances

more valuable), I was perplexed by the abundance of mylar sheetings covering the ground,

feeling like I had stumbled upon the remains of an industrial warehouse explosions. LED-lit

puffballs of cotton hovering amidst the haze of sweet and tangy vape clouds created a

legitimately atmospheric environment that led me through a corridor of homemade jewelry, a

local piercing artist, and an astonishing collection of VHS tapes and videofeed mangling

appearing on every illuminated screen in the vicinity.

After being escorted into the garage which was the ballroom for the performance, you’re treated

to partially deconstructed mannequins and thrift store clownware. The first act was the

confronting and intense act Suicide Vest. The main performer of the project stands (menacingly)

in front of a table loosely equipt with musical devices funneled into their mixer. The ensemble of

sounds include various distorted interludes of a recorded man, 4th dimensional birds warped by

delay feedback, a box of metal and microphones being mashed, and the Suicide Vest cherry on

top which is a full-on emotional rollercoaster vocal performance from the project creator

Kadden. It’s a harrowing mix of cortisol releasing yells and post-freakout clarity that provides a

sense of danger and respite like no other.

This smoothly segued into a full band project named Aséphale with the same vocalist, but now

guitar, bass, and drums added to the arsenal. Martial percussive rhythms combine with the

aforementioned feedback birds while bass and guitar rise out of an inaudible puddle, coalescing

into squelches of noise dancing with the cymbal crashes. The bass and drums lock into a

surprisingly groovy loop and give structure to the wall of distorted guitar. Speaking of distortion

(coincidental phrasal pun), the vocals are clipped to the absolute max, to the point where the

voice has become more like a cloud of steam rather than intelligible words. Another surprising

twist leads them into an upbeat danceable groove with Ono-esque wailings before finally

swirling down the drain as instruments fade out.

After an intermission to the “bar” (a lovingly attended kitchen with a variety of cocktail

ingredients at hand) and a smattering of meidum-talk with fellow miscreants, we reconvene for

nomes. The room is now painted a singular hue of royal blue lighting, and up from the silence

rises soberingly clean guitar chords and the soft spoken singer starts navigating a list of

morosities. “I’m so tired” and “so far away” ring out clearly and hover over the monochrome

palette. As the vocals start to gain confidence, nomes sings “the pressure might break me” as

guitar chords become guitar licks, and the singing crescendos to volume levels that shake the

drums, adding some unintended texture (as did the shuffling of feet on the reflective flooring.)

The second song follows similarly but with the addition of a more forward moving dirge on the

guitar and the intermittent patter of a kick drum before the last track, which finally goes full force

into the whole kit and singing. The passion in the recently finished song is palpable, and the

audience helpfully picks up a dropped drumstick in the middle of the performance.

After the set finishes they reveal that it was in fact their birthday, and the sincere rally of hoots

and hollers from the crowd revealed a very endearing smile on the performers faces.

Unfortunately I had to leave the show at this point because it was getting pretty late, and me

and my friend both being over 25, left us near the verge of death at this time of night. Based on

what I heard I can only imagine the other group missedtexts-andbettermeans would have been

great, but with me I will take a renowned sense of joy knowing that the music scene can still put

on cool stuff like this where artists are explorative and venue-goers are truly supportive and not

ambivalently talking over the whole set. More places used to be like this, and I hope there

continues to be a rise in this wave of house shows so more of us can experience life changing

shows like this more often.