Neon Marshmallow

[wmgaretjax]

Viaduct Theater in Chicago:

Thursday – August 19, 2010 – 7 p.m.
*Dave Phillips (Switzerland)
*Keith Fullerton Whitman (Massachusetts)
*Cowards (New York)
*Nyodene D (Ohio)
*Greg Kelley (Massachusetts)
*Slither (Michigan)
*Caboladies (Chicago)
*Miami Beach (NY/Chicago)
*Shattered Hymen (Chicago)
*CLVIII (Ohio)
*Fossils (Canada)
*Arcanode (New York)
*work/death (New York)
*Sigulda (Missouri)
*Battleship (Chicago)
*Aaron Zarzutzki (Chicago)
*Pusdrainer (Ohio)

Friday – August 20, 2010 – 7 p.m.
*Astral Social Club (United Kingdom)
*The Haters (California)
*Bhob Rainey (Louisiana)
*Keith Fullerton Whitman (Massachusetts)
*Dave Phillips (Switzerland)
*Disgust (Chicago)
*Cornucopia (Puerto Rico)
*Sunglasses (Chicago)
*Pete Fosco (Ohio)
*R. Jencks (aka Sixes) (California)
*Leticia Castaneda (California)
*Illusion of Safety (Chicago)
*Fatale (Chicago)
*EID (New York)
*Skin Graft (Ohio)
*Expo 70 (Michigan)
*Rust Worship (New York)
*Flower Man (Chicago)

Saturday – August 21, 2010 – Noon
*Regression (Nate from Wolf Eyes) (Michigan)
*Astral Social Club (United Kingdom)
*R. Jencks (aka Sixes) (California)
*Cornucopia (Puerto Rico)
*Tom Carter (from Charalambides) (New York)
*U.S. Girls (Philadelphia)
*Carlos Giffoni (New York)
*Early Tunnels (Ohio)
*Girly Temple (New York)
*Sean McCann (California)
*Crank Sturgeon (Maine)

Saturday – August 21, 2010 – 7 p.m.
*Emeralds (Ohio)
*Dolphins Into The Future (Belgium)
*Telecult Powers (New York)
*Excepter (New York)
*Pedestrian Deposit (California)
*unFACT (David from The Jesus Lizard)(Chicago)
*Carlos Giffoni (New York)
*Noveller (New York)
*Dead Machines (Michigan)
*Tom Carter (from Charalambides) (New York)
*Derek Rogers (Texas)
*Social Junk (Philadelphia)
*Red Electric Rainbow (Chicago)
*Wasteland Jazz Unit (Ohio)
*White Leopards (California)
*Dog Lady (Michigan)
*Mike Forbes/Andrew Young (Chicago)
*Sunken Landscapes (California)
*Grasshopper (New York)

Sunday – August 22, 2010 – 6 p.m.
*Government Alpha (Japan)
*Justice Yeldham (Australia)
*Tiger Hatchery (Chicago)
*Julian Lynch (Wisconsin)
*Jason Lescalleett (Massachusetts)
*Dolphins Into The Future (United Kingdom)
*Noveller & unFACT (NY/Chicago)
*Podblotz (California)
*Ryan Jewell (Ohio)
*Hex Breaker Quintet (New York)
*Jason Soliday (Chicago)
*Andrew Coltrane (Michigan)
*Piss Piss Piss Moan Moan Moan (Chicago)
*Burial Hex (Wisconsin)
*Peter J. Woods (Wisconsin)
*Family Treasures (Connecticut)
*Instinct Control (Chicago)
*Drainolith (Canada)
*TV Pow! (Chicago)
*Face Worker (Chicago)

HOLY FUCK.

[Still-ill]

I would definitely go to Saturday. I wish I knew more from the other days.

[TickleMeElmo]

I'm only familiar with one band in that entire lineup.

[woogie846]

I'm only familiar with one band in that entire lineup.

Beats me, I don't know anyone on that list.

[SoulDischarge]

Excepter and Emeralds in the same night is juicy.

[wmgaretjax]

The whole lineup is pretty unbelievable. If anyone is curious about acts that are playing, I have music by the vast majority of the acts.

[SoulDischarge]

I'm going to request off the Saturday for this, if the date is still open, and probably one other day. Which day should it be?

[wmgaretjax]

thursday for KFT, Caboladies, and work/death... But any day would suffice really...

Maybe Friday... That has KFW, Skin Graft, Haters, Bhob, Expo 70 and Flower Man...


Yeah... Friday.

[SoulDischarge]

You've seen the additions, right?

[send me ctrpllrs]

I only know of/have heard a few of the bands, but this seems like it will be pretty awesome. Some guy at Pitchfork handed me a flier for this after he caught my attention because he was saying "free acid."

[pancakespancakes]

Fuck this. I would have tried harder to make it out there if I had seen it longer ago... now it just gets rubbed in the face...

[weeklymix]

Jared -

Having listened to 1-3 of these groups well enough to say I know them and understanding that you have a serious grasp of this lineup...

Could you list your favorite groups per day for us to explore?

Sincerely,
Someone who is clearly missing out on a lot of great music.

[Aurgasm]

Jared -

Having listened to 1-3 of these groups well enough to say I know them and understanding that you have a serious grasp of this lineup...

Could you list your favorite groups per day for us to explore?

Sincerely,
Someone who is clearly missing out on a lot of great music.

seconded.

A compilation upload would be even coooooler. 8^)

thanx

[wmgaretjax]

I could do an upload at a later date... for now... some thoughts:

Keith Fullerton Whitman - This guy is one of my absolute favorites. Besides being a nice guy who runs the best music distro on the web, he's a fantastic and varied electronic composer. His Hrvatski project is some of the best spaz breakcore to ever grace this planet. He did a ton of gorgeous minimal drone a while back on Kranky, the result of which is one of my favorite albums of all time (Playthroughs). Recently his stuff has been a bit noisier. He's put out several cassettes this year revolving around a hybrid digital/modular analog setup that is automated. Also an amazing 7" of modulated synth and Oud.

Caboladies - Up there with Emeralds and Brother Raven for me in terms of synth projects. These guys are some of the best improvisers around. They are airtight and have a wonderfully varied sound. They just put out an incredible live LP on Aguirre and have a slew of amazing tapes. They each go solo under the monikers Carl Calm and Flower Man.

Work/Death - Best noise act out there in my opinion. Guy has a great grasp of texture and timing. His recordings are great, but he really shines live. I'm not sure how planned out his live sets are, but each time I've seen him it has felt really controlled and genuine. Something lacking in a lot of noise these days...

Bhob Rainey - One half of Nmperign and easily the best improviser I've ever witnessed. I've seen him play some unbelievable electro-acoustic sax stuff.

Skin Graft - Terrifying, murky synth noise. His work is really varied and has a sense of space that is missing from a lot of the similar acts out there. I think he just put out a four cassette set on Pizza Night, but I haven't heard it yet.

Expo 70 - If you like Emeralds, this is for you. Guitar/synth stylings that are really straight forward but also really beautiful.

Sean McCann - This guy has been unstoppable lately. His work varies from fairly straightforward synth drone, to incredibly elaborate acoustic arrangements. Probably the best solo drone act around for my money.

Excepter - One of the most insane live things I've ever seen. These guys are in a world of their own performance wise. Half the time it's hard to tell where they are going, and then suddenly all these disparate parts coalesce and break apart before you know what's hit you. Incredibly awesome, raw stuff.

Wasteland Jazz Unit - The best jazz noise out there right now. Not big on their recordings, but they are a force live.

(i could recommend ten other things saturday. it's by far the best day)

Julian Lynch - Absolutely awesome guy who has all kinds of multicultural influences. Live it bounces back and forth between meditative clarinet segments and gorgeous singer/songwriter stuff.

Andrew Coltrane - The beast of the michigan noise scene right now.

Jason Lescalleett - One of the best laptop improvisers around. Super calculated electronics that get right inside your head.

[SoulDischarge]

This is coming up. I ended up having Thursday off too but I don't get paid until Friday so I won't be able to go then. Anyway, Jared, which of these bands are can't misses and what should be avoided?

Friday - August 20, 2010 - 7 p.m.

ACID STAGE
1:30a R. Jencks aka Sixes (California)
12:45 Cornucopia (Puerto Rico)
12:00 Keith Fullerton Whitman (Massachusetts)
11:15 The Haters (California)
10:35 Raglani (Missouri)
9:55 Dave Phillips (Switzerland
9:10 Astral Social Club (United Kingdom)
8:30 Bhob Rainey (Lousiana)
7:40 Expo '70 (Missouri)
7:00p Flower Man (Chicago)

— DJ War Bride (Blake Edwards of Vertonen)

BLOSSOM STAGE
1:10a Disgust (New York)
12:25 Sunglasses (Chicago)
11:40 Pete Fosco (Ohio)
10:55 Leticia Castaneda (California)
10:10 Illusion of Safety (Chicago)
9:30 Plastic Crimewave Solo (Chicago)
8:45 EID (New York)
8:05 Skin Graft (Ohio)
7:20p Rust Worship (New York)

Saturday - August 21, 2010 - Noon

ACID STAGE
5:10p Burning Star Core (New York)
4:20 Astral Social Club & Carlos Giffoni (United Kingdom/New York)
3:20 Nmperign & Lescalleet (Louisiana/Maine/Massachusetts)
2:30 U.S. Girls (Pennsylvania)
1:40 Fragments (Ohio)
12:50 Carter/Clixby/Yeh (NY, NY, NY)
12:00p The Family Chapter (Ohio)

— Southbridge Slow Electronics

BLOSSOM STAGE
4:40p Regression (Nate from Wolf Eyes) (Michigan)
3:50 Cornucopia & Telecult Powers (Puerto Rico/New York)
2:55 Preyers (California)
2:05 Early Tunnels (Ohio)
1:15 Girly Temple (New York)
12:25p Sean McCann (California)


Saturday - August 21, 2010 - 7 p.m.

ACID STAGE
1:30a Excepter (New York)
12:45 Telecult Powers (New York)
12:00 unFACT (David Sims of The Jesus Lizard) (Chicago)
11:15 Emeralds (Ohio)
10:35 Noveller (New York)
9:55 Dead Machines (Michigan)
9:10 Dolphins Into The Future (Belgium)
8:30 Carlos Giffoni (New York)
7:40 Sunken Landscapes (California)
7:00p Mike Forbes & Andrew Young (Chicago)

— Southbridge Slow Electronics

BLOSSOM STAGE
1:10a Pedestrian Deposit (California)
12:25 Tom Carter (of Charalambides) (New York)
11:40 Derek Rogers (Texas)
10:55 Social Junk (Pennsylvania)
10:10 Red Electric Rainbow (Chicago)
9:30 Wasteland Jazz Unit (Ohio)
8:45 White Leopards (California)
8:05 Dog Lady (Michigan)
7:20p Grasshopper (New York)

[wmgaretjax]

Saturday - August 21, 2010 - Noon

ACID STAGE
5:10p Burning Star Core (New York)
4:20 Astral Social Club & Carlos Giffoni (United Kingdom/New York)
3:20 Nmperign & Lescalleet (Louisiana/Maine/Massachusetts)
2:30 U.S. Girls (Pennsylvania)
1:40 Fragments (Ohio)
12:50 Carter/Clixby/Yeh (NY, NY, NY)
12:00p The Family Chapter (Ohio)

— Southbridge Slow Electronics

BLOSSOM STAGE
4:40p Regression (Nate from Wolf Eyes) (Michigan)
3:50 Cornucopia & Telecult Powers (Puerto Rico/New York)
2:55 Preyers (California)
2:05 Early Tunnels (Ohio)
1:15 Girly Temple (New York)
12:25p Sean McCann (California)


Saturday - August 21, 2010 - 7 p.m.

ACID STAGE
1:30a Excepter (New York)
12:45 Telecult Powers (New York)
12:00 unFACT (David Sims of The Jesus Lizard) (Chicago)
11:15 Emeralds (Ohio)
10:35 Noveller (New York)
9:55 Dead Machines (Michigan)
9:10 Dolphins Into The Future (Belgium)
8:30 Carlos Giffoni (New York)
7:40 Sunken Landscapes (California)
7:00p Mike Forbes & Andrew Young (Chicago)

— Southbridge Slow Electronics

BLOSSOM STAGE
1:10a Pedestrian Deposit (California)
12:25 Tom Carter (of Charalambides) (New York)
11:40 Derek Rogers (Texas)
10:55 Social Junk (Pennsylvania)
10:10 Red Electric Rainbow (Chicago)
9:30 Wasteland Jazz Unit (Ohio)
8:45 White Leopards (California)
8:05 Dog Lady (Michigan)
7:20p Grasshopper (New York)


Shit. I missed this request. I'll do it for the last two days in hopes you'll see. Bold is don't miss, italic is miss, normal I either don't know, or am unsure of how they will be live. If you missed KFW on thursday you should be sad, all reports say it was the best set so far.

[SoulDischarge]

Couldn't go Thursday. I actually ended up with the day off, but I was dead broke until I got paid on Friday. I went last night, but I'm skipping the first part of Saturday because I wanted to sleep in, and more importantly, I just can't afford the extra $20 right now. I did really want to catch Burning Star Core, but I just spent way more on groceries than I intended yesterday. I'm still going to go to the later show tonight.

I actually got there late last night thanks to the CTA making my mid-afternoon grocery shopping excursion take fucking hours upon hours.

Got there around 9:20 half way through Astral Social Club, which was pretty enjoyable. I had wanted to catch his full set, but oh well.

It was really easy to see every single act. The sets were staggered, and for the most part, most of them weren't any longer than 15 minutes. I know this is kind of standard for noise shows, but it's kind of a drag. It just seems odd for everyone to go so far out of their way for a 10-15 minute set. Some harsh noise acts really don't need much more than that as they don't have enough variety to justify longer sets, but most of the acts I saw yesterday were pretty interesting and I could have really gone for a little more.

Second up, I saw Plastic Crimewave solo, which was mostly just him fucking around with a banjo and feedback for 10 minutes.

Next I caught Dave Phillips, which was seriously the absolutely most unpleasant concert experience of my entire life. It was really ugly, brutal, harsh noise combined with video footage of explicit animal cruelty intercut with short phrases of text. It wasn't that it was a bad show, it was very effective, if a bit blunt, but it made me feel really sick, and I'm not particularly sensitive to video violence in general. I appreciate it for what it is, but I would never in my life want to see him again do the same show (at least not with the videos).

Illusion Of Safety was a lot nicer. Typical drone/noise stuff with psychedelic video projection. One of the longer sets of the night and enjoyable all in all.

I missed the beginning of Raglani, probably the only overlap the entire night, but what I saw was one of the best sets of the night. Spacey analog stuff not too dissimilar from Emeralds, although maybe a bit rougher around the edges.

Leticia Castenada was typical electronic noise manipulation. Pretty enjoyable but not exceptional.

The Haters were harsh and fun and hilarious. They wore bondage masks and showered the audience in sparks from cutting a briefcase with a buzzsaw while two of the members stood on stage hitting briefcases against each other for percussion.

Pete Fosco was really pleasant ambient guitar feedback drone.

Keith Fullerton Whitman was a disappointment. His stuff didn't really go anywhere and it looked like he was having technical difficulties before just giving up. I don't know. I was expecting something more.

Sunglasses were a total joke. I don't know if they were supposed to be a joke or if they sincerely just didn't give a fuck, but pretty much they were just two twenty something hipster dudes who played keyboard for like 2 minutes before letting a tape do the rest of the show while they drank beers, cleaned their glasses, and checked their cell phones.

Cornucopia was dark unsettling laptop noise and was pretty good.

I left after that because I was getting bored and tired and hungry. I had a reasonably good time but I always end up getting really bored at these types of things when I go by myself. There's just so little interaction for the most part, between the musicians and the audience, and the audience with itself, which makes sense since most of this stuff appeals to anti-social weirdos, but even when the music's good, it just seems kind of anti-climactic. I'm hoping tonight will be different since I'm more familiar with some of the acts.

[wmgaretjax]

tonight should be incredible. Phillips is really difficult to watch live. raglani is the shit. did you see Bhob Rainey?

KFW had two sets... maybe the good one went down thursday. i dunno, he's been killer in my experience in the past.

[SoulDischarge]

Probably was the Thursday set. He kept saying something about his equipment not doing what he wanted it today last night, although it wasn't clear who he was actually talking to. Might have just been a fluke. I got there too late to catch half of your recommendations, including Bhob Rainey.

[SoulDischarge]

Sunglasses were a total joke. I don't know if they were supposed to be a joke or if they sincerely just didn't give a fuck, but pretty much they were just two twenty something hipster dudes who played keyboard for like 2 minutes before letting a tape do the rest of the show while they drank beers, cleaned their glasses, and checked their cell phones.

Turns out one of these dudes was one of the organizers of the fest. It was still a terrible performance and the music wasn't nearly interesting to make up for how bored they looked. Anyway, day 2 (for me anyway).

Got there just around 8 and caught the last few minutes of Sunken Landscapes, which sounded pretty good from what I could tell.

Dog Lady was the first full set that I caught and it was fantastic, despite him being neither a dog nor a lady. Very creepy synth and tape stuff.

Carlos Giffoni was one of the best things I saw either day. It was like acid house without the house and three times the acid. There were parts of his set where it sounded like things were going out sync with themselves and it was really disorientating in the way Steve Reich's early tape sync works are. Really need to check out this guy's recordings now.

White Leopards was just some dude doing washes of loud ambient noise. Pleasant but nothing revolutionary.

Dolphins Into The Future was incredibly dull so I went into the other room to sit down after 5-10 minutes.

Wasteland Jazz Unit was really chaotic sounding and didn't do much for me. I know how retarded this sounds considering I went to a noise fest, but they just sounded like a bunch of noise to me.

I knew Dead Machines were a Wolf Eyes related project and have some of their releases, but hadn't really listened to them. I don't think I was expecting it to be quite so much straightforward power noise, but that's pretty much what it was. They were the only band with stage banter, for whatever that's worth. Fifteen minutes was just about the perfect amount of this stuff.

Red Electric Rainbow was the other major organizer of the fest and played ambient/synth/drone stuff. I really liked it and wished it would have gone on for about twice as long as it did.

Noveller was some chick using pedals to loop shimmering guitar passages. It was really pleasant, but after 20 minutes I got a little bored. Still, enjoyable stuff.

I only caught about 10 minutes of Social Junk because I wanted to make sure I didn't miss any of Emeralds, but what I heard sounded good. They were the only band either day who had a drum kit, which was a nice change of pace from all the analog electronics. They got into a really solid groove during their first song, but their second one was a bit of a mess, although it sounded like it was finally starting to come together when I took off.

Emeralds were pretty fucking amazing. They definitely deserve all the good press they've been getting. The guitar stuff can be a bit cheesy, but it's such an accurate replication of the 70s kosmische sound that I can't hold it against them too much. I'd love to see them at Coachella doing some kind of sunset set as it would be the perfect environment for their spacey explorations.

I don't actually remember too much what Derek Rogers sounded like but I remember enjoying it. I think it was just more synth/drone stuff.

unFACT was David Sims from the Jesus Lizard doing pretty much the same thing Noveller was doing, only with a bass. It was alright but didn't hold my interest for long.

Tom Carter jammed it out on the geetaar with a bunch of feedback and effects and shit. It was pretty awesome. Not much else to say about that.

I went scavenging for food on my bike during Telecult Powers because I had forgotten to eat dinner before going to the show. Seemed like they had some kind of cool video projection thing going on though.

Pedestrian Deposit were really good. Sparse, low key creepy synth stuff. For the first part of the set, the chick used a piece of sheet metal or something to make these really unnerving sounds, and in the second part, she played cello run through some effects pedals. There was occasional bursts of power noise but it was brief and worked well with the tense mood they were building.

Excepter were weird and wonderful, although not mindblowing. Most of the crowd had trickled out by then (half left immediately after Emeralds it seemed) so there was this weird end of the night stragglers vibe going on. The pretty much sounded like they do on record, only live. They also dressed exactly like you think hip New Yorkers dress like. I spotted them early in the night when they arrived and knew it was them without knowing what they looked like (sort of). Some times their stuff lacks in necessary structure and just kind of loops in on itself without going anywhere for too long, but it never gets too out of hand, and they have such a distinct, compelling sound, I don't mind it too much.

All in all a good time. The venue was pretty cool. I think it's typically used for small stage shows, but there's two rooms and the whole thing looks like a tiny aircraft hanger. Most of the performing artists hung out all weekend watching other bands sets. This is the ideal way to experience noise sets for me, all together in one weekend with a lot of variety. I know if I had traveled across town on work night and paid money to see a good many of these acts, I'd have been let down just on account of the set lengths. Getting a wide sampling of everything all at once makes me feel like the expense and effort are worth it. I hope this works out for the promoters because it was obviously a labor of love and it's great they were able to pull something like this together.

[wmgaretjax]

Dog Lady and Giffoni rule. Surprised the Dead Machines set was so intense, they are usually a little more subdued. I know I recommended Dolphins but I'm also not surprised it was boring. I wish it had been cool though. Dude still owes me tapes, gonna have to hassle him again.

[SoulDischarge]

I hope Carlos Giffoni's set pops up some time soon as well.

[wmgaretjax]

He has several releases under the No Fun Acid moniker that line up with how you described the set.