Came straight from the wedding of friend, therefore dressed properly for event!
Dark Session started, doing basically mix of his "old style" and latest recordings? You can hear from bandcamp his latest recordings with contact mics and junk metals but this gig also remember of the more gloomy electronic tones etc. of older style? With anonymous session member. Nothing ultimately remarkable, but like when I saw Unclean for first time, I thought there guys have really something going on for doing debute gigs of this level. So - more practice, something personal to sound & execution. Even now solid basic finn-noise-pe fusion. Perhaps it was better than I expected!
Unpeace was mix of noisecore and scum punk untightness. Niko is now exceptionally brutal drummer that there basically are two choices: To remain brutal like now, would mean he stands out for being such a barbaric in technique. If learning too much, there is A LONG way to stand out in extreme speed or technical tightness. Something between these two options is pretty uninteresting, and falling as another average guy might not be worth it, hah! So I remmend: Stay clumsy!
Unclean solo set, I liked the clarity of vocals. Kind of Bizarre Uproar meets black metal with clear sharp sound and lots of delay. More variation to screaming style and vocal effects would be nice, though. Sound was much more low rumbling based, but as I pointed out to artists, you could actually hear mp3 playback... I mean, at least I could. With ear plugs on, from bass amplifier rumbling and I went asked him later did I just think it was clearly mp3 or was it. Not that it was terrible, but the vibrating "pixelated" high end sounds of that type always irritate me personally. Same feeling was with Dark Session.. Tape playback, CD, wav file from some player or just plain live noise would be good. Due limitations of two bass combos being the sound system, it flattens down sound a bit, so it requires extra attention from artists to know in advance what will work out and what will turn everybody to be about the same sounding noise rumbling. Decent set, but hearing him few times before, I think if he could mix last song type of rhythmic stuff, piercing turku gig style electronics and something known from tapes - it would bring needed diversity for gig. More mid frequency noise to be gut ripping sound.
Umpio, however, proved again to be master of his craft. Noise would not be personal - very much tied to Umpios character, toying around with his excessive amount of metal junk objects - and not just "neat" large sheets and chains, but all sorts of kitchen tools, mini cymbals, cow-bells, stacked into contact mic'ed small metal "cage". Some type of oscillator providing zapping electronic sounds, DJ mixer for fast cut up's between these sound elements, not being after to cut the song short, operate for a while purely acoustic, creating very broken and abrupt noises from his junk-eletronix. Extremely entertaining to see, surprising and fresh to hear as well. In theory, it's "just noise", but great lesson to see for possibilities to add personal touch with little elements! Face to the audience - everything to be seen. I like that.
Svartvit started again more heavy and solid rumbling noise. And back-to-the-audience approach is something I've grown quite tired. Looking at other guys butts, is for another scene, not mine. I want to see what he's doing there. And he did quite well, slowly building the noise further and further, and when screamy vocals with nicely blending deep echo in it came, to me it sounded almost psychedelic, yet there was element of aggression. When the final climax was about to start, my attention was distracted by case of friends wife falling out of the door, face down to ground - passed out from drinking enough, heh.. So, last minutes of show it was more of checking out if everything was ok, and carrying the seemingly lifeless body to van... so how did the gig end? I assume to some pushing & bouncing against the audience members. It was good set with firm execution, but after the uplifting junk noise of Umpio and with style of sound system used, it was blending quite well to noise of rest of evening, while Umpio was the guy to stood out from it. Subtle qualities of noise may be clouded by ear protection or type of PA - so the general atmosphere possibly counts the most. I'm not 100% sure whether I have Svartvit material at all?! Intended to talk about trades etc, but due circumstances, had to leave quick.
Thanks for Niko/Obscurex for another good evening! Maybe next time without public transportation strike, more people will come.. Anyone without car or other private transportation, probably had hard time getting into venue yesterday. Crowd was still decent - if you ask me! Just perfect for private noise gig.
