UNITED FORCES OF INDUSTRIAL - London May 2014

Started by GEWALTMONOPOL, June 06, 2013, 11:16:22 PM

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MT

#31
What a festival, first time I've ever played at one, but certainly a great experience. Overall moods, feelings and such were in great heights all through the weekend. A little recap of the gigs:

FRIDAY

AMNOT blasted a good synth driven set in the vein of 90's PE. Background video, atmosphere of the music and great vocal delivery tied it to a tight package. UMPIO did what he does the best, screeching, banging, abrupt breaks, teasing the electronics and unleashing avalances of good ol' noise. UNCLEAN set went as planned, nothing to add to that. BIZARRE UPROAR, first time seeing in this format. Pigman was like a demon guarding walking back and forth in front of the crowd at the beginning, now almost classic background video and good punishing noise. What else can you ask? IRON FIST OF THE SUN was my favorite of the day, no doubt about that. Brooding atmospheres, the video was excellent and bursts of franctic rage vocals through distorsion worked like a charm. Can't exactly put my finger on it why it was so fucking good, but I enjoyed every moment greatly.


SATURDAY

SSRI started the day with a performance of twisted, deranged electronics. Hypnotic stuff, there was control in everything, even though the music sounded like it is not in anyones control. Was happy to finally catch this live, at the final possible moment! MOLLUSK KING was up next, synth driven, junk feedback drenched performane with good vocal work, a wake up call to brutality after the mystic mad professor type SSRI set. SHIFT annihilated all. There was no fucking around, no loose ends, no hesitation. You could sense the power from them, sense the threat of violent behaviour if anyone would give the opportunity. SHIFT grabbed us by our throats and didn't let go until it was over. Massive hails! Then there was a nice afternoon break to catch our breath before the final madness.

HALTHAN begun the evening. Considering the circumstances the gig went quite well. Propaganda video flashing us images and text, Halthan shouting vocals on top of synthnoise. A little less emphasis on the alcohol next time, and it will go just right. POGROM was another huge highlight for me. Background video worked so well, at least for me, set the atmosphere instantly. Set flowed in the end with no problems, great vocal work. The singing type of part especially was a home run for me, sounded like a Slavic drunk in the glare of street lights with a bottle of vodka and hateful thoughts. HUMAN LARVAE, missed this one mostly. But what I did catch sounded good. STAB Electronics, been waiting this for a long time, and it was well worth it! Total madness, gritty video, great interaction with the crowd, vocal delivery was spot on and overall atmosphere of the gig was splendid. Now someone get this bastard to play in Finland! SICK SEED closed the festival with something totally diffrent, industrial musick mutation is a fine new chapter in the lifespan of SS. I've heard people say the set is too long or something, but I thought it ended almost too quick! Enjoyed every damn minute of this show, there are great things to come for this act. There is doubt about that. And I've never felt so melancholic feelings than I did during "It's a Sad Story".


Stunningly great festival, I will surely be there next year as well. Huge hauls to all who made this possible.

ironfistofthesun

not much to add from what has been said.

I had a virus and a horrible cough..sorry to all other acts who I kept awake at the hostel with relentless coughing. Had a evil journey home with half fever/half hangover, two flight cases Vs London.
Personal highlights for me were Bizarre uproar's intense new sound (drums and more space), Pogrom who was way more melancholic and heart achingly sad than I expected, sick seed who was weird and brilliant!! But I can honestly say every act was great and had their place..

Aside from all the live stuff, the second room acted as a conference hall. A lot of trade, new discoveries, project plans, new deals and some good drinking.
Thanks to all that showed up and unrest for putting up.

Levas

So finally I'm also getting back on track with my head starting to function like it should and so on. It was for me perhaps the best industrial/noise event that I've visited. I don't remember any gig where all acts were on such a high level and where there would be almost no time to go to piss because you had to watch everything from the beginning to the end. Yet another thing is, as we talked with some people, the overall atmosphere, vibe, energy of such events - communicating, sharing your sounds, thoughts, discoveries or just drinking and walking around. After boiling in your own juice for a long time, you slowly start to loose a point - why I should go to studio now and record something, why play something and not just drink beer and listen to some tapes and then such events are like a refreshing cocktail to feed and light up the passion and lust for noise, sounds, recording, collecting them and so on. So thank you for organizers. For great venue, sound system, care of everything and letting the democracy of London tremble under the boots of oh so hateful and dangerous noisers.

Friday

So towards the end of friday evening I started thinking that it will be extremely difficult to write about the gig because when you see some boring acts, you can go like "this was good and then that guy came and it was so bad, and boring and go for a long rant". And now it's not possible to do that. Am Not was a great intro to the evening. Sort of old schoolish industrial, a little political messages here and there, good vocal delivery, good sounds to sink into. I am sort of fanboy of Umpio and for me he seems like one of those highly underappreciated projects in nowaday's scene. I have yet to find the answer why. He played truly professional set, building up the sounds of junk, then going to sudden pauses, then resuming it and constructing a weird and interesting abstract sculpture of intense noise. Unclean was different, leaning towards minimalism so at first it was quite a big contrast after Umpio that I had to get to, but after a few minutes I've got to it and adapted my brains and ears to this sort of sounds. It was a truly well done set. Bizarre Uproar was so different from what I remember. But if the band/project changes the sound and appearance so much and that new program that you hear is so good, I guess there is no limits for developing, even for legendary acts. The continuous exploration of fetishes brings great results. And I will not be original here - Iron Fist of the Sun was my favourite from friday. just a very very small step above all else. Atmospheric, loud and simply very professional.
So after that it was a funny way home and a deep sleep after all these Strongbows (damn that cider is perfect).

Saturday

I was quite surprised how the Saturday's set was divided into two parts, but it was truly for the best and that break after 3 acts was very much needed. Though it's a pity that there were not that many people who came there at first. After watching a few minutes of SSRI I went to sit back and just listen to sounds. Pekka seemed like some sort of mountain behind that small table with small pedals, small knobs, small cables. Not aggressive, but oppressive and bleak (in a good way). At first Mollusk King sounded somehow strange. Most likely my mind was still empty after the SSRI so I couldn't just get reoriented so quickly to more structured stuff. Loads of junks, synths and good vocal works - as if from industrial music manual. Shift ended up the afternoon party as one of the highlights for the whole saturday and for the whole event. great visuals of maggots, hippies and hell's angels and the feeling of uneasiness. Together with BU from Friday this was the best looking act on stage - great masks, bombers and this was fucking loud, brutal, intense and not comfortable at all.

The second part was started by Halthan. Cannot comment much since I went for some meditation alone with beer, but I liked what I've heard. Perhaps the background sound could be better? but it was sort of old schoolish alcohol sunken no future power electronics. Secret Act went ok. Then also watched about perhaps half of Human Larvae because of packing and so on. If I'd have to put these projects in groups by their approach and so on, I'd put Human Larvae together with Molusk King and Am Not. Though Human Larvae was most intense of all the three. Truly great show. STAB Electronics was my absolute favorite of the fest. It's been just the "in your face power electronics" that one could wish for. Interesting message, intense and absolutely great sound, perfect vocal delivery. Truly one of the best power electronics acts currently in scene? At least for me personally. While sitting in that room with puzzle and weird sculptures, and talking with people I've heard something weird happening and came to Sick Seed playing already. I was just repeating to myself "wow" all the time - the set was some strange sounds, leaning towards pop and in that strangeness it became one of those three favourites on Saturday. Who said that it was too long? I wanted them to play all night while I could have my beers, contemplating on this weirdness! Excellent!

Another deep 3 hour sleep and another day in London that ended in me getting lost somewhere in Tottenham and wandering around, looking for the place where I had all my bags left until 8 AM. It was an impressive journey through ghettos that I wouldn't like to repeat soon.

Thank you for this perfect weekend. See you soon

P-K

#34


First of all i really loved the venue, imho it's allways a plus to have a bar & merch area to chill out and chat...nothing's more irritant than chatting during a gig. PA was good. Organic cider : gooood ,  I know a venue like this can't compete with the local paki nightshop, but it wasn't thàt expensive so people bringing in drinks should be shot...

the bands :
Am Not : really wanted to see him live, high expectations, awesome set of throbbing heavy electronics...very german, a bit like ExOrder but even more clinical and oppressive...got even better when  the backing vid/last track featured Belgium's colonial past, Leopold, Katanga...top!

Umpio : fierce dynamic junk, noise & pedals. solid !

Unclean : more traditional Finnish pe? good but lacked a theme (or i just didn't get it, don't understand fin), some backing or lyrics...it was good, wanted that little extra.

BU : thàt little extra, Mr BU + Mr SS...less high feedback, more low rumbling. trademark. very good.

IFOTS : high-end electronics, GREAT vocals. 100% in control...but so short. he allways leaves me hunry ...

SSRI : unsettling tape-manipulation, contect mics, nice composition & Crowley-speech. excellent starter!

Mollusk King : still not shure whàt to think, massive bombastic sound with lots of things happening, strong vocals, a loud Contrastate? rattling bass, live synth, really loved it...but didn't like the performance : it was too theatrical to my taste, it was Prurient gone Keith Emerson ;-) and bashing the traffic sign didn't really ad something. interesting nevertheless :-)

SHIFT : really shines on Altamont Rising...and was happy to see this work out on stage, bringing back the HEAVY in heavy electronics, sweating testosterone while doing it. massive layers, harsh vocals, structures. great backing vid !  class.

the break was spend talking & drinking

Halthan : scummy drunken pe, nothing shocking, hate & alcohol allways mix.

secret act turned out to be Pogrom : caveman-powerelectronics, strong vocals, rather pro video. nice!

...went out for a quick snack & completely missed Human Larvea. sucks.

Stab Electronics : last x i saw him it was just one technical mess, nothing worked. not this time. crisp sound, classic songs, entertaining videa (face-sitting, tit-slapping, dick-skinning, etc etc), strong vocals, gotta love the accent.

Sick Seed : sinds SS seems to change all the time i didn't really knew what to expect. my companions didn't like it but i did. these where allmost 'real songs', and was really different.

later : solid party at Slimelight were things got sweaty in room3 : KAOS

awesome festival, total support & allready looking forward to the next one.

Eleczema

And the band that I wanted to see there, Human larvae (the best record for a long time). And finnish power are eating at that time. Hunswotit! Saatana.
Because it's in my nature!

online prowler