RVA Noise Fest II, Day One
Friday, April 26 at Sound Of Music
Last year, the RVA Noise Fest consisted of two days at Strange Matter, and featured a who’s who of everything that no square would ever give a chance. Good thing RVA is a hotbed of the hip.
RVA Noise Fest II, Day One
Friday, April 26 at Sound Of Music
Last year, the RVA Noise Fest consisted of two days at Strange Matter, and featured a who’s who of everything that no square would ever give a chance. Good thing RVA is a hotbed of the hip. This year, RVA Noise Fest came back with its second installment, expanded to a three-day weekend. The events were spread across three different venues, with a different noise merchant curating each night.
Day one took place at the legendary studio, Sound of Music (Loincloth, Lamb of God). I had never been there and was excited to see how a studio with no-doubt-expensive equipment would handle knob-twiddling freaks hopped up on the latest synapse destroying music. SoM has a very large center tracking room that can easily accommodate 100 people (if they are close enough to know thy neighbor’s religion). The crowd crammed in there, and the show began.
First up was Focus On Shapes, armed with a laptop (a staple of the evening). The set consisted of dreamy synths and sometimes dissonant loops over top beats. Sometimes it melded well and other times it was like a tug-of-war between straight ahead and weirdo. Following that was Chesterfield drone artist Elian. Performing from inside SoM’s elevator (pretty cool), a wall of drone and noise washed in. It came and went in waves and ended surprisingly softer than it began.
Next up was Thieves Of Shiloh, the socially conscious live synth project of JK (sound man at a lot of Strange Matter shows). His set had a more traditional tone, in that the songs were announced and then played instead of being one long, never ending set of sounds. Most of it came across like the calm moments from Escape from New York’s soundtrack, with some wicked bent notes filtering through. The end built up to a harsh, looped crescendo that ended abruptly.
I have to applaud Slow News Day In The Vampire World (husband/wife duo of Sound of Music owners John and Tara Morand). They really seemed to bring everyone alive with their brand of dub, odd turntable flourishes, and energy. It felt really organic, like the missing link between complete knob twiddler and live performer. Look for them on a new cassette release by the Richmond Tape Club, which premiered at this show. Or if you don’t have a tape player, check them out on soundcloud. I will be bumping this shit. Final word: uplifting.
What do an aquarium filled with water, empty propane tanks suspended from a horizontal ladder, and two ceiling fans hooked up to the front of said ladder have in common? I’m not sure either, but the next group, Close Your Eyes I’m Changing, spent approximately 30 to 45 minutes setting that stuff up to play a 20-minute set that left a lot to be desired. It got interesting towards the end when all of the members started striking the helium tanks with hammers. The crowd seemed to love it. However, I can’t help but think it has more to do with the performance art side of things, as opposed to something with any sort of musical merit. People don’t just stand and watch a construction scene and then clap when it stops making noise, do they?
Forming the first release by Richmond Tape Club is Negative Gemini, who make slowed down 80’s dream pop with lush delayed female vocals performed live by NG’s sole member, Lindsey French. If you wished that Jerry Dandridge (main villain in Fright Night) would’ve stayed in the club when seducing Charlie’s girlfriend, or that Sarah Connor (heroine from Terminator) would’ve stayed inside Tech Noir, the fictional dance club in the movie, then these are your jams.
Diamond Black Hearted Boy had some difficulties getting set up due to wanting it loud as fuck and not being satisfied. His set consisted of an unending random verse and prose stream, under layers of distortion and delay. He sometimes had background noise, and sometimes not. Every once in a while, he would start hitting random samples (kudos for the Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter samples), amid the cacophony. He was very energetic, but it seemed lost in the sauce.
Last for me was Anduin. Jonathan Lee—who curated the evening–uses this project as a vehicle for laying down a cinemascape to a movie you’ve never seen, but can almost pick out the scenes from. The killer stalks through his dilapidated house that has long since been abandoned. The dust on the forgotten items compliments the stench of the bodies meticulously dissected. Or maybe it’s all just a reflection of what lurks in your mind. Often, there was a really good dream sequence-like current running throughout his compositions. He is a skilled craftsman in the art of subtle ambiance that also utilizes mood lighting and a prop of what appeared to be a wooden cellar door to enhance the performance.
I’d like to offer my apologies to the members of Mutwawa, as I did not catch their set. I bought an LP and walked it to my car. Upon my return, they had started playing and the door was locked. No one came to the rescue to let me in. I plan on catching them when they play at Strange Matter soon.
That was it for night one of RVA Noise Fest, but there were two more nights left. I unfortunately had to miss night two at Strange Matter, but I did catch the final evening at The Nile. To be continued!
