On a Scale of 1 to 10, it was a 49.

ZXZW Festival, Tilburg, September 23-24

Warning: extremely long review follows.

Apparently Brabant is the Dutch Texas, making Tilburg Austin: the Zuid Bij Zuidwest festival is a hardly-subtle name-clone of the better known South by Southwest (SXSW). And while there might be fewer cowboy hats, gun racks on pickup trucks, and obese people in Tilburg, the principle is the same: a festival spanning the majority of the local venues, with a wide lineup and a flat admission fee. Tilburg is convenient for this kind of thing, as there are an awful lot of venues clustered in the middle of town. Of course, the scale of ZXZW pales in comparison to its American counterpart, and lacks the label showcases and big-name indie royalty that characterize SXSW, but it was still a fairly impressive lineup – more so during the festival than when looking at it in a vacuum, really. I came into the fest knowing only a couple of bands, so it was a bit of a journey of discovery for me, but that only heightened the enjoyment.

We arrived on saturday night around 9, as the first full wave of bands began. We intended to go see Vuur, a Belgian noisepunk act, but by the time we got our tickets traded in for bracelets, their set had started and gone for about 15 minutes, and we were at 013 (the biggest venue for the festival, with three separate stages) while Vuur was playing at Little Devil, the most far-flung from our location. Plus, the music coming from 013's Kleine Zaal sounded promising, so we checked it out. It turned out to be Daturah, a German post-rock group. They basically sounded just like Mogwai, with similarly soaring ambient textures spiralling into crushing chaos at their apex. Their drummer was both good and incredibly loud, lending a slightly more intense sound to the percussive side and feeling more like Explosions in the Sky to me. Even though the guitarist had awful whitey-dreadlocks and they played some sort of unattractive video of Frankfurt in the background, they put on a good show. We missed the last bit, as we went off to the tiny “muziekcafe” (literally a bar with a stage in the back) Cul De Sac to see the silly-named Uw Hypotheekadvies (Your Mortgage Advice) play a set of their Dutch noise. The trio began with blasting Lighting Bolt-style noise whirlwinds with very little pause for mercy on the ears, and as the set went on, they gradually shifted to a groovier, jazzier, almost stonerish vibe via subtle alterations in their sound. This was a great show – they had a ton of character, energy and pure skill, managing to make their aural pummeling actually sound extremely musically proficient. I later decided they were one of the highlights of the night, but at the time there was no time to dwell, as wel were off to the Batcave at 013 to see Bronze. This bunch of Belgians played intricate indie instrumental, along the lines of a more restrained Hella with some Tortoise in their sound. We were only there for the tail end of their set, but what we saw was both impressive and compelling.

In the absence of anything particularly fantastic in the next timeslot, we went through the door to the adjacent Kleine Zaal to see Toner Low, as Tim has a certain nostalgic affection for stoner metal. And these locals played the part – they were basically a typical stoner metal band, complete with meanderingly heavy riffs, reverbed vocals, and a singer in an Iron Maiden shirt. It wasn't really my thing, but it seemed solid enough, and Tim intimated they sounded exactly like Kyuss. I guess that's a fairly good thing, since they're the founders of the genre. We shoved off a few minutes before they finished to head over to Little Devil for the band I was most excited for that night, Gravity Records founder Matt Anderson's current project, Space Horse. They served up some incredibly loud, wild 80's-style hardcore along the lines of a slightly less melodic Minor Threat, with the added touch of an audio sampler to grab bits of vocals and loop them in bizarre distorted fashion, used most amusingly on the drunk fools in the audience. These guys were ridiculous – three people basically tried to start a pit with no one else wanting to, pushing each other across the room and eventually pulling Matt into the crowd. At the time, it was kind of annoying to have people constantly being thrown onto you, but it was pretty amusing, really. The band's mocking approach to them made it rather enjoyable, and the same can be said of their set as a whole. They were easily the best band of the night.

Since the three of us all had work to do, we decided to skip Causa Sui, who sounded pretty good, and take the last train back. This turned out to be a bad idea. We grabbed the last train to 's Hertogenbosch, and had a pleasant enough ride accompanied by one of the co-owners of Little Devil, but when we got to den Bosch there were no trains to Utrecht left; the only remaining train went o Eindhoven. We considered various options, including going to Eindhoven and staying with someone who lived outside of town, but that would have required us paying for a taxi, and we were broke. A taxi back to Utrecht was dismissed for the same reason, as was getting a hotel room. Instead, we wandered den Bosch for a while, had some decent food at a snackbar, and headed back to the train station to stake out a good spot. We holed up by the parking garage to sleep until the first train to Utrecht left. It wasn't terribly comfortable, restful, or warm, but we survived without being disturbed or pickpocketed, and had an experience to remember. Though I won't be seeking out train stations to sleep in, it suited the underground spirit of the fest and wasn't all that bad, really.

I was the first to return the nest day, since I managed to get my work done. I missed a couple things I wanted to see earlier in the the (The Bend Moustache, Machinefabriek, Odal) but got there in time to see lots more. First up was a trip to the basement at V39 to see Kunt, who are best described as raunchy sampled-noise cabaret. Basically, it consisted of two Australian girls in pink dresses and weird body paint (with such things as “SATAN” and “Cop Killer” written on their arms) manipulating sound into combinations of dancy beats and blasting feedback, then performing a cabaret-like dance/song (well, more like wailing than singing...) routine on such subjects as cocaine, stepmothers, police (and specifically blowing up police), and more. Audience interaction was high here, with the girls alternating between taunts and come-ons, and at one point stepping into the crowd to wrap a microphone cord around someone's neck during their self-announced “love song”. The climax of the show came at the end: one of them pulled an audience member onto stage to help her put on something halfway between a saddle and a strap-on, with a pointy bit sticking out of the front. Shoving him back into the crowd, she proceeded to pull out a pair of goggles and a blunted circular saw, and ran around the stage sawing at the pointed front to the tune of the bizarre music, kicking up massive sparks. It was a sight to behold, that's for sure – this was one of the craziest sets of the day. The next show, at Kleine Zaal, was pretty weird and fantastic too: Brooklyn's Japanther, one of the only bands at the fest I'd ever heard of, blasted the crowd with their idiosyncratic no-wave insanity. The first thing that struck me when seeing them, actually, was the fact that instead of mics they used pastel telephone receivers plugged into they PA. After that was the fact that they used tons of samples from things like old movies, disco songs, and political speeches, fed through absurd effects and distortion, and added what was almost typical two-piece garage rock, except with a bizarre set of time signatures and effects. They were highly entertaining, and when the end came with the drummer standing on the snare, knocking over the floor tom and the sampling machine, it was too soon.

Next I headed over to The Choice, 013's big stage, for Volt. These Germans turned out to be decent but unexciting sludgy, slightly experimental metal. At this point, Tim called me to tell me he made it to Tilburg, so I left to meet him and Roel and have a quick bite to eat. Once we did, we returned to Kleine Zaal just in time for Officer Jones and His Patrol Car Problems. The police-jacket-attired band of Belgians dished out some highly technical, mathy hardcore that was augmented by recordings of sirens, clips of police raids and a guy saying “I don't like cops, and they don't like me”. At the very end of the set, they played a song that sounded a lot like Envy, and that song was incredible. Their whole set was quite strong. The next show at The Choice was even better: Creature With The Atom Brain, two thirds of whom are from Belgian heroes Millionaire, was impressively loud and even more impressively talented. Their music was fairly unusual: it combined noisy metal with jagged post-punk, with the noise being the linking point. They were very intense and yet very detailed at the same time, putting a surprisingly intricate structure under the crushing noise they were burying us in. This was one of the most interesting and yet most exciting shows of the fest. When it ended, we popped outside to see some of the ongoing spectacle that was Masonic Youth's windowshow. Basically, they'd set up a window display of weird objects, indluding a black version of the golden arches, a Star of David, and massive numbers of speakers, and set up drones playing weird, spooky ambient noise. Then came the Youth themselves, dressed in uniforms most resembling the Knights who say “Ni” but each with some random everyday object – one had rearview mirrors on his helmet, one had a plunger on a staff, and the best one had Mickey Mouse ears. They kind of stood around looking weird, occasionally doing things like throwing things against the window. It was... strange.

We went back in to Batcave with the intention of seeing V/VM, but he was apparently a noshow, so instead there was a bizarre interlude with a guy in an Elton John mask playing mangled remixes of Elton John songs on a laptop and miming singing. Then a guy in a chicken mask ran out, knocked Elton John into the audience, and followed him to engage in a rolling fistfight which ended with the chicken on the floor and Elton backstage. A guy came out to recite some odd text, but was stopped by Elton returning with a pig mask this time, who was joined by the recovered chicken. They handed out waffles to the crowd, and then just stood around drinking beer. That was it, so went through the Kleine Zaal door to see Orange Sunshine instead. Their MC5-meets-Sabbath stoner-garage rock was extremely fun and proficient, and they had great cohesion and energy. The drummer was particularly impressive, between using double bass and singing at the same time. He also had very impressive facial hair. They actually sounded most like Blue Cheer, down to covering their cover of Eddie Cochran's “Summertime Blues”. Once again, it was a great show.

We left Orange Sunshinea little early to get some air and see some more Masonic Youth antics before getting a good spot for the show we'd really been waiting for: the headliner, the only name band left after 65daysofstatic's cancellation, touring together after almost 30 years, Australia's finest, Radio Birdman. They took the stage to one of the biggest reactions I've seen from the typically sedate Dutch crowds, though it still seemed a little restrained and weak for the band's stature. Nonetheless, they burst into “Burned My Eye”, exhibiting more energy and intensity than any other band I'd seen that weekend. Their garagey proto-punk is incredibly catchy yet powerful, and it turned out all the better during the show, as the band moved more than the crowd and showed a level of enthusiasm that would be incredible in a bunch of 20-year-olds, much less such a venerable group. The lead singer, Rob Younger, was of course the main attraction, with his long leather jacket and equally long whitish hair, but the rest of the band had personality to go with their presence as well. The fatherly bassist had his mouth open in intense concentration the whole time, especially on songs like my personal favourite Radio Birdman song, “I-94”. Both guitarists were great, with a lot of contrast between Deniz Tek's loose, messy-haired, casual-attired stage wandering and Chris Masuak's shaven-headed, sunglasses-at-nigh-wearing pose-striking. Best of all was when they stood back to back for the solo in the always great “Aloha Steve and Danno”, ripped out of Hawaii 5-0 as it might be. But the most amusing was Pip Hoyle on keys, with a bright yellow tie, formal shirt with a pen sticking out of the breast pocket, and a generally serene demeanour. His handiwork showed well on songs like “Alone in the Endzone, a song which never impressed me recorded but turned out incredible live. The best song of the set, though, wasn't any of these, or even the much-loved “New Race” (which was still great), but “Hand of Law”, which they played with blistering speed and intensity, plus several great solo moments. They also played a decent number of cuts from their excellent new album, Zeno Beach, which stood up well to their classic material. “Hungry Cannibals” was particularly outstanding. As a whole, their show was by far the best of the weekend, and one of the best I've ever seen, really. I'm glad I had the chance to see them.

Radio Birdman setlist:

Burned My Eye

Do the Pop

Non Stop Girls

We've Come So Far (To Be Here Today)

You Just Make It Worse

Alone In the Endzone

Hungry Cannibals

Heyday

Hand of Law (spelled “Hand of Lar” on the setlist Tim grabbed)

Die Like April

Zeno Beach

Anglo Girl Desire

Locked Up

Aloha Steve and Danno

New Race

When the all-too-short set finished, we grabbed some ZXZW posters and headed out. First, tough, we talked to a guy who was following the tour through Europe about the band, other shows they'd given, the crappiness of Dutch crowds and the like. We then had a brief chat with the bassist and singer of Radio Birdman, who were great guys and signed our posters to boot. Then we really left, and this time we actually got the train back to Utrecht. A good end to a great weekend: I paid 10 euro for 14 shows, none of which were bad at all. Standouts were Uw Hypotheekadvies, Space Horse, Kunt, Japanther, and of course Radio Birdman (who would be worth more than the price of admission alone!). This was truly a great festival, and any rating less than a 10/10 is hard to justify.

I had my camera on day 2, and you can see my pictures at http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l284/epicentric_zxzw2006/. I'll edit some into this entry soon, too. Cheers.

Amusement Parks On Fire

Ekko is a favourite venue of mine, and it certainly didn't disappoint tonight. Amusement Parks On Fire delivered a great show. We got there a bit early, so had plenty of time to hear the soundcheck, watch the merch stand get put up and generally waste time. By the time the opener took the stage, we were very ready. You Slut!, a side project of APOF's guitarist, put in a strong performance, with their instrumental, almost mathy wall of sound rumbling the entire place with intense precision, while the razor-sharp drums punctuated the phrases perfectly. They had a bit of a stoner/desert rock feel to them, though that wasn't their main focus. Regardless, it was a solid opening act.

The interesting thing about Amusement Parks is that, within the crushing walls of distortion they put up, each song is at its core dreamy, spacey pop. In principle, it's not unlike My Bloody Valentine, but the sound is fairly different, in that it really sounds like a skin of distortion protecting the fragile pop inside. It works extremely well. This was obvious from the opening chords of "Blackout" all the way up to the closure of "Cut To Future Shock". Throughout, they showed an incredible amount of focus, with the former one-man band, current five-piece clearly getting really into their songs. It was a great show, and I'm very glad I caught it. On to ZXZW!
Amusement Parks on Fire setlist:
Blackout
New One (obviously a new song)
In Flight
Out of the Angeles
A Star Is Born
Eighty Eight
Venosa
Venus in Cancer
(Encore) Cut to Future Shock

Big weekend Coming

Tonight: Amusement Parks On Fire at EKKO (Any band name gets better when you set it on fire, right? Maybe I'll start a band called the Burning Flames on Fire.)
Tomorrow and sunday: ZXZW. The Dutch take on Austin's SXSW festival, it's 2 days of underground music in various venues in Tilburg; I only know two bands: Machinefabriek, who I saw at Rumor, and Radio Birdamn, who are randomly back together and playing at this festival. Oh, and it's all for 10 euro. Huzzah!

FRT:
1. Iggy and the Stooges - Gimme Danger (Raw Power, 1973): Iggy is one guy you really can't talk shit about. Doubly so with the Stooges - everything they put out is fantastic, and this song is one of their best - brooding but powerful, raw but tuneful, and laced with Iggy's typical bile. The acoustic guitar rounds it off into a 9/10.
2. Bob Dylan - Shelter From The Storm (Blood on the Tracks, 1975): From one musical titan to another, though Dylan and Iggy have almost nothing in common. Regardless, Dylan speaks for himself. Blood on the Tracks is a bit underrated, and this song is one of the better ones there. As usual, not much more than an acoustic guitar line and brilliant lyrics, plus some basic harmonica, but that's worth an 8/10 easily.
3. Ramones - Time Bomb (Subterranean Jungle, 1983): And another incredibly important artist! This is late Ramones, though, and just doesn't stand up to their early stuff. Hardly bad, but still... 6/10.
4. Film - Zona Sumraka (Zona Sumraka, 1982): Yugoslav Novi Val at its best. Midtempo, buzzy guitars, a great bassline, great lyrics in Croatian, and surprisingly unsilly "ooh"s in the background - what more could one ask for? 8/10.
5. The Dismemberment Plan - Gyroscope (Emergency & I, 1999): The best song on the best album of the best post-punk band of the late '90s. Fun-charged yet hard-hitting, with interesting but unobtrusive effects, incredible guitar work and some of my favourite lyrics around. An easy 10/10, since it's one of my favourite songs.
6. Dead Kennedys - Viva Las Vegas (Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, 1980): One of the most hilarious covers of all time, maybe best known for appearing in the credits of Fear and Loathing. Jello's Elvis impression is brilliant, and the beginning of the chorus, where he breaks into his signature warble, is a great moment. The DKs do rather good americana/rockabilly, shame they never did it unironically. 8/10.
7. Jawbox - Livid (Jawbox, 1996): The verses, with their haunting guitar and tumbling drums, are rather good, but the rest isn't quiet enough to mesh or powerful enough to really explode the song into greatness. J. Robbins sounds a little forced at that speed, too. Plus the backing vocals are weak. Jawbox is great, but this is only a 6/10.
8. Hot Snakes - Reflex (Audit In Progress, 2004): Hot Snakes are lots of fun, but there's not all that much to say about their songs: if you've heard the Hot Snakes, you know what "Reflex" sounds like - fast, jaggedy guitars, repetitive lyrics in John Reis's abrasive grimace, and pounding drums. The guitar line is great here, but not different enough to be unique. Still a solid 7/10.
9. Bad Religion - Walk Away (Against the Grain, 1990): Standard Bad religion. There's absolutely nothing interesting in this song as compared to anything else BR's done; the lyrics are worse than most, even. A very mediocre 4/10.
10. Bad Brains - Re-Ignition (I Against I, 1986): The sludgiest Bad Brains song out there, and a good one at that. For all the rhythmic repetition, the guitar parts are so fantastic that they carry carry the song extremely well. And even if they're repeated, the drum and bass lines are strong enough that you want to hear them again and again. The lyrics aren't half bad either. 8/10.

Overall: 7.3 average. Pretty strong, and overall a very good 10. The crappy BR song is the only low point.
That's it for now; tune in tomorrow morning (hopefully) for a blurb on Amusement Parks, and sunday night/monday for ZXZW stuff. Enjoy Your lives.
-S

In the interest of having a photo on my profile...

In my full Ghanaian, to--much-facial-hair glory.

(Scroll down for Skapara review)

From Tokyo With Ska!

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Live in Utrecht (Tivoli de Helling) Sep 13, 2006

An “orchestra” of Japanese guys playing what sounds like a mix of traditional ska and spaghetti-Western soundtrack music? It doesn't get more incongruous, yet it comes out incredibly well. I've been enjoying Full-Tension Beaters for a while now, but that couldn't prepare me for the way their unique brand of orchestral-cinematic ska translates to a live show.

Unfortunately, it was in the most inconveniently located (and ugly)venue in town, certain people were late to arrive from Amsterdam, and there was no opener, so we missed the first song (gasp!), but our timing turned out pretty well, as we entered just as the ten-piece (!), dressed in white tuxedos, launched into the opening strains of “5 Days of Tequila”, one of their best and most recognizable songs, and from that point on I didn't stop dancing. After that song, the baritone saxophonist (one of three, including a ridiculous bass sax that looked like a brass bassoon) launched into surprisingly good Dutch and then asked the crowd for an “energy exchange” - “give us great power so we can give you great power”. And there was no lack of power from either end. The band put on an incredibly lively show, with musicians flying everywhere and wild tempos and soloing. Three band members in particular stood out: there was the saxophonist in the porkpie hat constantly making random announcements, and then the pianist with silly ecstatic facial expressions and absurd whistling solos. But the show-stealer was the long-haired, immaculately-bearded trombonist, who wielded his instrument like a weapon while wearing a white under-tux vest. He ended up playing with the trombone pointed straight up several times, and got into an amusing duel with the trumpeter when the latter accidentally hit the trombonist. The victim bided his time until his trumpeting foe had a solo, then knocked him aside and took the solo for himself. Good stuff. The crowd did its part too: energy level were intense, with lots of shout-alongs and arm-waving, and even an impromptu circular conga line which I got drawn into. As for myself, this was my first show completely sober for quite a while, and I really enjoyed it. I haven't gotten that into a show in a long time, and had huge amounts of fun, even if I ended up starving, melting, and exhausted.

Musically, there were a ton of highlights. Most of Full Tension Beaters got played, but the real fun of Skapara is the “what'll they play next?” factor. There were odd interludes like the pianist's 8-bit Nintendo-esque solo, and then there were the covers. They ranged from the intro of “California Uber Alles” to a segue from “Frere Jacques” to a merry-go-round theme to a cavalry charge bugle call, all as a duet between trumpet and trombone. Other great covers included “Guns of Navarone” and the “let's go” clap-anthem familiar to anyone who's ever been to a baseball game, but the single best moment was when the trumpeter pulled out a neon-lit melodica and played “Old MacDonald” with the whole audience shouting along. Plus, at the end, after the saxophonist closed the set by jumping from the drum set, the single-song encore was none other than the Tetris theme. A ridiculous end to a ridiculous show. It was great but not mindblowing, and so deserving of an 8/10.

Online at last.

My internet connection is finally working, so expect an increased flow of random crap from me. New of the day is that I've got three shows in the next three days: Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra tonight, King Louie One Man Band tomorrow (for free - always a plus!), and the Slackers for the third time on friday, in Amsterdam, which promises to be great as always. Also, I'm starting to upload Ghana pictures; expect a link when they're all up. That's it for the moment.

Oh, and the new World/Inferno Friendship Society album is the best new album I've heard this year, with only Mission of Burma anywhere near. "Let's Steal Everything" alone makes album of the year, even if I've acquired a bad habit of randomly singing it, and "Only Anarchists Are Pretty" couldn't be more true.

Rumor 46

Well, here I am in Utrecht two weeks later, without an internet connection in my room, so I haven't gotten around to posting lately. The first couple weeks have been fairly eventful, classes are pretty good, and so on, but that's a story for another time. Right now, the topic returns to shows. I've actually seen two since my return, having seen MDC at dBs last Sunday, but I'll be discussing the show(s) last night here.

Last night was the 46^th iteration of Rumor, a “festival for adventurous music” which happens at random intervals. I was at Rumor 44, which was excellent, particularly the headlining-ish band, Deerhoof, and 45 happened while I was in Ghana, so it's safe to say Rumor is a quite frequent fest. This time, it consisted of four shows spread over three venues, all for 10 euro with a student card. Not a bad deal, especially with interesting international shows. This was a particularly exciting occasion because it was my first time going to a show with Tim, the Indian-Singaporean exchange student with music taste remarkably similar to mine who's quickly becoming my new show buddy. Anyway, the proceedings commenced at Rasa, the great multicultural performance space in the centre of town.

The first act was, like last time, a modern classical piece. This was a lengthy violin piece by Sciarrino called “6 Capricci”, performed by Barbara Luneburg. It was just like I normally think of modern classical shows – interesting in composition, impressive in technique, and hard to appreciate beyond that. The piece was very obviously a product of quite a lot of musical talent, but to my untrained ear it sounded incohesive and a bit repetitive due to it only being in one key. I'm no expert on modern classical, though, so I can't judge it well. It was a fine start to the evening nonetheless.

The next show, still at Rasa, was rather more compelling to me. Push the Triangle, a French three-piece, opened up with weird, ominous prerecorded noise before setting in with winding minor-key jazzy foreboding on a high-pitched, serpentine sax and highly distorted guitar. This erupted suddenly into thundering, almost funky free jazz crescendo, propelled by fantastic drumming by Michel Blanc. He held everything together remarkably well, between providing a rhythmic base for the experimental looping interludes and hammering away in the intense moments. The overall dynamic was quite impressive, as the instruments all worked in very different ways, often even in differing time-signatures, yet managed to be very consistently cohesive and rhythmic. The many effects included, most often mid-note guitar volume shifts and odd turntable artistry, didn't seem forced or artificial either, so the overall impression I got was very favourable. An enjoyable show by all means.

The big attraction of the night was up next, at the fantastic volunteer-run venue Ekko: Sunburned Hand of the Man. Their crazy bandname has nothing on their crazy music and performance art. They started with most of the band sitting or lying down, obscured by darkness, with odd psychedelic sounds emerging from the few visible instruments. It was a trippy experience from the start - “how many of them are there? What are they all playing?” was augmented by the fact that a completely ridiculous film, “The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda”, which they described as the only psychedelic film ever made, was playing on a projector in the background, and the music was timed to go with it. The music itself was equally wild: brooding psychedelic-folk-noise-funk insanity, with 7 members on stage switching instruments seemingly at random. I observed at least the following, and probably more: bass, guitar, drums, synths, sax, handclaps, maracas, a tarbuqa, a small terracotta drum, several bells, shakers, prerecorded sounds, reverb-laden spoken vocals, and something that resembled a tin kazoo. Needless to say, the music was bizarre and approaching mind-blowing, with segments of sludy noise accelerating into near-funk at times, and breaking down into total chaos at others. It's hard to describe such a unique sound in words; the best comparison I can make is the Pop Group minus any traces of punk influence or song structure, with additional layers of noisy psychedelic insanity overlaid onto it. This was only accentuated by the way the band switched places, donned white opera masks, sat down at random points, waved huge reflector plates, and at the end picked up the snare drum and waved it around while playing a marching rhythm. This was an experience. This was incredible. This was unique. This probably would have been even better had I been stoned.

After that, nothing could have held up the standard of craziness, but the next act did well anyway. We arrived at SJU, the more avant-garde jazz venue in town, to see a guy with a guitar and a big board full of electronic devices setting up. This was Machinefabriek. He created a dreamy, laid-back wall of sound from several pulsing sounds emanating from the electronics he had in front of him, which looked more like a prop from an awful old sci-fi film than a synth or computer. He wasn't too active – he spent all his time adjusting dials and poking his guitar with a stick to get it to make odd sounds - but he produced a wonderfully ebbing and flowing sound collage that resembled something like Mogwai or My Bloody Valentine with all the standard instrumentation stripped out. It made me a little sleepy, but was quite enjoyable. A good cap to a great night, which ended up with a party at Wall 1 for a friend's birthday, so it was an even better night than I expected. I'm certainly looking forward to the next Rumor.

The Return of the Friday Random Ten

Courtesy of iTunes again. Let's get straight to business.

1. The Clash – Spanish Bombs (London Calling, 1979) – A true classic, despite Joe's horrendous Spanish. That guitar part is great, even if it's not all that amazing technically. 9/10.
2. Hüsker Dü – Don't Know Yet (Flip Your Wig, 1985) – Scintillating, spacey instrumentals from Minneapolis' finest. Good drums, interesting guitar, but nothing really compelling. A dull 5/10.
3. The Skatalites – Split Personality (Hi-Bop Ska, 1997) – Relatively recent Skatalites, with the usual jazzy feel, rock-solid rhythm section, and a great sax hook, plus very good production on this recent release. A rare song with full lyrical content, but the lyrics are sort of repetitive and irrelevant, though the singer's voice is nice enough. The horns carry this to a 7/10.
4. X – White Girl (Wild Gift, 1981) - One of the best hooks X ever wrote. Billy Zoom is truly exceptional, and Exene and John's questionable vocal harmony plays its part well. DJ Bonebrake speaks for himself. Not X's best, but an easy 8/10.
5. Stiff Little Fingers – Hits and Misses (Go For It, 1981) – The title covers SLF's output pretty well, and this is on the weaker side. Fairly inoffensive poppy stuff, though the rhythm on the chorus is quite strong. The sliding guitar midway doesn't pan out well, and this is only a 6/10.
6. Meat Puppets – Hot Pink (Up On The Sun, 1985) – Spacey alt-country escaping its punk origins here, but still an enjoyable listen, with great guitar and bass interplays. The ranting about hot pink stuff is goofy but endearing, earning it a 7/10.
7. Melt-Banana – Shield Your Eyes, A Beast in the Well of Your Hand (Cell-Scape, 2003) – Oh god, that song title... that's an automatic point off, I think. That guitar part, though... it's incredible, and the bass and drums are no slouch either. But it's Melt-Banana, so the damned vocals kick in soon enough. There's endearingly ridiculous, and then there's fucking Melt-Banana – perhaps the worst vocals around, and totally unintelligible too. In my eternal Melt-Banana debate, the amazing instrumentals beat out the awful titles and vocals, but just barely. A compromise at 7/10.
8. Mission of Burma – Peking Spring (Peking Spring, recorded 1979) – Burma at their best. Intricate guitar, incredible bass, thunderous drums, and clever lyrics. The mix isn't great, but that's the only fault here – this could be a perfect track if recorded well, even with the oooh-ee-ooohs. The bass is the real story here, but the transition into the slower end of the song is one of my favourite Burma moments. This would be a 10/10 with better production, but it's only a 9/10.
9. Pavement – Brinx Job (Wowee Zowee, 1995) - Sometimes Pavement songs are great, sometimes they're inane guitar noodling and random wails without much to recommend them. This is in the latter camp, and deserves no better than a 4/10.
10. Iggy Pop – The Passenger (Lust For Life, 1977) - Somehow, the Pop stopped being sarcastic here, but I can't fault Iggy for it. The la-la-las are funny, but the song coheres rater well, the guitar part is really catchy and Iggy's voice is at its best here. Needs a better bassline, though. Still gets an 8/10.

Overall: An even 7 average, which isn't too ridiculous. I managed to avoid over-high scores, but didn't get any awful songs either. Pretty representative, too.