THE FAINT ::

THE FAINT
flex / vienna, austria
13th dec. 2004

i've been following their exploits since their days as NORMAN BAILER, but like them a lot better as THE FAINT. and i finally got the chance to see them.

ironically i missed about half of their show... for various reasons, which were partly unpleasant, but in any case were a great deal more important than that concert. nevertheless, i managed to be at the venue in time to hear them rip up "i disappear". first thing i noticed: their visuals. the flex stage is fitted with a huge video-screen wall (fly-eyes) that dominates the entire length of the stage at the back. and THE FAINT had their visuals displayed over that video wall, which is about 5 meters high, while they were jumping up and down and left and right in front of it. that alone was quite a view. next thing that i noticed was that the band members danced like they timetraveled straight out of the 80ies to 2004. honestly, turn off the sound - fuckin' DURAN DURAN! still, that was a nice touch. and they did play all the essential tracks, including "call call" and "agenda suicide" and the aforementioned "i disappear". nevertheless THE FAINT looked kind of tired. guessing that this was part of the last leg of their tour it might be understandable, although i'd have wished for a more energized show. oh, well, can't have it all, can you now?

WHITEHOUSE ::

WHITEHOUSE / DAS FLEISCH
fluc mensa / vienna, austria
12th dec. 2004

bouril, this one goes out to you. ;)

the legendary WHITEHOUSE, precursors of what turned into noise, originators of "power electronics", played for the first time in over 10 years in austria again.

they were supported by an act going by the name of DAS FLEISCH, who were more into ambient noise manipulations with live objects. 2 people, one massive bit of real-time sequencing- and effect-machinery, a microphone and several objects. it started off pretty tamely, with chinese massage balls being rolled around in steel plate, the noises they made being amplified and sent through effect loops, making it sound a little eerie, what with the feedback and curvature noises they were overlaying. that was followed by some experiments with water and tin cups, which still wasn't too spectacular. but the next part was interesting. the "object-manipulator", as i call him lacking his real name, put an underwater microphone in his mouth that was hotwired to a distortion-board and just screamed off his friggin' lungs! they had manipulated the sound so cleverly that it did not sound anything at all like a human screaming but more like something dark and massive roaring deep under the sea. they did this over and over again, heightening into a crescendo of feedback loops and sawwaves and distorted yelling, adding some real-time visuals (waving a webcam over dead spiders, old books and living locusts in a jar) to the mix. not really new or aweinspiring or special, but interesting for its own sake.

and then william bennett and philip best got on stage in a choking cloud of stage-smoke and flashing stroboscope light. punching their feedback fist deep into our guts, a cacophonous array of sonic impulses, bursts of artificial noises and rythms, mad polemic ravings about sex, death and violence, delivered like the last speech of a death-fearing, panic-stricken hitler, perverting the very essence of rock-stardom by posing to the humongous wall of distorted noise they had created, dismantling pop-ease by gloryfying themselves to their own sounds, grabbing their dicks through their pants, performing in unmistakable sexual ways (pretending to shag their amps, twisting their nipples). two old geezers from great britain, still energized by their own deeds, still being in the midst of controversy after all these years, when so many other, young, intelligent artists fail to incite the audiences disgust and shock. and all of that using only noise, slants and nothing else - the sound of what it meant to rattle at the memetic cage doors of modern existence. the power that was bundled in that mesmerizing show could have toppled mountains, i swear. there's not much i can or want to say about WHITEHOUSE. while i can understand how, "musically", this might only be to the taste of a few, i think it is rather ironic talking about musical inclination in this case. after all, industrial is all about destroying music and stripping it of its boundaries so it can function as communicative transmitter without its inherent boundaries and rules. this is not music as we know it anymore. this is either the ur-soup of music or maybe the other end of the spectrum, the end-mass of music - whatever it is, the next step out of it is pure originality and that is something to admire... even if it is as nihilistic and uncompromising as it is with noise and industrial bands. i guess, the real problem, the reason why it is so often misunderstood, is the simple fact the it cloaks itself in "music" while it really isn't music in a common sense at all. it is more of a intelectual theory on music. and as with any other theory you can either agree or disagree. in that respect it is like any other music: you like it or you don't. :)

side story: i was introduced to someone at the concert by the name of markus, who djs. his story was pretty fascinating (whether it was true or not): in the early 90ies he used to be addicted to heroin. once, at an industrial concert that featured one or even more of william bennett's side projects (i'm not sure, it was pretty hard to understand the guy), he left the venue to get something from a friend's car and was driven over. badly. a couple of minutes clinically dead, 4 months comatose, 3 years rehabilitation. these days he makes a pretty good impression. he said that the accident was very good for him. i asked why he'd say that? and he answered: "well, for one thing it made me stop shooting up. that alone was worth it. but the other thing is even better. william bennett had asked the venue's promoter why half of the audience had left the venue when he got on stage and was told about my accident. so, a couple of months later, i received a letter from mr. bennett in hospital, wishing me speedy recovery and offering me to come and stay at his place, should i ever visit great britain. well, i never took him up on that offer and i think he has moved to the states by now, but i still have that letter. framed. that was worth the accident all the way."
imagine that.

NAPALM DEATH ::

MARDUK / NAPALM DEATH / FINNTROLL / VADER / BLACK DAHLIA MURDER / BELPHEGOR
planet music / vienna, austria
11th dec. 2004

well, whaddaya know? after so many years, finally, another chance to see my heroes once more on stage: NAPALM DEATH!!! there are many bands that i really appreciate and have looked to for inspiration over the years, from many, many different genres, but there are only 3 that have left an impression so deep, that i still hold them above everything else: one is that impossible-to-kill lemmy kilmister and his frighteningly good band MOTÖRHEAD; then there's THE swedish death 'n' roll act to end all other death metal AND rock 'n' roll acts, ENTOMBED; but still a bit above these two, a slight little teeny bit, is the all encompassing furious anger and intellect of the juggernaut also known as NAPALM DEATH! that much as a lead-in.

as you can see by the billed bands, this was more like a small metal festival than a concert. and i almost missed BLACK DAHLIA MURDER. it was pure coincidence that i arrived JUST as they were about to start. as a matter of fact, a friend of mine who was looking forward to see BLACK DAHLIA MURDER play, missed them for the same reason that i almost had missed them: misinformation! this goes out to anybody who wants to put up a concert - ANY concert: people, state clearly WHEN the whole sheband is supposed to start, right? anyway, BDM thrashed their way through the crowd, leaving no prisoners. rightous thrash metal made by hardcore guys! right on! oh yeah, there was a band before BDM, but BELPHEGOR (austrian metal band) are not even worth mentioning them and since i didn't see them this time, i will not spend any more space on them.

it was my first time seeing VADER live. thinking that their studio output is part of the top notch of blackened death metal to be released these days, my hopes were high for them delivering just as well on stage. and, fortunately, i wasn't disappointed. athough it is always with a wary eye that i digest eastern european black and/or death metal acts, there was no uncomfortable feeling with VADER and the polnish quartet made good on every promise they had made on their records so far. see, that's when headbanging is becoming fun again!

might be that i'm mistaken or mis-informed or just plain crazy, but i'd say (could be i just made this up) that FINNTROLL are the inventors of humppa-metal! and, for all it's worth, i enjoy it! :) this time, replacing their harmonica wielding ex-singer katla, a young girl (whose name i didn't get) supported the band on keys. i'm really not that much into black folk metal - or whatever the heck this type of black metal is called these days - but FINNTROLL have something about them that makes it pure fun to listen to them. maybe it's their finnish origin and the humppa they mix into their black metal, which reminds me of ELÄKELÄISET and never fails to put a smirk in my bedrazzled face. or maybe it's seeing a couple of huge blokes on stage slapping their thighs - or instruments respectively - to the beat of finnish humppa, all the while looking like fucking viking berserkers. i really don't know, but whatever it is, i thoroughly enjoy it.

still, all the comedian and/or musical goodness of FINNTROLL fades in comparison to the blazing light that is NAPALM DEATH. obviously, jesse pintado isn't part of the band anymore. i didn't have much time to stay updated on the ND news, so i'm not sure about this, but he wasn't on stage and well informed parties told me that he wasn't with them on this tour. but let me get back to the concert. imagine a packed venue (in this case about 800-900 people), all of them classically cliche black metal kids - black only, 80% of the males longhaired, 90% of the females with white powdered faces, all of them either sporting a shirt of some metal act or wearing latex and leather fetish-wear. alright. then read the line-up for the night again - BELPHEGOR: death metal; BLACK DAHLIA MURDER: well, hardcore kids, but they're doing some serious AT THE GATES style neo-thrash, so that's still clearly metal; VADER: black death metal; FINNTROLL: humppa black metal; and after ND there's MARDUK on the bill, blackest black metal. so, where do NAPALM DEATH, the godfathers of grindcore, the punk's at heart, the people who campaigned to destroy music, fit into all of this? yeah, see? what was the outcome? let me tell you. barney, shane, mitch and danny entered the stage to loud clapping and cajoling, that much was sure. but not a second had past into their first blistering grind attack, when the faces surrounding me changed expression. you could read their thoughts in their faces: "hey, this is kind of cool... but... this isn't metal? is it? i mean, it's cool, but... kind of... unusual... i don't know... but, still, it is pretty extreme... but it's not black metal... or is it? hey, i can bang my head to this part! oh, it's over. can i band my head to that part?" - ah, the wonders of the human face. *lol* and there were also a couple of people who stared at my friends and me in unbelief, because not only WERE we banging our heads, but we also had cheshire cat grins on our faces... and THAT, they just couldn't get their heads around. all i can say for my part: this concert made me feel so good, there was no way ANYTHING could've brought me down that night! actually, i'm still drawing from the energy of that night.

on a side note: i love the guys from NAPALM DEATH, but they're such critters. i mean, shane looks like one of those bloated, poisonous fish (i forgot their name) with a mop of hair on top, a bald spot right in the middle and very broad parting right in the middle - the mysterious corncircles on shane embury's head. and barney, bless his voice, looks like an end-thirty-ish ex-brain-damage-therapy-patient the way he spazzes back and forth on the stage. this might be a mean thing to say, but hey, those guys are gods to me, so i can drag 'em in the mud a bit. ;)

AEREOGRAMME ::

AEREOGRAMME
flex / vienna, austria
9th dec. 2004

scotish indie rockers AEREOGRAMME sloshed their goodness all over the flex's stage yesterday... and no, not in THAT way, webkilla. now get your mind out of the gutter. their latest release is over a year old by now, but still nice to have these scottish beards in town.

imagine what would happen if MOGWAI would finally grow some balls - yeah, that's AEREOGRAMME. some very nice, richly textured melodies and clever song structures plus bits and pieces of abbrasive guitar abuse. can't really say too much about the show itself, because, as nice as it was, it was pretty unspectacular although i enjoyed it a lot. probably enjoyed the band a lot more last time i saw them, which was a t an open air festival.
and i can imagine why that could be... their fucking sound engineer!
i don't know what his problem was, but he seemed pretty scared of the master volume slider. i should've gotten up to him and said something along the lines of: "mate, i know, that master volume slider is a pretty scary thing. it kind of... slides when you touch it and there are these green and red lights next to it. yeah, and i know that you don't wanna see the red lights blink up, that's for sure. but, lad, there are a lot of green lights to go until we hit the red lights, you don't need to leave it all the way at the bottom. here, let me help you, together we can do it. see? piece of cake! now up a little more. nice one! see? no red lights yet. all green!"
well, because of somebodies sensitive ears the band lacked a bit of punch until halfway through the concert. but by then either the sound engineer had accidentaly pushed the volume up or somebody else had taken control of the situation. anyway, couldn't enjoy it much longer, had to go after about 1 hour worth of AEREOGRAMME performance.

JUNGLE BROTHERS ::

JUNGLE BROTHERS
flex / vienna, austria
6th dec. 2004

JBEEZ in da house!!! ok. anybody here who doesn't know about the JBEEZ? say what??!?! well, then .get fuckin' EDUCATED! just kidding. ;)

but, yeah, the JUNGLE BROTHERS were one of the most influential hip hop combos of the late 80ies and early 90ies. basically you could call 'em the successors to AFRIKA BAMBAATA's massive and impressive groundwork. what AFRIKA had started, the JBEEZ furthered... only, that they were ahead of their time. the JBEEZ never really had their big commercial break, which really is a pity.

so, anyway, the JBEEZ played at flex in front of a really meager crowd. ok, so it was monday and it was really late (stage time of the JBEEZ @ 01:30 !!!), but still... i mean, for fuck's sake, it's the JUNGLE BROTHERS, goshdarnit! the problem, i think, was basically that the JBEEZ didn't put out anything for a very, very long time - which kind of made them fade away from people's awareness - and the cover fee was just way too high (17.-). so, they did their thing in front of, i'd say, 200 people. which really is nothing at all. still, it was fun seeing them do their thing and although the crowd was really hard (viennes crowds are always hard to get going, especially if it's monday night), but they managed. i can only imagine what kind of party it would have been, if there had been more people... on another weekday, perhaps friday. oh well...

nevertheless, great fun to hear the music that goes with lines like "house music all night long! say what?" or "when i say jungle, you say brother!" or "educated man from the motherland, you see they call me a star but that's not what i am." - and i got to meet a couple of old friends i hadn't seen in years. nice one.

THE END ::

THE END
arena / vienna, austria
30th nov. 2004

jeez... i'm at a loss here. this was basically my first encounter with THE END, before that i had only sampled some of their songs on various compilations and/or at friend's places. after finding out about their concert in vienna, i decided it might be worth a shot. and it was not a bad concert at all, really, but i just could not make out what's so special about THE END that everybody is raving on and on about them. pretty much just the usual mix of new school hardcore and thrash metal- y'know, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, only more credible.

a very drunk punk girl agreed with me on that. additionally she went on to explain to me how hardcore isn't even the new punk, really, but has lost all of the idealism and ideals of the "real" punk. and then she wanted to kiss me. and i would have kissed her, too - she was damn cute - if it weren't for her being so drunk that she could barely stand straight on her own... or stand at all on her own, without clutching the bar or something (in this case, she used me as support).

back to the music: what i did enjoy very much about the music was the slight witticism and a highly energetic stage presence - both rare qualitites with bands these days. i don't regret having paid for this particular concert, but i should've asked for a free ticket. wasn't really worth paying entry. still: any conert that's not entirely boring and/or bad is a concert worth watching... in general.

THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES (oeoc) ::

THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES (oeoc)
planet music / vienna, austria
26th nov. 2004

i've been waiting years for this concert to happen... well, let me begin this newest entry in our live-review thread by saying that it was one heck of a strenous friday.

first of all, i was (still am) ill with a cold - sore threat, snot clogging any free space in my head (of which there is a lot, virtually all of where my brains is supposed to be) and aching bones. 2 hours for promo, all full, working in pairs (6 band members = 3 pairs = me running my freaking legs off, because the fucking venue ain't got 3 free next to each other for interviews) and then something that i've dubbed "game & greet" and of which i am quite proud if i may say so. anyway... we were done with promo and everything else at about 19:30 and i sat down to have my first (!) meal of the day. but let's fast forward to the concert itself.

THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES (oeoc) are the inventor's of what is known as swedish rock. as their history shows, they've been highly influential on many, many, many bands that followed in their footsteps. AND, on top of all that, they're really, really good!

maybe that was the problem, because my expectations were extremely high for TSOOL. and so it was quite a bit of a let-down when they didn't connect instantly. sound was very good (not typical for the venue) and the band played tightly and on the spot. but somehow... on a basic level of live music... they just didn't connect with me. at least, for the first couple of numbers. by then it was clear: they just needed to get into their groove. not too far into the concert they stepped on it and there it was: all the glory of THE WHO, LOVE, (pre-trout-mask-replica) CAPTAIN BEEFHEART and maybe (although i kinda dislike the comparison) ROLLING STONES (when they were still young and energetic, so we're talking about a couple of million years ago) mixed together and served piping hot with a generous shot of melodrama and garage sensibility that would've put THE STOOGES to shame. especially "mother one-track-mind" kicked ass!

and ebbot was something to behold alright. in his knee-long kaftan and with his 70ies hippie commune reject chin-long hair and full beard, his puffy red-glowing face, arms stretched out in his best jesus christ superstar pose, he really DID look like some maniac cult leader. audience worshipped him for that - not only did they demand 2 (!) encores, but by the second time TSOOL hit stage, ebbot got down and mingled with the crowd and asked them to take seat. and, wouldn't you know, 500 people drop their asses to the floor and take a fucking seat!!! and ebbot standing in between this people singing "i've been cheated by everyone and everyone's been cheated by me"... jesus or judas. *lol*

lovely, for real. also very, very, very, very lovely: their merch-maid. the girl was stunning. she just looked like the girl next door you would not want to let out of your bed or your arms. black hair, braided, blue shiny eyes, cute face, perfect (and i mean it) apple-bottom, bright smile and a soothing voice. jesus! i almost chatted her up... but then i didn't... because she had already received about a dozen mobile-numbers by various other men. *g* oh, it was a sight to behold anyway.

summary: THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES (oeoc) live up to the hype surrounding them.

KONK PACK ::

KONK PACK
fluc mensa / vienna, austria
19th nov. 2004

and again at the fluc! christ, i love that place...

anyway, KONK PACK... erm... how to describe KONK PACK. well, basically it's a project of electronics and jazz musicians. it's all about improvisation. they're a 3-piece: tim hodgkinson on guitar and electronics, thomas lehn on synths, roger turner on drums.

ummm... ermmm... blaaa... fuck, why did i want to write this in the first place? i don't know! it was great! but i can't tell you what it sounds like. let me try it this way, i'll tell you what every single member of the band does.
tim, well hey plays flat guitar, mostly in the vein of MASSACRE era frith and he likes to blend in bits and pieces of detuned chords and string noises (glides and scratches and stuff) into it. thomas uses analogue synths (don't ask me which ones, i wouldn't know) and it sounds like early FAUST - basically beeps and feedback loops and aerial distortion and sawtooth wave envelope manipulations and stuff. and roger turner pugilates his drums. it's not only his drums. he has all sorts of percussion and things hanging on his rack: starting with regular bongos and chimes and going all the way to trash bin lids and exhaust pipes. and he fucking devastates it. *lol*

now imagine these 3 guys - all of them top notch jazz instrumentalists - improvising to the general idea of rythm orientated rock. can't imagine it? well, same here... that's why i went to their concert. and it was really good. an experience.

oh yeah, something else. again, i'm not kidding, something funny happened at the fluc. after KONK PACK finished their set a different event was intended to take place at the venue. so everybody had to get out of the venue and check in again if they wanted to be at the other event ("icke micke" club night, very nice electronics clubbing). i had no intention of staying for "icke micke" cuz i was tired as hell, so i grabbed my stuff and headed for the exit. just as i was about to leave one of the bouncers stopped me. he told me to stay next to him and wait. i wanted to know what was up and he told me to be patient, he'd get to me in a second. a couple of minutes later he turned and demanded to see what's in my bag. i opened my bag, let him search it thoroughly. of course he didn't find anything suspicious in there... because there WASN'T ANYHTING SUSPICIOUS IN THERE! when he was done i asked him if i could go now and he replied that he'd like to search my jacket first. i handed over my jacket and wanted to know why the fuck he's shaking me down. no answer. after he was finished with my jacket he demanded to check my denim pockets. that was the last straw. i mean, i am a patient guy, really, but i got my limits, especially when i'm tired. so i did the only reasonable thing to do: i went ballistic on him right there. grabbed him by his scruff and yelled at him who the fuck he thought he was and what the fuck this was all about. that guy, he was so surprised (because i had been absolutely calm before my outburst) that he didn't even defend himself. i mean, the size of that guy, he could've snapped me in two as an afterthought. i yelled and shoved him around a couple more minutes until somebody who was in charge showed up, apologized to me, gave me free entry to the "icke micke" clubbing and went on to give his bouncer a good telling off. so, i stayed at the clubbing. which was good, because... um, let's just say there were female guests that demanded my attention. ;)

KID KOALA ::

KID KOALA
fluc mensa / vienna, austria
17th nov. 2004

time and time again i find myself at the fluc and each return makes me a little bit more anxious and sad, because only a few more months and they might be closing down this wonderful spot of arts, subculture and unbriddled fun. fuckers...

anyway, on to the topic at hand: KID KOALA. name might be familiar to some of you: canadian turntablist, famous for his unconventional cut & paste techniques and his eclectic range of musical quality. just checkiddy-check yo'self... and KID KOALA's homepage.

i find it hard to put this into words... mainly because it's hard to put into words [bloody hell, how long i've waited to make that pathetic joke! oh, satisfaction! sweet release!] but also because i'm not quite awake yet. so, basically KID KOALA did a mix between some turntablism performance and a regular dj set. the overall vibe was more of a groovy, relaxed, soul kind of mish-mash, but the bits and pieces of spoken word he cut into it were hilarious and fit fascinatingly well into the mix. it does have a certain amusing flair, when you cut a physician's description of some venereal disease into some reggae-tinged east-end hip hop groove. *lol*
an experience i wouldn't want to miss. even if it only were to see KID KOALA on the decks and his technical skills - that alone was worth seeing.

small side story here as well (seems like i always come up with something to tell at the fluc): a moderator of local alternative radio channel FM4 was co-starring with KID KOALA and they split the regular parts of the set between the two of them. so, at one point KID KOALA ducked behind the dj's booth to look for some records or something (i don't know) and in walked two young men happily awaiting to see their hero KID KOALA. they each held a cup of beer in their hands and found a spot to their taste right next to me. after a couple of minutes (still no sign of KID KOALA from where we were standing) they looked at each other then turned to some people in front of them, asking if KID KOALA had already started his performance. of course, they were told, for at least 20 minutes! befuddled they looked at each other again, looked at the dj booth (where there still was no sign of KID KOALA but only of his FM4 compagnero) and turned on their heels towards the exit, muttering something about "fraud" and how "that wasn't KID KOALA at all" and how "they wanted their money back". if they got lucky they glanced back and saw KID KOALA emerge again in that very moment, but i wouldn't know because i didn't check... most likely they left the fluc and missed KID KOALA, only to bite off their stupid asses the next day for being so daft. *lol*

EDIT: what i forgot to mention: that same day the RESISTANCE TOUR with SICK OF IT ALL, UNEARTH, WALLS OF JERICHO, 7 SECONDS and some others was in town (at the arena)... as well as THERAPY? (who played at the flex)... this town makes it real hard on me! i can't split myself three-ways!

DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN ::

DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN / POISON THE WELL / BURST / HOTCH POTCH / FRESNEL
planet music / vienna, austria
15th nov. 2004

first of all, nobody ever told me that FRESNEL were playing! not a single mail-out, not on the venue's homepage, on no billboard did it ever say anything about FRESNEL!!! fuck! arrived too late, missed them. shit. HOTCH POTCH made up for that... NOT! i don't wanna slam the austrian music scene, really i don't, but letting a band like HOTCH POTCH on the stage at all, just cuz you wanna support your local scene, is fucking blasphemy to music! let's not get into that or i'll bust a vessel (or two).

caught the end of BURST's performance. pretty much classic metal-core/new school hc from... uh, actually i don't know where those guys are from. they looked kinda swedish, but could've just as well been amis. wasn't too bad, mind you. it's just... there are SO MANY bands like that out there. and they ALL SOUND EXACTLY THE SAME! this gets boring pretty quickly. i'll stick to the SHAI HULUD for my dose of new school metalcore.

by the time POISON THE WELL got on stage, the venue filled up pretty well. planet music has a capacity of approximately 1000 people (maybe 1200 if you really wanna pack it) and i'd guess there were a good 600 to 700 people in attendance, which is not bad at all. but POISON THE WELL disappointed me, really. the intensity of their records just wasn't there in their live performance. can't put my finger on it, but somehow they failed to connect. on all levels. with me at least. the crowd obviously liked it: mosh-pits, shout-alongs and crowd surfing and all that stuff going on. so, i guess it wasn't a bad performance, maybe i just wasn't in the mood.

oh... but oh... like a demonic blender from hell bent on ripping your reality into mathematically charged shreds... like a chopblock for musical royalty and the head basket... an onslaught of molecular precision in sounds... finding seams where you wouldn't believe there were any, opening them and sewing it together again, making it sound lie never before... a flailing mass of rock arms and metal feet and noise heads, all high and tripping on angeldust made of old musical instruments... DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN rock my world!
this was the third time i had seen them and there is just no telling how frighteningly brilliant this band is. like a bloody machine, no mistakes, no out-of-time, no mercy! hell, i love it! :)

ARCHIVE ::

ARCHIVE / AVRIL
wuk / vienna, austria
12th nov. 2004

crikey! ;)
i've been waiting years for this band to finally show up hereabouts and they finally did! and even better: i get to be their project manager, how fuckin' terrific is that?! ARCHIVE are amazing!
day started off pretty easy. did all of the preparations the day before so there would be no unnecessary hurry and hectic. got to the venue shortly before 13:00, met their tourmanager becks, checked schedule with here, picked up darius and danny and took a cab to FM4 (national alternative radio station). the guys did their thing there, we drove back to the venue. i had a couple of hours off here, because the band had to do their soundcheck and after that went for late lunch. so, after having picked up the latest batch of comic books, i went back to the venue, sorted out the remaining 2 interviews for the band, had becks sign some paperwork and waited patiently for the band to start playing.

but first up was AVRIL. had heard their name before but never really took any big interest in them. shame on me! french band, sort of a crossbreed between MASSIVE ATTACK, PHOENIX, AIR and maybe THE HAPPY MONDAYS (a bit... or maybe also a bit of the PSYCHEDELIC FURS). and they're french. they had to get early on stage, because due to some unexpected shifts in ARCHIVE tour-schedule, their vienna date had moved to a day where it coincided with a clubbing night at the same venue. that meant curtains for the band at 22:00!!! anyways, AVRIL swept me off my feet. it was so good that i went to straight to the merch booth and bought both albums.

but that, however good it was, paled next to ARCHIVE. it was undescribable. one and a half hours of the most organic mxi of analog and digital instrumentaion i had heard in ages. one and half hours of going from noisy electronic rock to atmospheric, almost SIGUR ROS like ethereal 15-minute ballads. one and a half hours of switching emotions on and off. truly brilliant! don't have words for it, it was absolutely aweinspiring. go check out the ARCHIVE homepage and find out for yourself.

and what did i miss to see this band? well, NASUM played at the arena. their new record, "shift", is great! hell yeah! oh well, there will be a next time.
and what else did i miss this weekend? yeah... DISMEMBER. they were at the monastery on sunday... and i missed them. why? because i'm such a dumbfuck, that i... forgot... fuck it all... well, at least i get to see DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN and POISON THE WELL today... hopefully... if i don't forget again...

AKUFEN ::

AKUFEN
porgy & bess / vienna, austria
5th nov 2004

marc... erm, something (i always forget his last name and i'm too lazy to look it up now)... well, he's AKUFEN.

for those that don't know AKUFEN: pretty interesting electronics, somewhere between leftfieldish experimentalism and electronic hip hop, partially sample-heavy. me likes! :) [no d'uh!]

so, anyway, it was actually more of a coincidence i found out that AKUFEN was in town. sitting at the office on friday* [read below at the (*) for some side story on that] when i received a text message from a friend of mine about AKUFEN playing and if i wouldn't want to check it out. that got me going alright! called people, checked who wanted to go, found out that the cover fee for entry was ridiculously high. that dampened my mood again, because i wasn't sure if i wanted to pay that much money just to see AKUFEN push some keys on his laptop and spin the turntables. to make a long story short, it was a girl that got me going in the long run (i'd follow that booty almost everywhere) and since she was going and wanted me to go as well... heck, what a bit of hormones can do for a sap such as i am. :)
arrived just in time at the club - very nice, cozy, little indie club, usually home of tiny jazz and blues happenings but also on the cutting edge of the more sophisticated, jazzy nu electronica - and barely had time to get the stamps on our hands before AKUFEN hit the stage. suffice it to say, i did not regret my choice. great music, though he could with some stage performance - it's just not very interesting to see the back of a laptop and a couple of blinking dj desk lights and a thin dude behind them, y'kin? :)

check out AKUFEN's new mix-cd... forgot it's name but was release by FABRIC... if i'm not mistaken.

(*) right. so, on thursday and friday i had K-MARO in town for some promo. thursday was the work-laden day and friday was more of a chill-out. so at the end of the very successful first day (unexpectedly successful i must admit) and after a casual company diner, cyril (K-MARO) was looking for some entertainment. since he's a nice guy i thought, oh what the heck, let's show him some of the viennese clubs. well, we went to PASSAGE (a very stylish, but unfortunately also very snobbish club, but that was just to cyril's taste, cuz he likes to pla his big dog game) and cyril ordered at least a dozen bottles of various alcoholic beverages. and when i say bottles i mean the big kind, not the "leaning at the bar, holding it in your hand"-kind. so we had 2 different champagner bottles, 2 each of 3 different varieties of vodka and then some other stuff. you know, i can hold my alcohol right there with the best of them, but mixing in huge amounts just doesn't go well with me. it does so for cyril. i got carried away and drank my way through those bottles, which resulted in me hitting my bed at 05:20 a.m. and being woken up by the sound of my mobile ringing at 10:55 a.m. - which was particularily bad, because by that time had i not only been supposed to be at the office for at least an hour, but also at cyril's hotel for at least 5 minutes, because he had one final interview to do! and who was on the phone? right. the journalist. anyway, i did manage to get this all going somehow and it worked out just fine, still... forget about the throbbing head and the disgusting feeling in my stomach... my unporfessional behaviour alone made me wanna puke. it did, however, hook me up with a stunning 27-year-old blond MILF. verrrry yummy! oh well... the headache and sickly feeling lasted until shortly before we went to see AKUFEN, by the way. *lol*

T.RAUMSCHMIERE ::

T.RAUMSCHMIERE
fluc_mensa / vienna, austria
22nd oct 2004

cor... that was one freakish evening! ok. so first you must know that i was up and about the entire week. not enough sleep, less relaxation, lots of alcohol, malnutrition. so, comes friday, rolling around and sez in my filofax in big bold letters T.RAUMSCHMIERE at the fluc_mensa. methinks: "nice one!"
so i call up a couple of people who might be interested, make sure to meet them there and then and go about my business. before i went to the concert i was invited to the electronic arts and sony computer entertainment "after fair" parties. FUNTEC took place and everyone was celebrating. of course, there just HAD to be free drinks, which meant for me and my insatiable thirst for alcohol big trouble. by 23:45 i was two thirds into a good, heavy alcohol stupor and on my way to the venue.
arrived, bought a ticket, had a look around inside, checked where my people where. about 15 minutes later the arrived and we had a problem. the venue was so packed that they had announced to NOT let anyone in who did not have either a pre-sale ticket or was on the guestlist! what to do? well, we pulled out all the punches we had learned during school, while being low on money but still wanting to get into every concert. you know, the usual scams: refreshing the stamp then going out and rub it off on someones elses hand, climbing over the fence, distracting the securities and door-handlers with the guestlist while others sneak in behind our backs and all that crap. another 30 minutes and all were safe inside. packed like sardines, we were.
anyway, by this time i was highly drunk, had hurt my arm (some wanker had shoved the door-knob into my elbow something fierce and it hurt like a motherfucker) and had troubles with my stomach (refer to the malnutrition part above).
T.RAUMSCHMIERE hit the stage, ripped out his dj-set and cracked the boxes! it was really good! hammering, stripped down electro-techno, punk-step, minimal tech and lots of rock attitude. that guy really know how to make it sound wild! but... after 30 minutes of this i couldn't decide what hurt more: my arm, my head or my stomach. quick money check spelled "cab and home!", so that was it for me. but i was told that the rest of T.RAUMSCHMIERE's performance was also great.

and on sunday i missed MONEYBROTHER because i was a lazy fuck.

KING TIGER ::

KING TIGER
shelter / vienna, austria
3rd nov. 2004

KING TIGER! check out their homepage here.

the band spun off from the ashes of my former band mar - mazo on drums and georg on lead guitar.
all i have to say: BEST FRIGGIN' AUSTRIAN ROCK ACT EVER !!!

these are some of the best rock musicians ever: georg's solo licks are amazing, peter (the 2nd guitarist) is always dead on and also plays fantastic solos, mazo is one of the most versatile drummers, bomber is a solid bass player and mario (although he needs some more training) is a gifted singer. people, check these guys out!

the show was brilliant as always. kick ass from first riff to last riff! can't explain it any other way. check out the bio that i wrote for them.

right now they're recording a 4-track demo and i just can't wait to hear it. gotta get it to my a&r people straight away.

oh yeah, almost forgot: they opened up for TEXAS TERRI BOMB but i don't really care for her music so i left immediately after KING TIGER's performance, cuz i was so tired.

THE FALL ::

THE FALL + some band that i don't remember its name anymore
szene wien / vienna, austria
13th oct. 2004

yes, there indeed was a support band. but they sucked. i mean, they were a very nice bunch of people and kinda, you know, enthusiastic about what they did, but what they did was sort of... bad, really. there's no other way to put it. i guess, they were trying to be a mixture of post-punk jadedness with DIE GOLDENEN ZITRONEN punkism. well, guys - i think they were called the DOC SCHOKO BAND or something - it didn't work.

main act: THE FALL. honestly, i do enjoy my bit of post-punk carelessness and musical ambiguity about as much as the next guy, certainly when it's served by mr. smith and his cohorts, but, mark e., dude, lay off the alcohol! it's one thing to be on stage as a youthful hipster punk and stumble drunkenly around, tripping over cables and into band members while trying not to forget the words to the song you're about to belch into the mic in that trademark understating non-chalant drawl. but it's an entirely different thing if you're looking like a junkie fresh outta rehab and are too drunk to even move around properly and that drawl of yours turns into an annoying verse of drunkard babble.
couldn't really make up my mind. really loved the songs, really abhored mark e. smith's behaviour on stage. so, i left after about 30 minutes. i hear that it's been a good concert all in all. the music was, no doubt.

PLACE OF SKULLS ::

PLACE OF SKULLS
fluc_mensa / vienna, austria
09. oct. 2004

no rest for the wicked, or so they say.
two days in a row i found myself at the fluc_mensa. by the way, check out the artsy fluc homepage. they are in danger of being shut down, because the city is contemplating renovating the buildings and rooms that are now home to fluc. i signed the petition against it. hope many other viennese will do the same.

anyway, what i really wanted to tell you about is the PLACE OF SKULLS concert, that took place at the fluc_mensa. mr. griffin himself and his band of sluggish instrument-bashers honored our humble town!
look, there's not much to say but FUCKING DOOM, baby! if you don't know the band, then check out the PLACE OF SKULLS homepage.

well, what do you expect me to say?!?! these guys are a fucking legend! well, i think i can expect people to know about living legends and if they don't, well, then they should get educated! ;)
nah, seriously, PLACE OF SKULLS are one of the most influential and revered DOOM bands to still be around and they goddamn well rock. 'nuff said.

SIR ALICE ::

SIR ALICE + UMBERTO GOLLINI + ICKE MICKE DJs
fluc-mensa / vienna, austria
08. oct. 2004

damn it, i love this city! vienna might be a tiny place and not have too much to show for itself... but that's only how it seems! for all its small-ness, vienna delivers frigging huge amounts of to-do-ables! especially whenever it comes to subculture. see SIR ALICE live at the fluc_mensa.
the fluc itself is a very nice project. the venue is led by a trio of artists (painters and musicians), who are using older, unused parts of subway waiting rooms for their club. the fluc_mensa is a couple of feet away from the original fluc and used to be a student's mensa, but is also no longer in use... at least not as a mensa. it has become the fluc's event hall for "bigger" shows.

SIR ALICE. well, what can i say. those of you who don't know her should check out the tigersushi homepage for some info. basically it's raw electropunk, is it was meant to be. and i really did like the concert, but... maybe, just maybe, SIR ALICE is one of those acts where you really don't miss out on anything if you haven't seen her perform live. it was nice and all, but i could've just as well listened to the cd at home. and she should keep her clothes on next time.

but mr. viennese super-dj UMBERTO GOLLINI made it all up by dishing out some delicious, booty-shaking, groove-making, heart-breaking electro, minimal techno and other danceables before and after the concert. we were shaking our tailfeathers until 3 in the morning to his tunes! we would've continued, if not for the fact that most of us were having a DnB day, so we moved to the roxy - a VERY NICE club - were we continued on doing the monkey until 5 a.m. - for inspiring me to dance, SIR ALICE, i thank thee.

ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY ::

ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY
arena | vienna, austria
7th oct. 2004

hell yeah, y'all! fucking massive rock and fucking roll from virginia! but i'm getting ahead of myself.

when we arrived at the venue there was a local band playing. opener. i think their name was DREADFACE, but i'm not sure. anyway, we were standing outside and could hear bits and pieces of their performances wafting through the door and it was just plain horrible. somebody had the idea to have a look at the band. so we went inside. bad idea. not only did they suck - i mean, their drummer, i swear, not only was he out of time but he was playing in an entirely different tempo than the rest of the band, and the bassist, who was also their singer, wouldn't have needed only one string on his bass - they sucked royally! they played mostly cover versions, due to lack of own songs, which i think might be followed back to a lack of creativity. so they played MOTÖRHEAD and RAMONES and NEW YORK DOLLS and MC5 and stuff like that, all in the vein of MOTÖRHEAD... but it was terrible! MOTÖRHEAD is one of my favorite bands and i know all their songs by heart. but FUCKFACE played them so wrongly that i never could make out which song they were playing. even worse! they covered "out of hand" by ENTOMBED and i recognized it only because of the lyrics! i mean, even after i realized that what they were playing was supposed to be ENTOMBED's "out of hand" i couldn't make out the fucking song! that's how bad they were. oh well...

ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY made up for all that shit. it was my first time seeing ATP live. and i hadn't heard anything from their new record (forgot its name) before. everybody was telling me that they've got a new singer and that he isn't half as good as the old one. but, frankly, i couldn't really make out why the new singer should be any worse than the old one. he was really all over the songs and made a good performance. he seemed good enough to me!
and the band was terrific! it was just this big mish-mash of southern rock, blues, hard rock, metal and plain heavyness. gotta love it! they jumped from "cyborg war-elpehant's ass on triple-choc-vanilla-fudge-cake diet" heavy to "alone as a gypsie nannies silver toothfilling in the woods" bluesy to "bread that was lying in the kalahari sun for about too long" dusty without a single glitch. it might not have been the best rock concert or not even one of the top 10, but it definitely belonged right up there in the higher regions of the upper third. nice one!
next up is PLACE OF SKULLS. tomorrow. doooooooooooooooooooom! yeah, baby! :)

what it is ::

hey, hey!

well, i've just realized that i use to start a "recently on stage" thread on whatever forum i spend some more time at... which is at the moment only... one... but, you know, usually.

so, why not turn that into a blog? yeah, there you go.

the basic idea is that i just write my own short live-reviews of whatever shows i have seen recently. that's about it. yeah, so to start things off, i'll just pick some of the posts i did at some other forums and collect them here.

probably won't be very regular posting here, obviously, because that's pretty much depending on how many shows i see. but since i'm at a lot of concerts it should be getting additional posts fairly often. stay tuned! cheers.