| Day 2 of IG starts off with the rest of The
Minions abandoning me to go see some country band. I go to The
Earl to start the day off with Jet By Day. Jet By Day are a
young looking pop-punk band that releases on 2 Sheds Records.
They were very pleasant: not challenging, but good at what they
do.
Then i trudged up the street to The Echo, and got rained on.
So i was in the process of increasing the humidity inside the
club while i watched Martyr & Pistol. I like this band. Something
about the guitar work reminds me of the 80's New Wave stuff
i so love, especially the work of Joy Division. However, tonight
the guitar was a little under-loud. Plus, the band was experimenting
with some new songs. Plus, they got a really short set. Overall
-- not the best performance i have seen by this band.
Once they were done it was time to run over to Earthshaking
Music to catch Envie. Earthshaking Music is an instrument shop
with all kinds of gongs and percussiony things to play with.
The music area is a back room that looks like some kind of rehearsal
space. I felt like i was in a high school auditorium -- sitting
on hard plastic chairs set up in rows just minutes before by
the "actually lower than me on the social totem pole" AV
geeks. However, the sound was nice and if Earthshaking advertized
that they were having bands again, i would not be opposed to
going there.
Envie is the side project of Renee Nelson, harpist/keyboardist
for American Dream. Joining her are Goth superstar cellist Diana
Obscura, and the old "bald surly looking" drummer from Myssouri.
Envie's sound combines Nelson's keyboards (or occasionally harp)
with Obscura's rich cello bowing and the drummer's sparse rhythm,
all backing up Nelson's voice. Obscura sang a few duets with
her as well, adding her more classical vocal stylings to Nelson's
pop singing. The overall effect was very pleasant and peaceful.
The calm before the storm, as it were.
After the Envie set we ran over to The Echo to see if we could
catch the end of Heroes Severum. Alas, this was not to be. So
we stood around and waited for 20 minutes or so while Binary
System set up.
Binary System was one of the "name bands" at the IG Festival.
It is the current act of Roger Miller, who you may know from
such famous post-punk bands as: Mission Of Burma. Binary System
is Miller on keys and vocals, with a guy i have named The Human
Vein playing drums. (I swear -- this guy was all veins popping
out on top of bones. He had negative 10% body fat! It was damned
creepy to look at.)
I don't know exactly what i was expecting Binary System to
do. Free Jazz, however, was probably not in the running; and
yet, that is exactly what Binary System do. The Human Vein thumps
along at his drums (he is quite talented BTW; veiny, but talented)
and Miller twiddles with a keyboard and occasionally sings.
It all has that "no real melodic cohension" sort of feel that
is typical of free jazz.
On the whole, i would say that the set was okay. Not spectacular,
although a few songs did work really well. Some of the instrumental
jams in particular stuck out to me as noteworthy. And The Human
Vein did get in a really great drum solo at one point. The crowd
really seemed to get into it. Which surprised not only me, but
Roger Miller himself. In fact, at one point after some boisterous
applause he said to the crowd, "Wow. You guys are really open-minded."
As soon as this show was done, we dashed up the street to The
Earl, in time to catch the last half (or so) of the performance
by Hex Error. Hex Error are an Atlanta based 3 piece band that
makes mid-80's Hardcore Punk. Yeah baby. Think Black Flag before
Hank got pretentious. Or Seven Seconds. Or D.R.I. before Crossover.
Think: Loud. Hard. Fast. Screaming. Thundering drumming. Squealing
guitars.
It's good shit, if you're into that. I personally enjoy that
kind of music. And after the over-intellectualization of that
Binary System set (is any music MORE over-intellectualized than
free jazz?) i was really pleased with Hex Error's angry energetic
music.
I think these guys rock, but i can admit that it really isn't
for everyone.
After Hex Error, we split up. Zythos and Brillo wandered up
to The Echo to see Catpower. Tracers and i wandered back to
Earthshaking Music to see Larvae.
Larvae is Atlanta's sole (as far as i can tell) IDM band. It
features Matt Jeanes (owner of Sub:Marine Records) and another
guy on dueling Mac Powerbooks and knob-twiddling. Otherwise
-- it's IDM. The beats are all heavily processed computer noise,
and there is minimal melody overtop.
I listen to that kind of music as i work. I find the rhythms
to be pleasant accompaniment to writing code. Sitting in a chair
in what felt like a high school auditorium, listening to Larvae,
i felt like i should have been at work. But i enjoyed the performance.
It was ironic to see a "laptop band" perform rhythm-heavy music
in a store that specializes in exotic percussion. If you like
IDM, i recommend giving Larvae a chance. They do not perform
out too often though.
After that performance, we hung out chatting with local musicians
until Zythos and Brillo showed back up. Then, we headed home.
Tired, but having seen several good performances. |
