I honestly could not pass up the opportunity to see Holy F*ck and A Place To Bury Strangers again. It was unfortunate that most of my San Diego friends would be at the Foo Fighters show at Cox Arena but the swirls of intoxicating fuzz, feedback and noise made this a must see show at the Casbah.
Run Run Run
Run Run Run opened the evening with their elaborate light and smoke show. I have managed to catch Run Run Run two other times at Spaceland and the Detroit Bar. Run Run Run continue to impress me with the tightness of their live show as they really take care of business on stage. Run Run Run did an atmospheric cover of Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You" as well as play a few songs from their new EP "Good Company". They closed their set with "Song And Dance" that had Xander Smith (Guitars/Vocals) emphatically screaming "Run Run Run" as they had their dual guitar assault wailing away. Run Run Run is now heading down to SXSW before embarking on another national tour.
A Place To Bury Strangers
A Place To Bury Strangers destroyed again with their auditory and visual feast. I knew their set would be different in comparison with their Spaceland show and I was correct in that I heard a few different songs. "Alive" was full of guitar hysterics as Oliver Ackermann (Guitars/Vocals) frantically strummed his guitar strings on his headstock to get some metallic overtones before diving headfirst into a garage rock punk jam. The volume was as high pitched as the feedback as Oliver was frequently abusing his tremolo arm on his battered Fender Jaguar."Deadbeat" sounded like a punk fringed crime romp that could easily be on the soundtrack to the "Dark Knight" soundtrack with its ear splitting feedback and massive bass line drilling a hole in you skull. "I Know I'll See You Again" was spot on as Jono MOFO (Bass) managed to make his bass sound like the red hovering seeker ships from Tron. "Ocean" always makes an epic closer to their set as you get the feeling of almost drowning from the waves of noise. A Place to Bury Strangers will be heading to SXSW to continue their destruction of eardrums worldwide.
Holy F*ck
Holy F*ck admitted they are still getting used to having their usual drummer Matt Schulz but I couldn’t tell as they concocted another wild dose of stirring electronic bleeps and squeals. Their set is so experimental that it seems they only have a loose guideline of what song they are going to play but freely experiment with different tempos and effects during the songs. It is easy to say that no Holy F*ck show will be the same. "The Pulse" is the usual starting point as the drums accelerate and the bass drops into the tune as the various Casio keyboards start to round out the songs with their beats and blips. "Milkshake" was slightly harsher with a more industrial and metallic vibe as Brian Borcherdt (Vocals/Keyboards) would use his distorted vocals to add a spacey effect to the tune. Some of the sound effects in the song sound like they were actually taken from the Disneyland ride "Space Mountain". "Royal Gregory" features the distorted vocals of Graham Walsh (Vocals/Keyboards) as he simultaneously tweaks his vocals and plays keyboards in real time. "Super Inuit" had a more frantic and higher caffeine level as the song was performed at a faster pace. "Lovely Allen" was a crowd favorite with the whole audience nodding their heads along with the beat as some people up front started to dance. They closed their set with a Casio fueled burning drum sequence that had Matt working overtime to keep up with the keyboard. It was a battle of man versus machines during the whole set but Holy F*ck knows how to tame their machines.
No comments:
Post a Comment