Riverbed & Distort

Found Objects

Adeptive Radiation

Officer Deaf

Mindfreak

April 2, 2009

IMUG NOISE

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

Stream/Download

From what I understand many of the NOISE shows were not noise shows at all, though if it's an acronym I have no clue what it means.  "Inside-Starbucks Experience" is the best I can come up with and it isn't even complete.  This show was a noise show.  Found Objects and Officer Deaf I am not too familiar with, but they both rest closely to each other in a noisy pop rock area occupied also by Parts & Labor, Styrofoam Duck, shoegaze, etc.  Adeptive Radiation however, the only known Belgian Waffles tribute band, I am not only familiar with but participate in.  This was my last show before my hiatus and was so amazing that after the performance through the next practice an audience member metamorphosed into a band member.  Mark McWhirter was at this show in the audience, as well as lots of free pizza.  Mindfreak has much more to do with K.K. Null and moe. than it does Chris Angel.  This show went very late and there were torrents of rain outside. Many people died.

Sword of Exactly

Dark Dark Dark

April 7, 2010

The Bishop

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

Stream/Download

I was happy to go to such a beautifully appropriate and succinctly scheduled show with but two artists who fit well together musically.  Evelyn continues to remind me of Scout Niblett with piano.  She delivers an appropriate amount of amusement between songs as well, and wins me over as a performer.  Oh and she played Girls On Film, which I attempted at karaoke once in the style of the late Wesley Willis.  I don't think anyone got the joke. Evelyn played it her own way.

Dark3 gave a wonderful performance as well, pulling the audience in and admitting that some of them might consider toucans parrots.  You won't be wasting your time here.  I mean to say: spend your time here; you will consider it well spent.

Kid Primitive Family

Doog/Brother Dolphin

Normanoak

Castle Oldchair

April 2, 2008

Sonny's Log Cabin

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

Stream/Download

Two years ago Sonny lived in a cabin in the heart of Bloomington's south-central neighborhood, hidden away by suburban illusion.  A dozen to two dozen people gathered there that evening for shared food and music; Janice and I brought Oliver but they had to leave after the Prim Family because Oliver had to go to bed.  I considered including some of the extraneous audio I recorded which had Oliver telling people to "SMILE!" and giggling, but the material was sparse and while I enjoyed the ebb and flow of conversations caught by the microphone and I wondered what I maybe would hear on another listen, perhaps entire conversations could be culled if listened to intensely enough, and I decided against the inclusion of this material and instead remind anyone who was there of Oliver and his game with this wonderful run-on sentence.  Enjoy.

Justin and Lindsay captured even Oliver's attention by looping their voices and reciting mantras, creating a soothing aural fluid with a hint of feedback; I love the blend.  Eric played solo acoustic on this evening, a nice set of laid-back tunes which would probably have been performed from the porch had the cabin been in the woods instead of a residential alley.  Chris Barth's performance remains my favorite of the evening, beginning with Amorila, recently released by Magnetic South on the Elixer cassette.  He touched and moved many emotions on that evening, peaking when he played a song to help rid himself of the pain from his recent breakup.  It is intense, and if you need to feel the pain of frustration and loss and feel the release, then Normanoak's fifth song is prescribed to you.  Closing the evening was Castle Oldchair, who I had never seen nor heard before.  His set was a sprawl of loops and layers, vocals and perhaps samples.  I remember being completely entranced, giving him a tape, finding his cd at the library and being thoroughly confused that it consisted of songs with structure and clear vocals.  In the words of Eddie Vedder: "It's evolution, baby."  Do teh evolution.  This show is awesome.  Listen to it.

When We Might

Sgt Dunbar and the Hobo Banned

Dust From 1000 Yrs

March 15, 2009

Rockit's Pizza

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

Stream/Download

Chester gracefully opened up this show, and someone was on stage (used loosely) with him but whether it was Josh or Jimmy I don't recall.  Either way the show sounds great, and it was of Atem's first shows to which he went as a child.  I haven't been taking him to shows lately, but make sure to keep music a part of his life.  If there were one which he could attend time-wise and enjoy sound pressure-wise then I'd love to take him out.  Like...When We Might shows in the park in the afternoon.

This show ranks with another Dusty Rockit's show I failed to record: Fred & Susie with Ugh God.  Sgt Dunbar wields marching band jazz with the style of one marching through New Orleans, salt crusted on their makeshift costumes...though I gotta say that singing saw is not exactly the best marching instrument. Regardless, this band will put an ass in your pants and a horn section in your hat or hair.  Supposedly one of the main songwriters lived in Charles Mingus' house (after Mingus had moved) when he was a kid and when through his garbage pile.  It certainly sounds like it.  Atem had to be outside for this, but he heard it just fine I am certain.

This Dust performance is slightly odd, I believe because it was after David and Dust parted.  At first I was typing "shortly after" but now I realize I'm mistaken.  Still, Jimmy seemed to cover the sonic space where David used to be, but in his wispy, winged way.  It takes a little drive out of the Dust when songs had a driving, throbbing bass line and lays you flat on your back in the summer, staring at clouds or stars.  And now I realize what feels so odd and gives the added dream gleam: Matt is not there.  No drums.  The band is simply Ben and Jimmy.  This is certainly a unique performance.

Eric Knipstine

Deserter

Humans

dante augustus scarlatti

Pendra Gon

Hail Architeuthis!

March 30, 2010

The Bishop

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

Stream/Download

This month Black Mass showcased several artists from the Auris Apothecary label, curators of the monthly event.  As it was the first performance for four of the artists, technical difficulties arose and were mostly overlooked or incorporated into the performances.  Eric played a pair of rather atmospheric keyboard pieces.  Deserter maintained a sizable presence of sound pressure, causing fingers in the ears and me reaching for my earplugs, to be worn the rest of the night.  His eulogies to fallen heroes reverberated with the safety meeting we had out back while he set up.  Humans are an odd bunch.  The spaces between the songs are frequently as long as the songs themselves, punctuated by feedback and what seem to be false starts or stuttering introductions.  The songs themselves are quirky bursts of punk energy and dissonance akin to the Amphetamine Reptile family...meaning good stuff.  das seemed to be having trouble but persevered through it.  I stood mesmerized by the flipping and slowly changing image projected by his reel-to-reel.  Eventually I realized that the image was slowly changing because the film was melting and smoking.  I wish I could attach the scent to the audio digitally; it appended the aural and tactile experiences of das to somewhere between discomfort and the comforting of sweet.  Next to strain eardrums came Pendra Gon.  His rhythms are nice, and combine with the atmospheres to make an odd but nostalgic sound, however the sheer volume of the performance caused a few people to leave to the bar.  Others of us stayed and enjoyed.  Hail, as usual, slayed.  Bruce kept touching me with his headstock.  Last time I sat directly in front of the bass drum and with each kick I felt a punch of air.  The vocals came through a hundred times more clear than last time.

I don't want to post everybody's link so I'll take you to Auris Apothecary where you can locate information on the whole deal.

Brother Dolphin

Whoa Bro Awesome

Grampall Jookabox

Electric Serpent Power

January 29, 2008

The Cinemat

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

Stream/Download

Brothers Eric and Sonny Alexander played graceful psych-folk, Sonny's guitar entwining with his brother's voice.  Whoa Bro played his first show with guitar, a rollicking good time akin to Jonathan Kane's guitar drone stomps.  ESP played their first (and only?) performance, which rattled skulls with feedback and pulses.

Marty Belcher & Bart Galloway

Children of Scare-Midget

Adeptive Radiation

November 13, 2008

Racheal's Cafe

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

Stream/Download

Chris Rall was to join Bart and Marty in improvisation, but could not make it. In that case they would have been titled ICBM (Improvisation: Chris, Bart, Marty). Their set is quite free, using a wide variety of sounds. Children of Scare-Midget performs a solemn invocation, and Adeptive Radiation is as irreverent as ever, attempting to perform past the time when Racheal's should close, and driving any remaining patrons straight out the door. Personally I thought they were quite together that evening. Very nice show. AdRad consisted of John, John, Candice, Nicole and Ben.

(DBH)

Lather

Styrofoam Duck

February 2, 2008

The Cinemat

Bloomington, IN

Recorded by Ben Myers

Stream/Download

The DBH recording suffered (or perhaps a different word?) from operator malfunction, so their actual set is lost in time. Lather played with a cd a few songs from The Death Sound and Styrofoam Duck graced Bloomington on their "Free Boys" tour. I believe their last tour.

We open the recording with DBH's sound check and bits of dialogue.  It does sound pretty good, and carries quite a lot of the Cinemat ambiance.  Their set was raucous and loud, full of hypnotic rhythm and drum triggers.  A good antithesis to Lather's (performing with previously recorded material containing portions of the recently released Death Sound) intensely awkward shaking-hand (lack of hypnotic rhythm...more hypnagogic rhythm) control over the diminutive (in number and sometimes stature) audience, but in the right group the two artists' performances could easily have the same effect on an audience.

Styrofoam Duck (band and website now defunct)

Free Boys (now a band)

DBH

Friends & Relatives Records (DBH-Connected)