(no subject)
This weekend consisted of going to Slimelight for the Ego Likeness + Ayria + Angelspit pre-slimes gig, and seeing Terrorfakt and E-Craft during the club night. On Sunday we went to the Electric Ballroom for the Mechanical Cabaret + Client + Covenant gig. It's been a superb weekend. I'm a little tired now, but I'll find out the damage (if any) when I get to work later.
Ego Likeness
We made a particular effort to see this band on the advice of djpsyche, and we weren't disappointed! I don't really like gothic styles in my music, but that goes out of the window if the live performance is engaging enough. 'Save Your Serpent' was I think my favourite part of the show, it had some real energy! Also, kudos to her for being able to sing that well in that corset.
Ayria
Generally, I think Ayria has a rather whiny nasal quality to her voice, and I can't really listen to that much of her. While her live voice was considerably better than expected, there were still a few high notes that made me wince. Musically though, I was fairly impressed - they were a lot heavier than the recorded sound, which made it really fun.
Angelspit
I'm actually of mixed opinions about Angelspit, despite being the headline band. I thought they were going to put on more of a performance than they actually did, and so visually it just wasn't really dynamic enough to hold my interest. Musically they were good, but it's not what I'd generally choose to listen to, so I was hoping for more to engage me. I don't think we saw their best performance.
Terrorfakt
They're power-noise; I rather like them. I really enjoyed their performance. That's about all I have to say!
E-Craft
They were running late just getting the top floor open again after the pre-slimes gig, and so Terrorfakt weren't on for quite a while. We really made the effort to see E-Craft, which meant waiting until 3.30am. Unfortunately, we were disappointed. I could have got into the music, but I found the vocal style dischordant and aggressive-in-a-bad-way (it was like Rammstein shouting over noise). We left after the second track.
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Mechanical Cabaret
Somehow, we'd completely missed the fact that these guys were playing, so it was a unexpected surprise. I'd only heard a couple of their tracks before, and not through intentional listening, so I was very curious. Overall, I felt that you could tell it wasn't the band the audience wanted. They played well, and the frontman put on a good show, but the mutual energy was missing.
Client
That felt to me like a really solid performance. The lead singer's stage presence was well-defined and practised, and their music again had more energy live than recorded. They were fun and engaging, and I think they did a good job of warming up the audience. (Plus, they were hot :p)
Covenant
Blew my mind! They've replaced Clas (they guy who apparently used to do very little) with Daniel Myer (Haujobb, Architect, Destroid, plus live backing for Assemblage 23) for their live shows, and now seem to be producing almost all of their sound live. Their sound was a lot richer for it! They ranged completely in style and genre while still maintaining a flow, playing both 'Invisible & Silent' (which left me quivering), and a superbly noised-up version of 'Sweet and Salty'. And, it looked like he was having so much fun! Stewart reckons they might just beat Rotersand for the best live performance we've seen this year. I'm not quite sure I want to put Rotersand in second place, but I'll concede a joint title ;)
The brief version -
Outstanding : Covenant
Exceeded expectations : Ego Likeness, Terrorfakt, Client
Average : Ayria, Mechanical Cabaret
Disappointing : Angelspit
Crap / Not my thing : E-Craft
Ego Likeness
We made a particular effort to see this band on the advice of djpsyche, and we weren't disappointed! I don't really like gothic styles in my music, but that goes out of the window if the live performance is engaging enough. 'Save Your Serpent' was I think my favourite part of the show, it had some real energy! Also, kudos to her for being able to sing that well in that corset.
Ayria
Generally, I think Ayria has a rather whiny nasal quality to her voice, and I can't really listen to that much of her. While her live voice was considerably better than expected, there were still a few high notes that made me wince. Musically though, I was fairly impressed - they were a lot heavier than the recorded sound, which made it really fun.
Angelspit
I'm actually of mixed opinions about Angelspit, despite being the headline band. I thought they were going to put on more of a performance than they actually did, and so visually it just wasn't really dynamic enough to hold my interest. Musically they were good, but it's not what I'd generally choose to listen to, so I was hoping for more to engage me. I don't think we saw their best performance.
Terrorfakt
They're power-noise; I rather like them. I really enjoyed their performance. That's about all I have to say!
E-Craft
They were running late just getting the top floor open again after the pre-slimes gig, and so Terrorfakt weren't on for quite a while. We really made the effort to see E-Craft, which meant waiting until 3.30am. Unfortunately, we were disappointed. I could have got into the music, but I found the vocal style dischordant and aggressive-in-a-bad-way (it was like Rammstein shouting over noise). We left after the second track.
-- -- --
Mechanical Cabaret
Somehow, we'd completely missed the fact that these guys were playing, so it was a unexpected surprise. I'd only heard a couple of their tracks before, and not through intentional listening, so I was very curious. Overall, I felt that you could tell it wasn't the band the audience wanted. They played well, and the frontman put on a good show, but the mutual energy was missing.
Client
That felt to me like a really solid performance. The lead singer's stage presence was well-defined and practised, and their music again had more energy live than recorded. They were fun and engaging, and I think they did a good job of warming up the audience. (Plus, they were hot :p)
Covenant
Blew my mind! They've replaced Clas (they guy who apparently used to do very little) with Daniel Myer (Haujobb, Architect, Destroid, plus live backing for Assemblage 23) for their live shows, and now seem to be producing almost all of their sound live. Their sound was a lot richer for it! They ranged completely in style and genre while still maintaining a flow, playing both 'Invisible & Silent' (which left me quivering), and a superbly noised-up version of 'Sweet and Salty'. And, it looked like he was having so much fun! Stewart reckons they might just beat Rotersand for the best live performance we've seen this year. I'm not quite sure I want to put Rotersand in second place, but I'll concede a joint title ;)
The brief version -
Outstanding : Covenant
Exceeded expectations : Ego Likeness, Terrorfakt, Client
Average : Ayria, Mechanical Cabaret
Disappointing : Angelspit
Crap / Not my thing : E-Craft