It's a grand old life.
I have little to report of late which seems odd. I mean, sometimes when I take stock of my life I am like “Wow, who woulda thought that some day I would be a high-powered, jet-setting secret agent of repute?” shortly before realizing that that is actually only in my fanfic where Andre the Giant and the Justice League need my help to defeat Cobra Commander in a Street Fighter II tournament. All jokes aside, I think my life is pretty exciting! I get to do the stuff I love, with good folks, living in a city which I adore. Sometimes I forget that I get to DJ at two well-established and notorious alternative parties, that I have a job which is totally interesting and where I learn a lot and a fantastic girlfriend who is the bee’s knees! Stuff is so good in fact that I need to resurrect slang from the thirties to express it. You could say that I’m really “cookin’ with gas”, while “ridin’ the trolley” and “dying of drought due to soil erosion because I did not rotate my crops”!
Here is some upcoming business!
- Star Trek advance screening tonight. Thanks to the generous and extremely tolerant Tabatha! I am wearing my Star Fleet Command shirt. The movie looks good, and I am not so much of a stickler for continuity in Trek. I certainly will not be using my Blackberry to Twitter how indignant I am about the changes to the established timeline from the theater while updating JJ Abrams’ Wikipedia article with the words “rapist” and “dream-killer”. That’d be crazy.
- Festival Kinetik in vielle Montreal la semaine prochaine! Everything is finally sorted away for the trip, which I have been looking forward to since last year. I will be part of a large West Coast posse including 4/5 of RRIAT House, a strong Edmonton contingent and plenty of various other Industrial Soldiaz. Bonus for this year is that bands are starting at 6 p.m. in most cases affording us plenty of time to shop for records, go to see sites and generally enjoy one another’s company without some german guy in a latex suit yelling at us through a microphone. Question: what is the best neightbourhood for record shopping in Montreal? Also, here is a ludicrous rundown on the line-ups for every night of the festival with my largely unfounded expectations for each act. BEHIND A CUT, SUCKA.
Day 1:
07:00pm Corrupted suburbs
Guitar industrial, actually sounds kinda like some of the mid-to-late nineties Coldwave stuff updated. Stuff on myspace sounds pretty good. Might get a good crowd with attendees chomping at the bit + local band. http://www.myspace.com/corruptedsuburbs
08:00pm Ayria
Girly EBM, not super familiar with her catalogue but she’s packaged herself really well and has associated with + collaborated with some good acts. I think it’ll be worth it to check her out. http://www.ayria.com/
09:00pm Memmaker
A huge highlight from last year, one of the most upbeat and energetic laptop style sets I’ve ever seen. Music so damn catchy I bought the CD the moment their set ended. Album made my Top 10 of 2008. Definitely a no-miss for me. http://www.myspace.com/memmaker
10:00pm Terrorfakt
Not a huge fan of their music (rhythmic noise by numbers as I recall) but they put effort into a big stageshow with lots of live metallic percussion and whatnot. Supposedly have something big planned to top it this year. I’ll check it out for a bit at least. http://www.myspace.com/terrorfakt
11:15pm Project Pitchfork
Hey the new album is pretty okay! I’ve heard some good stuff about their live show and realistically I can’t imagine skipping a headlining act. (Still wish it was Puppy though). http://www.myspace.com/projectpitchfork
12:45am Interlace
Always liked these guys, kinda surprised they’re slotted after Pitchfork. Maybe because they haven’t put anything out in 4+ years. Anyways, should appeal to fans of atmospheric EBM a la haujobb or Individual Totem. http://www.myspace.com/interlace
02:00am Marching Dynamics
Weird placement for these guys, maybe they couldn’t get slotted in on the noise night. IDM, dub and breakbeat and rhythmic noise. I quite like the albums, and will probably stick around for most of the set depending on how tired I am. http://www.myspace.com/marchingdynamics
Day 2:
06:00pm DYM
Bog standard cookie monster EBM. Won’t be heartbroken if I miss some or all of their set. http://www.myspace.com/dym
07:00pm Life Cried
More cookie monster EBM. Willing to give them a shot since I know a few people who like them but not hopeful. http://www.myspace.com/lifecried
08:00pm Aesthetic Perfection
This is the stuff. These guys killed opening for SITD and Imperative last year, another case where I bought the album immediately after the set and have been rocking it since. No chance I’m gonna miss this one. http://www.myspace.com/closetohuman
09:00pm Soman
These guys dub their sound as Industrial for clubs which is hella accurate, high bpm with a techno flavor. Laptop set, but he might have go-go dancers. Probably be a super fun set to just go and dance to. http://www.myspace.com/soman
10:00pm God Module
I some of GD’s older tracks but the youtube clips of their stageshow don’t really set my world on fire. Might check it out for a bit and then duck out. http://www.myspace.com/godmodule
11:00pm Reaper
The records are good and they look like they have some energy live. They’re sandwiched between two bands I don’t think will be that great so that’ll probably serve to make their set more fun. http://www.myspace.com/reapermusic
12:00am Amduscia
Blah. Can’t believe these guys are slotted so high. Essentially a Hocico cover band. Prove me wrong kids! http://www.myspace.com/amduscia
01:00am Grendel
This one will live and die by how engaging dude can be as a frontman. If he can bring some LaPlegua type energy to the stage should be pretty good. Catalogue is solid enough terror EBM, songs are a lot catchier than most bands in the genre can manage. http://www.myspace.com/grendel
02:00am Accessory
Aside from this one remix by Feindflug I used to bump these guys have never stood out to much to me. But the tracks on myspace sound like they could be pretty good live and honestly, what else would I be doing? http://www.myspace.com/accessoryweb
Day 3:
05:20pm Adversary
A homey of my homeys, I’m def gonna want to check Jairus’ set. Rhythmic noise with some elements of IDM and nice textures. Good way to start the day. http://www.myspace.com/adversary
06:15pm Cervello Elettronico
Some of their tracks have some 8-bit type noises to them, but myspace by and large suggests some standard rhythmic noise. http://www.myspace.com/cervelloelettronico
07:15pm Mimetic
Dude used to drum for Von Magnet, noisy stuff to be sure and has been around for a while. Don’t know how engaging it will be live.
http://www.myspace.com/mimetic
08:15pm Architect
Not my favorite Daniel Myer (haujobb/cleen/destroid) project, but still good. Technoid rhythms, a touch of noise and IDM. http://www.myspace.com/architectmusic
09:15pm Iszoloscope
I’ve seen these guys twice and they have a lot of energy. Tend to concentrate on their loud noisy stuff live rather than their more atmospheric numbers, but should be a perfectly good set. http://www.myspace.com/iszoloscope
10:15pm Synapscape
Always stood out in the “power noise” genere for using vocals occasionally. Looking forward to seeing them, have been listening for many years. http://www.myspace.com/synapticlandscapes
11:15pm Imminent
Olivier annihilated the last time I saw him, an unrelenting, enveloping assault of noise. Happy to be abused again J
http://www.myspace.com/tentack
12:15am Noisex
The guy who coined the term power noise. Some of his material had elements of electro which I quite liked, but he has a ton of really fucking boring albums. I still dig some of them though. Curious to at least see what he brings live. http://www.myspace.com/noisex
01:15am Winterkalte
Never heard a bad word about their live show. Apparently they try to get away from the laptop style and have lots of movement and live percussion. Always liked them, kind of forgot about them after they didn’t release an album for like 8 years though.
http://www.myspace.com/winterkaelteofficial
02:15am Caustic
A big meh. Have yet to hear a track or a remix by this guy that I thought was more than forgettable. Some of his song titles are kind of cute I guess. http://www.myspace.com/causticmusic
Day 4:
06:00pm Astyplaz
A really different sound for the fest, more of a modern synthpop feel. Could be really good! http://www.myspace.com/astyplaz
07:00pm Necessary Response
Same dude as Aesthetic Perfection, no reason to think he won’t bring the same energy and excitement to this set. http://www.myspace.com/necessaryresponse
08:00pm FGFC820
Rexx Arkana and some other DJ team up, make music that sounds like Funker Vogt. Have one song I like okay. No idea what to expect live.
http://www.myspace.com/fgfc820
09:00pm Pride and Fall
Reasonably good future-pop styles, might sound a bit dated. Will at least check it out. http://www.myspace.com/prideandfall
10:15pm Assemblage 23
Always liked their music, and he’s toured a lot so live show is probably solid. Looking forward to seeing ‘em. http://www.myspace.com/officialassemblage23
11:30pm Das Ich
Stage show is legendary, lots of makeup and crazy ass set pieces. Hope they can bring that with them for a one off date at a fest. http://www.myspace.com/dasich
12:45pm Icon of Coil
Probably don’t need to sell this one too much. Really excited. http://www.myspace.com/officialiconofcoil
02:00pm XP8
Ending things off! Not super excited by them, will probably be beat after the A23/Das Ich/IoC block. Could take off a bit early.
http://www.myspace.com/xp8
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Phew! Being an opinionated dick is thirsty work!
- DJing main room at Sin City this weekend. Medical themed party. Been awhile since I mainlined it at Vancouver's longest running fetish event, and the Medical party always brings some fine costumes. Will I drink way too much of my new summer cocktail (Jager and Soda) and sing Robert Palmer’s “Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)” over the mic? Show up to find out!
- On May 18h local hobo and Star Wars enthusiest Rheanna Fancypants is releasing a limited run print of her piece "Vive La Mort". You should purchase one! Here are the details! If you like lowbrow art, you should totally get one, seriously, this is so lowbrow that it is god damn Cro-Magnon.
- I have floorseats for Slayer and Megadeth in June. I will fulfill my lifelong dream of being severely injured in a Slayer pit. I can see it now. It's beautiful.