From what I'd heard, it didn't seem like going to watch a 'band'
called Fuck Buttons
would really be a good idea. (I try to be late, allowing myself to
get sucked into fixing mp3 tags on my jukebox before we leave. This is
no simple task. I have about 200 songs without track numbers, which
means my player will play them in alphabetical order, which is
annoying). But anyway...
Unfortunately, when we arrive there is the distinctive vibration of
white noise coming through the walls of
href="http://www.myspace.com/thejunctionbristol">the Junction,
echoing out into the street and mingling with the sound of traffic. The
traffic sounds better, in that it at least carries an element
of indeterminism which lends some interest and the possibility of a
moment of quiet. Fuck Buttons allow no such respite. There is the
briefest of pauses between tracks before the next huge noise. Underneath
the wall we hear some primitive rhythms beaten out on drums, the noise
is filtered via the laptop into other forms of noise while the boys
scream into microphones and a Fisher PriceTM Karaoke toy.
It ends at last and we can finally leave behind this kindergarten of
pointless noise children who hit things. We only had to put up with it
for five minutes, but I think I'll try to avoid ever having to put up
with it again.
href="http://www.myspace.com/scarecrows">Scarecrows offer a
refreshing contrast featuring music that sounds good at first, but they
don't seem to know what to do with the few good ideas they have. For a
couple of songs it is okay: decent grooves, amateurish drumming from the
violin player, a good baseline. After the fourth song starts I realise
that this is going to be more of the same until the end of the set.
My attention fades, my mind wanders back to thinking about how many
songs to which I could have assigned track numbers in this
time...
King Alexander
save the evening with their cheeky brand of shrieking shouty college
punk mixed with that 1994 guitar pop sound. Which is good, because
Ack Ack Ack are a bit, well strange and not
that exciting (no web site, but mp3
href="http://www.runningriotrecords.co.uk/download/ack%20ack%20ack%20-%2
0alley%20juice.mp3">here). Sure, they are loud but the ideas again
are few and the singing from inside a gas mask is a bit lame. In fact
the guitars aren't loud enough in my opinion, yet another one of these
bands that tries to play metal without heavy guitars and ends up
sounding thin and harsh. The drummer's displeasure at the performance is
evident at the end of the set when he throws his cymbals angrily behind
him. I didn't sense many mistakes, in fact the drummer is incredible,
but the teacher in me wants to write could try harder, lots of
enthusiasm, needs direction.
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