Gigs

Gig Review: Breakcore + Grindcore

Venue: The Portland, Cambridge
Date: 25 October 2007

A whole evening of music as specialist as the promoter has planned for us tonight is a rare thing to find these days. I’ll try and explain a little more about the rare musical genres on display as I go.

First up is Skat Injector who describe themselves as noisecore – a type of grindcore with the emphasis on speed and noise over musicianship. Grindcore features heavily distorted down-tuned guitars with punk-influenced riffs, vocals characterized by guttural sounds and growling, and drums with rapid, often alternating, bass and snare. The band, resembling a trio of Darth Vaders with their fearsome black masks and clothing, fall very much into this category as they attempt to wake the dead with their racket. I’m afraid my senses can’t quite hack this one as the constant strobe lighting, piercing guitar feedback, and general lack of definition combine to eventually drive me into a quieter corner.

The remainder of the acts are all one-man shows each with their own computer or two. Media-recycling subverts with laptops, you might say. First of these is Organ Grinder who is actually quite the film-maker. With the press of a button he kick-starts a recorded visual sequence, which is beamed onto the back wall, of indiscriminately hacked computer game, cinema and internet imagery intended to promote the duplication of media. A bold and ironic statement which sits well with the fusion of sound bites he throws over the top of his music. It makes a nice change from the rest of the bands visuals which are limited to racing kaleidoscopic tunnels and flashing band names. He has a neat sequence which encapsulates his sound perfectly – it’s the visual of a man drinking a beaker full of what is labelled as ‘liquid breakcore’.

Breakcore is a genre that has been developing out of techno and rave dance music since the 1990’s – a sound based around edited high-speed breaks which are distorted and then layered into the rest of the music. The combination is incredibly effective with the thumping rhythms making the sudden breaks into silence seem even more acute. Organ Grinder finishes up with his own mix of Gwen Stefani’s ‘Holler Back Girl’ which accompanies the bizarre sight of him walking off stage and the next musician setting-up!

Eraserhead unfortunately lack any stage presence but do use some interesting sound effects - a woman screaming over the sound of a chainsaw, an ethereal whale cry, and speech played backwards to name a few. It’s quite fun just listening and guessing where each one has been hacked from and I find myself smiling as he frantically mixes. There is the strange and rather distracting side-show of one of the bands dismantling a table stage-left but it adds to the light-hearted nature of the whole event.

Beef Conspiracy are a no-show which is a shame because last time I saw them they put in a decent display with a full drum kit and an awesome vocalist. It would have broken up the whole sequence of one-man acts quite nicely. However, we have Ladyscraper to round things off. He’s determined to display the heavier side of breakcore and has plenty of samples from metal bands such as Pantera and Machine Head. We later discover that he composes his material with the aid a computer program which he then plays through a guitar amp and records to produce a dirtier sound. He’s twisting his live sampler knobs so hard one actually comes away in his hand.

‘Enough of this… let’s get heavy’, he yells, at one point. At last, a bit of audience interaction and he’s getting a good response from the decidedly sparse crowd. Everyone’s suddenly on their feet as he implores, ‘it’s like a funeral, stand up’. One chap’s dancing away happily. Just as we’re all nodding along, he pauses the show with the press of a button, bashfully declares he needs to use the toilet facilities and rushes from the stage. Now that I’ve never seen before at any live show and it’s the source of much mirth. On his return we’re treated to more of the same including some fantastic sound-bites from the film ‘Anchorman’. As he brings the evening to a close there’s a round of applause and we all filter away, with smiles on our faces, having witnessed an awesomely noisy, completely original, and most definitely esoteric display worthy of repetition.

Band links = Ladyscraper / Skat Injector / Organ Grinder / Eraserhead

Review commissioned by Music-Zine.

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