Thurston Moore & Mats Gustafsson, Sickness, Ashley Paul, Perispirit at The Middle East Upstairs

Perispirit

Ashley Paul

Sickness

Bill Nace & Thurston Moore

Mats Gustafsson
Intransitive Recordings (aka Howard Stelzer) know how to put on a good show. He did that New Year's Eve show with Nerve Net Noise, Hive Mind, etc, and last night he gathered some more noise aficionados for a night of scary music.

Ricardo Donoso (of Semata Productions, The Epicureans, etc) and Luke Moldof (of Stillbirth) are Perispirit. They're a somewhat newish band with only one recording under their belt (a double tape called Forced-Choice Test made up specifically for this show, which you can look forward to a review of) but they have got some fucking chops. Due to my uncharacteristic tardiness, I only caught the end of their set. I came in just as all hell was breaking loose. It felt like I was being punched in the throat. It's the kind of noise that leaves your body numb afterwards from vibrating so much. So yeah. That was pretty awesome.

Ashley Paul was up next. HIGH end drone with live sax processing. Very shrill, very intimidating, very cool. Sadly, there were the loudest most inconsiderate dee-bags ever to be found at a noise show all over the goddamn place. Too fucking distracting. Hey guys? If you don't like it, leave. Otherwise, let the rest of the people enjoy what they paid good money for.

Sickness was fucking complete annihilation. Glitch power noise electronics ear shredding fucking violence. Kinda like End's The Sounds Of Disaster meets Prurient. Sickness taped a couple of tiny mics to his throat so he could groan and growl all throughout his set. Spit was dripping from his mouth, the table he set up was shaking so much it was about to collapse, it was terrifying. Do NOT miss this guy if he ever comes your way.

Surprise of the night: Thurston and Mats weren't alone. The two of them were actually joined by Bill Nace on guitar and Chris Corsano on drums. Together they unleashed the freest crazy noise jazz explosion I've ever witnessed. It was totally unlike anything I have ever seen before. Not a single person played their instruments in the "proper" way; everything was highly experimental. Screwdrivers and chisels used on guitars, t-shirts and who knows what else on the drums, and Mats was just going batshit insane on his wicked old and ginormous sax, occasionally taking a break from it to tweak some electronic knobs. Just incredible.

This was the first show Intransitive has put on that ever sold out. It's kind of a no brainer when you got Thurston Moore on the bill but still, an impressive feat for a noise show. Here's hoping it's not the last.

Here's a clip I shot of Thurston, Mats, and the rest going crazy. It sounds shitty but you get the idea.