This post has been sitting in my drafts box for some time now so is a bit old hat, however if I don't publish it I will forget about this top night out at Urbis back in May.
Part of the top-notch Futuresonic festival. I really went along to see Ariel Pink as I have been picking up his albums over the last few years and enjoying their lo-fi charm greatly, plus my mate Brian had told me that the Crystal Antlers were worth checking out, but to be honest I had few expectations.
Times New Viking
The night kicked of a treat with TNV, a shambolic three-piece from Columbus, Ohio - reminiscent of Sonic Youth or maybe Pavement by way of the US hardcore scene. Melodic, scrappy and loud ... what's not to like?
Crystal Antlers
Hotly tipped underground faves didn't disappoint with their individual mix of US slacker/hardcore and psych - maybe bringing to mind the Butthole Surfers with the pop sensibility of Yo La Tengo. A visual treat too with the percussionist's Bez-like idiosyncratic dance moves.
Marnie Stern
3 piece girl fronted hardcore unit with technical metal flourishes courtesy of Marnie's finger tapped arpeggios, really enjoyed their prog meets Fugazi by way of Bikini Kill take take on the power trio format.
Ariel Pink
The main event as far as I was concerned. For those of you that haven't heard Ariel Pink, let me describe ... imagine if you will, a combination of the song writing chops of Todd Rungren and Brian Wilson - with one big difference, while Runt and Wilson strove for sonic perfection, labouring hard over each splash of reverb and touch delay, polishing each pop nugget to perfection. Pink knocks gems out in double quick time on his eight-track portastudio with little regard aural fidelity, being in tune or indeed actually completing the song. This low-fi aesthetic has won Pink at least a couple of admirers on this side of the Atlantic, myself included.
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