Caught Anavan (myspace) at the Smell Saturday night, where they played from the floor rather than the stage and got almost all of the 100 or so people “up real close til it’s uncomfortable” (actually what they said was a bit ruder) and then proceeded to set the whole thing off into a forty minute mosh pit/dance floor set to their beat-heavy, guitarless, raunch-synth driven pop-tinged mayhem. I couldn’t really see what was going on except when Aaron Buckley gave up his drums to stand on a table or something and hold forth above the crowd, inciting further motion on the floor, but everyone was moving. Great live show, and I wonder how they fare when the crowd is bigger and less familiar with their music. You could tell they loved playing at the Smell and the Smell requited it on Valentines Day.
The other act we caught was tleilaxu music machine, a one-person rant caromed over the top of superhyperindustrialdrummachinesynth pummeling. Outfitted in a lovely black sundress with striped kneesocks, arm hoisery, and workboots, the dreaded and bearded guy running the machine drove a bunch of people from the room when he started but then drew just as many back in…after a minute or two of acclimation to the sound, it began to take root in some part of the lizard brain and actually became compelling, and he put everything into the performance, moshing away with the crowd and rolling on the floor as he alternated between setting and playing synth patches and growling and roaring through the microphone.
Also playing, but I failed to catch them, were Extreme Animals, faav, and the two-drums-and-glockenspiel puppy dog. Next time. And hey, what’s with this trend of unreadable (unless you highlight everything), seizure-inducing strobomatic clashing color myspace pages? Ouch.
As always, check out rreplay and all the other great music on Way.Net.