The sicksicksick showcase at the Curio was the best show I've ever been to. The Curio is my all-time new favorite venue, too. A warehouse in the industrial district at 12th near the freeway, you can play as loud as you want wherever you want without bothering anyone. Plus, the floor of the warehouse is maybe four feet off the ground. You have to go up the stairs to get inside, so you can put performers all over the place and if the audience is standing outside, it's like a natural stage.

First up, Fando guesting the Tar half of BoneTar —Fantardo. They played on the ground in front of the building. Bleeding tonal distortion. Staggered exit. Kinda gorgeous.

Then, Mammal Eggs . Never seen em before but will catch again for sures. A violin, a drummer and a guitarist, two vocals... prog folk? Maybe a little Animal Collective-y. They played on the porch that runs along the side of the building. We stood on the ground underneath them. One little guy sat atop a van. You couldn't ask for better wind effect. "Um, wind? Could you pick up right here and blow the trees around when we start going really fast, and then stop all of a sudden when we stop? And then could someone's cell phone ring a pretty ring in the audience during our brief pause, and the person will say in a low voice "hello?" and then we'll start playing again and you, wind, will come back in for a big finish? Thanks."

We took the stage inside. It was Mama Coma's best show to date and the one and only debut of the busted electronic drums. We bought this kit used, got it home, and most of it didn't work. Luca ran what he could through a guitar pedal and today we're taking it back. I chunked out the vocals from "Canto" the crazy spider bass in "Pony for Christmas," the track where Luke plays noise piano, an interview I did with a guy who thinks a company in town is transmitting images to his brain (Voice to Skull Technology) and a bunch of other stuff. Those were my raw tracks for mixing on the turntables. I think it went pretty good.

Back outside, Jess Billey and Bud Melvin, a.k.a. Lionhead Bunny, shut the bay garage door and projected one of the last silent films ever made onto it. Their blend of violin and banjo, was, as ever, stunning. Jess told me before the show she edited the 90-minute film down to about 20 minutes that week, and damn, she is one talented film editor. Really beautiful work. And if you're not doing anything, their other band, The Grave of Nobody's Darlin' is playing tonight at Burt's at 10. I think I'm gonna go. Jess has such a beautiful voice.

Back inside, Raven sucked on a broken mic he was running through some crazy pedals to intense-o-mondo effect. Halfway through he started screaming, all piercing chophouse. Brief and vivid.

I may be getting things out of order here. Whatever.
Occasional Detroit , Albuquerque's only noise hip-hop act, managed to be super noisy, super frenetic, but still rock the party like it was 1987. Everyone was jumping and dancing, as they dropped beats, writhed and played with lightbulbs. She was dressed in a white fairy princess costume. He had an acrobat's unitard tied around his shoulders. Seriously, if you've never seen these guys, they are 200 percent rock star. Unbelievable.

In the loft, AGL used the bottom half of a guitar, some pedals and a harmonica to make this bone-polished, lovely thing, lots of tones interacting in glittery ways. His set kind of shimmered, I hear he also freaked out and threw shoes around. I was listening from downstairs, so I don't know.

The show was capped at either end with the delectable Alchemical Burn . Kenn used mics and voice more than in the past, and it's really working for him. The dude has some serious understanding of sound, because though I've seen lots of people play with feedback, I've never seen it so controlled. Kenn plays electricity the way other people play piano. It's a crazy thing to see.

The crowd was big and live all night. sicksicksick has some amazing merch, laithe-cut records that look a bit like circular saws, clear records, tapes, mini discs, CDs. Go to sicksicksickdistro.tk to see some of it.

Also, I've developed a taste for Pabst Blue Ribbon. No irony. No lie.

death//convention will be performing an audio/visual set on Monday at the Curio if anyone's interested.

Also, if I failed to mention anyone, chime in.

Sounds pretty fantastic.

quote:

Originally posted by boomhead:
Then, Mammal Eggs . Never seen em before but will catch again for sures. A violin, a drummer and a guitarist, two vocals... prog folk? Maybe a little Animal Collective-y. They played on the porch that runs along the side of the building. We stood on the ground underneath them. One little guy sat atop a van. You couldn't ask for better wind effect. "Um, wind? Could you pick up right here and blow the trees around when we start going really fast, and then stop all of a sudden when we stop? And then could someone's cell phone ring a pretty ring in the audience during our brief pause, and the person will say in a low voice "hello?" and then we'll start playing again and you, wind, will come back in for a big finish? Thanks."

He he, you nailed it.

abq is the best city in the world.