No Fun Fest - The Hook, Thurs. May 17, 2007

The No Fun Fest is a Brooklyn musical festival celebrating the dark art of Noise music. Being an effects pedal junkie (yes, i have too many) and a member of what I'd like to think of as a fledgling noise group (shitstorm), I had to at least check out the latest gear and techniques of the so called Kings of Noise. The first band I saw, Lambbread, was straightforward feedback rock, with two distorted guitars, effects, and a drummer. I actually like that sort of shit sometimes. They keep it simple, and focus on making their guitars scream the way they want to with no vocals to distract you (unfortunately no pictures of them tho).

The next band I liked was a combo of Kim Gordon (from sonic youth) on guitar and Yoshimi on drums. They played a sort of dreamy Avante Garde style of Noise that isn't so much about effects as just playing their instruments in a non-traditional manner. Very nice.

Hair Police was total Noisemetal (if that's a real genre) and if you can appreciate metal on some level you might like this band as it adds another level to the music with some circuit-bent keyboard squeals. Plus the bass player has this like super thick bass string for those extra low tones when you need them.



The last band of the night, Painjerk, from Japan, is a more traditional type of Noise sound, with just one guy twisting knobs and making people go crazy. How can you mosh at a Noise show? I don't quite get it, but this was one of the rowdiest shows I've been to in a while. Man, his set was awesome. And that guy on the right in the picture must've been the 'jerk' in Painjerk, because he was constantly giving the audience the finger. Actually I don't even think he was part of the band, but he definitely was pissing everyone off (he even said 'fuck you' to me personally for no reason and I just had to laugh, what a loser! =)