Obey Convention IV Day 3: Meat Curtains, Mess Folk, Ultrathin, Homostupids, and U.S. Girls at Khyber Ballroom, 29/05/10

The biggest and most [good spirited] violent show of the festy. All out destruction and bad ass behaviour. Thank goodness I left Dog Day early and got to see Meat Curtains (how can you say no to a girl band called Meat Curtains?). Abrasive I-don't-give-a-fuck crude songs, I haven't been able to get the line I hate rock 'n roll / I'm so bored of these three chords out of my head. This is the band I always wanted to be in if I wasn't tone deaf. This would be the band I'd go to see every time they played if I lived in Halifax. Mess Folk were kind of the other end of the spectrum to Meat Curtains re: their songs which were all about manly things and beating chicks 'n shit. It was pretty great and energetic though. Ultrathin had to play a short set unfortunately but everyone made the most of it and brutalised their bodies in preparation for Homostupids who tried their very hardest to keep their instruments strapped to their bodies and their mics close-ish to their mouths amongst the chaos that was the circle pit. U.S. Girls took it down a notch, to be honest I left half-way through her set 'cos I couldn't keep my eyes open much longer but what I stayed for was good and I do like her record, too. Party.

















http://www.myspace.com/meatcurtainsband
http://www.myspace.com/messfolk
http://www.myspace.com/ultrathinmtl
http://www.myspace.com/homostupids
http://www.myspace.com/usgirlsss

Obey Convention IV Day 2: Catbag, Duzheknew, Dirty Beaches and Slim Twig at Khyber Ballroom, 28/05/10

Show 3. Probably one of my favourites. (The show where I had a flash shadow problem.) Everyone was good, everyone was great. Also the show I realised that Halifax really knows how to put shows on. And everyone dances and doesn't just stand there and act like an invalid or like they're too cool to do anything but bounce their chins (hello, Sydney). Totally dug Catbag. It was sloppy and roomy and interesting (thanks, brass instruments) and had good rhythms to get into. Duzheknew are all post-punk/new-wave glory and 'got all Sloan on us' (not my words. I also never realised that Sloan were from Halifax!).

Dirty Beaches and Slim Twig were absolutely top shit. Dirty Beaches had this excellent Western cowboy thing going on, some say it's 'scuzz pop'. Either way, 'tis excellent. Slim Twig was electric. It was sharp and sounded like shattered glass reforming into a sheet. That makes no sense. I loved it. I LUFF IT.












http://www.myspace.com/catbagsurfpunk
http://www.myspace.com/duzheknew
http://www.myspace.com/dirtybeaches
http://www.myspace.com/slimtwig

Obey Convention IV Day 1: Buddha Box 2.0 and Pierre Bastien at Khyber Ballroom, 27/05/10

I missed the first guy and walked in to a crowded room: how nice it is to see a city (of only about 350 000!) pack out a good sized room. Every other show I've been to as part of this festival has been well attended too. Buddha Box 2.0 was inspired by a 200-piece guitar orchestra, this appropriation had 5 participants (4 guitars, 1 bass). They began sort of ambient/droney before getting into full-fledged drone feedback. It was really good but it kind of didn't go anywhere - it felt like they were just getting started when they finished and I wish it went a bit longer. Pierre Bastien (France) was, well, amazing. With real-time visuals (that were actually quite beautiful in themselves) he had a set-up of meccano machines, what looked a bit like a morse-code device, maybe a conveyor fan belt, and various other thingies (what expertise I possess!) along with some sort of trumpet. All I wanted to do was e-mail one of my old professors for a Sound + Culture class I once took raving about his genius. Standing ovation well deserved.

http://www.myspace.com/zacharyfairbrother
http://www.myspace.com/pierrebastien9 / http://www.pierrebastien.com/