Club Kolis is an old club in the Archway area of London, the aged dark atmosphere
was fitting for the gig. Upon arrival Robin Chuter had some excellent pen and
ink drawings on display, these were on A3 sized paper and others sprawled over
record covers. The work was good to see and more can be seen here.
First
act was a Belgian project called In Search of Death, named after the seminal
Atrax Morgue release. This is the project of Xavier H who runs Death Continues
Records of whom I own a release by their excellent Nekrofellatio project. Xavier
constructed an impressive, intense passage of sound through his laptop and
effects.
Next
up was who I came to see ACL, aka Antichildleague. I am very familiar with
their releases, but didn’t know what to expect in a live context. ACL proceeded
to deliver a sonic tantrum of a performance heightened by a throwback to the extreme
emotional context of the project’s classic debut Hellworm. Samples and noises
were shot through lines of effects. Battered, Miked up cymbals were whipped and
hit with chains to give shattered eruptions over the electronic hell. ACL
delivered a conceptually loaded, highly strung, vicious display of violent electronics.
The
incredibly pissed off Dead Normal shuffled up the variety even more. They used
Power Electronics with blasts of distortion working as Beats. The male vocals
were sarcastic demonstrating shitty attitude, the female vocals were cutting,
clear, very angry and cold. The sheer assault of Dead Normal is intrusive, fucking
horrible and hateful. The combative, relentless sonic abuse of the electronics
provided an abusive backing. This was an ugly, nasty sound, the vocals taunted,
accused, exposed hypocrisy and because of that, they did a good job. Dead
Normal works well as a whole, I was left with a lot to think about, this was an
impressive London debut.
The Black Scorpio Underground dragged things down to the abyss. They gave the most
hellish performance of the night. The candle lit setting ensured Joe Truck Kasher
delivered a ritualistic display of noise, he chanted hysterically; whipping
himself into a frenzy with a shredding display of sound that seemed freshly
churned from the bowels of hell. I’ve heard many of Kasher’s projects, but BSU
in a live context and on record is very impressive.
Sutcliffe
Jügend were synchronized through their matching clothes, this gave that
extra touch. I’d heard some earlier material, but didn’t know what to expect in
a live context. Their set rumbled around in complex layered lower frequencies
with massive eruptions of sound. Paul Taylor’s digital guitar work was
impressive, building up a structured impressive set. This wasn’t what I
expected, it wasn’t instant, it had a slow build up, it was incredibly layered and there
were a lot of intricacies woven into the sound. Rather than just massive
displays of rage, there seemed a wide range of emotions happening beyond the
usual. Their final track Shame build up towards an explosive sonic climax.
Choppy Noodles 2017
