Black Mass VI

Eric Knipstine Deserter Humans dante augustus scarlatti Pendra Gon Hail Architeuthis! March 30, 2010 The Bishop Bloomington, IN Recorded by Ben Myers Stream/Download This month Black Mass showcased several artists from the Auris Apothecary label, curators of the monthly event. As it was the first performance for four of the artists, technical difficulties arose and were mostly overlooked or incorporated into the performances. Eric played a pair of rather atmospheric keyboard pieces. Deserter maintained a sizable presence of sound pressure, causing fingers in the ears and me reaching for my earplugs, to be worn the rest of the night. His eulogies to fallen heroes reverberated with the safety meeting we had out back while he set up. Humans are an odd bunch. The spaces between the songs are frequently as long as the songs themselves, punctuated by feedback and what seem to be false starts or stuttering introductions. The songs themselves are quirky bursts of punk energy and dissonance akin to the Amphetamine Reptile family...meaning good stuff. das seemed to be having trouble but persevered through it. I stood mesmerized by the flipping and slowly changing image projected by his reel-to-reel. Eventually I realized that the image was slowly changing because the film was melting and smoking. I wish I could attach the scent to the audio digitally; it appended the aural and tactile experiences of das to somewhere between discomfort and the comforting of sweet. Next to strain eardrums came Pendra Gon. His rhythms are nice, and combine with the atmospheres to make an odd but nostalgic sound, however the sheer volume of the performance caused a few people to leave to the bar. Others of us stayed and enjoyed. Hail, as usual, slayed. Bruce kept touching me with his headstock. Last time I sat directly in front of the bass drum and with each kick I felt a punch of air. The vocals came through a hundred times more clear than last time. I don't want to post everybody's link so I'll take you to Auris Apothecary where you can locate information on the whole deal.