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A
few years ago, I picked up a copy of Erotica called Eros ex Machina:
Eroticizing the Mechanical. Throughout Saturation Bombing 2, I kept
referring back to this concept that I was in a room full of people who love
noise and, as such, coined the atmosphere truly Eros Machina. I, for one,
estimate that it will take about 4 weeks to wipe the music drool off my face.
By then, there should be enough metal decay to show the permanent aftermath of
the festival. Truly, I was very impressed by the efforts of TIK, Sub-session
and their battery of volunteers, DJs and performers. They had an international
following after [tik] co:man:d [sic] and now with SB2, I am expecting
more great shows in the future including, I hope an SB3. As Squid stated on
Saturday night: " I hear that we are being called the North American
Machinefest, and soon they will be called the European Saturation Bombing".
With such a stellar lineup and some fine-tuning, this is potentially not far
off. I met people from New York, Florida, California, all over Canada, and
Europe. The vibe was incredible as performer after performer displayed the vast
diversity of the noise, ambient and industrial genres combined with great
visuals and stage presence. Plus, the performers simply became the audience
after their sets, thus adding to the unique festival intimacy. If you were
looking for challenging music that could equally break your heart with ecstatic
celebratory sounds and then crunch you with heart attack pings, this was the
festival to attend.
My totally biased and unashamed view of the
individual acts:
I was unable to review the plethora of DJs as I was
busy talking, drinking and buying CDs in between sets.
Thursday:
Pre-game show (free) Elektroz: I sense some smerk influence here.
His promotion crew made sure that nary a DJ or other performer left
empty-handed: Demos for everyone. He fittingly sampled Exhaile's "Open the
doors". Free excellent fresh start music.
Consume: His wonderful
Prairie self-effacing humour shows up in his set. He is burgeoning. Definitely
wins best heckler award putting even the most vocal Yann to the sidelines.
Weave: I missed this set. If anyone else wants to provide a comment,
please do. I will visit their site for penance.
Friday:
Prospero: Wade is always mark on with his heady bass drum and
samples. It was a delight to hear some new stuff. I seem to own everything he
has made and will continue the trend based on this performance.
Prospero
with Dark Dancer: (Extinct) Ethereal naughtiness. Who said noise had to be
just boyz and their twisting noby toys. The audience moved 3 feet closer when
she got on stage and sang her part.
Empusae: They played all new
exquisite tracks and no Melkor to be heard. I was completely fine with that
decision considering the CD has been much adored by me for weeks on end. They
also win the best promotion coup having everyone from organizers, to other
performers to audience members wearing their insect t-shirt all weekend.
Ah Cama-Sotz: Absolute Texture. He has been a mainstay in the noise
scene for over 10 years. Infectious. In awe. The old horror film visuals with
the middle-eastern tones in tracks proved that noise is far more diverse even
in one act. Within the layers of thick heavy sounds there were some delicate
touches of Hildegard von Bingham influence. (I hope I don’t get sent to
noise hell for that comment.)
This Morn’ Omina: Oh the
Beautiful multi-layered, live percussion mixed with intense beats. If you know,
One-Eyed Man, their other work is even more enticing. Open the rest of the door
and venture in. I was on my way to shin splints from dancing already, and well,
this act made it all worthwhile especially with their tribal
undertones.
Saturday:
Aiden Baker: I missed this set.
If anyone else wants to provide a comment, please do. I will visit his site for
penance.
Re_agent: Crunch and die. In my opinion, this was no virgin
performance especially with Displacer and Prospero at hand. I am expecting good
things from the next performances. Hopefully, time will earn him later sets as
the audience was barely danced up for the quality. I have been party to full
dance floors at Savage for Re_Agent tracks. The visuals were second in my books
simply because the lyrics from the tracks were imbedded in the horror
samplings.
Liar’s Rosebush: The slow bridge was a bit
disconcerting at first, however, it just goes to show that intensely brilliant
in the ambient is just as inviting as the manic beats of the hearty noise of
his other work. (Approximately 3 tracks were played)
Scrap.edx:
Hands down, I was blown away by their dynamic, gradually more intense noisy
performance. They had the best visuals of the whole festival. I was dancing and
completely mesmerized by the music as well as tight editing style and the
political commentary of the visuals. Also, I am wondering if Matt’s stand
has springs or if he was just damn lucky that it did not topple as he pummeled
it.
Iszoloscope: This is my third time hearing Yann perform. He
makes it look so effortless with his smile and audience interaction, yet the
music is so wonderfully composed with harsh beats that my feet still hurt.
Mono No Aware: Tough military industrial crunch. His energy was
incredible for the night’s closure. He also lost his voice from yelling
over his pre-recorded vocal layers. I wasn’t sure that any act could top
the other folks in the night, but he was unbelievable. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Sunday:
Horchata: Ambient-ish. Perfect to ease the audience
in after solid nights of partying. Truly a pleasure. I must say, can anyone
tell me why Horchata has visuals all about larvae and insects when the next act
was….
Larvae: Some of their samples were not what you expected
at all, almost pop-music like but a perfect foil to the equal parts ambient and
noise breaks. Plus, they had by far the funniest visuals with the
anti-corporate slogans. The Cd is already much loved.
Pneumatic
Detach: They took me by complete surprise. I had planned to tuck into the
back of Savage and rest before Needle Sharing. Relentless. And fitting
considering most acts with their unique styles would completely push limits.
Needle Sharing: The last time I reviewed Needle Sharing, I said that
I would need a defibrillator to restart my heart after the intense attack on
all of my senses. The description still meets the artist. I think he was quite
tired, as this was the end of his tour. Yet, some artists should be so lucky to
have so much vigor and stage presence.
Savage hosted both the free
Pre-bombing night plus the final Day 4 of the festival. The room was built for
events like this. Sneaky Dee’s and the Kathedral’s rooms helped one
friend dub the nights: suffocation bombing because there was no air
circulation. The concrete floor of the Kathedral gave me shin splints. Sneaky
Dees was hot as Hades and after dancing through all the sets, I was truly
saturated. Yet after each night, I went home giddy and thinking to myself: Holy
fuck I cannot believe how amazing the night was plus how fortunate I was for
the experience, not far from home. Booking venues is hard scheduling and cost
balancing. And frankly, in the end, I liked the town tour for the event. My
only complaint about some of the performances was the low lighting. The
background videos alleviated it partially and this certainly did not at all
overshadow the gift of performances or the merit that the festival deserves.
Time, cost and evolution should fix that issue easily for next year. Or, maybe
I have got it all wrong and that was the artist’s choice.
To pull
off an event of this magnitude, tons of promotion and logistics were conducted
both locally and internationally. Organizers ran a tight schedule and bounced
well when there were two last minute cancellations by C2 and
Mortmain. The festival still had 16 acts and 11 DJs. Sadly, as most
concert promoters know, the Toronto audiences seem to only trickle in. That
being said, all the SB2 events were moderately full. For the price of $45.00
the 4-day festival, it was a complete and utter steal for the quality and
amount of music provided. I told Prospero of Sub-session that I would have
easily paid minimum $100.00 for the value that they were offering. What is
value should be a question considered. I constantly hear complaining about no
new music and the high price of major concert tickets, however, when the time
comes for words to meet action, well, there is a silence. Fortunately, some DJs
collect new music and play new music, including local acts, like it is their
only nourishment. It is these people, the promoters and, hopefully, you the
audience who can change that trend. These event organizers pulled off an
incredible coup and I know many of us are walking around today talking about
the performances and the festival. In fact, I am writing this little ditty with
the hope that someone will be inspired to listen to the performers, ask the DJs
questions and maybe, if they can, support the music.
If you missed it
but still want to dive into some of the experience, pick up the Saturation
Bombing 2 compilation from the TIK Table on Fridays at Savage or from their
website. All of the performers and DJs links are there. I have seen a number of
other reviews and photos posted on attendee’s livejournals. I am just a
music and festival fan, not a technical guru or noise expert as such I
recommend the resources below if you have question. I am off to hug my stereo
and continue my saturation drool-fest with my new CDs.
http://www.saturationbombing.org
http://www.sub-session.com
http://www.industrialkollective.com
http://www.livejournal.com/users/tik/friends
Christian,
M. Ed., Eros Ex machina: Eroticizing the Mechanical (New York: Rhinoceros
Books, 1998)
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