Got to Casa too late to see Âmes Sanglantes. That’s a shame cause after catching his set at Iceage’s gig a couple weeks prior I was really looking forward to my second helping! The place was too crowded to see Margaret of Pharmakon from the back of the room and she was already well into it. “It” being some of the fiercest, most infectious power electronic/industrial heard in a while. She dished out one long, heavy, deep throbbing jam. Sick, scary, transcendant vibe that massaged your innards. Awesome!

Next we had Marshstepper who I was not familiar with but who quickly left an impression. They’re a scorching power electronic/ industrial duo mixing heavy, slow, crawling electro rumble and pummeling rythm all toped with some crazy, heavily treated screamed vocals. In line with Sword Heaven, “thank your lucky stars” era Whitehouse and later day Prurient. They gave an intense, headbanging, physical performance. Brilliant

Taking the stage next was Dream Affair who conjured up some genuine early 80’s vibe. Punk like early the Cure were, goth like early Sisters of Mercy were and pop like early Modern English were. If you don’t get the references hit your search engine people! They very aptly took the sounds and vibes of all aformentionned bands and blended them seamlessly. They apparently didn’t captivate as much of the crowd as previous acts did and that’s a shame coz the effort and energy they mustered deserved more attention.

This lead us to the event headliner, Lost Tribe. From the looks of the boys and girl onstage I surmised that we were in for some crusty punk vibes. I was right on the money! Instantly brought to mind Zygote and 2000 Dirty Squatters with that gloomy, goth inflected slant on Amebix style crust punk. Also discernable was that heavy, anthemic Tragedy touch. The whole thing came out sounding heavily reverbed and noisy/ distorted; almost reaching Mainliner/ Air Conditioning earsplitting levels. That whole mix of sounds and influences struck me as quite exciting and novel; but then I got home and gave their album a spin! It became apparent quite fast that the noise element was completely unintended, a fluke, a result of room acoustics and amps being cranked too high. It’s a shame coz the resulting effect was a major winner in my book. Great band nonetheless! Lots of energy and smoke machine fog!

The whole night was very satisfying and instructing. I never would’ve guessed that punks nowadays(at least the ones that attended this event) are hip to harsh noise and power electronics. Easy access, online music opening minds and disolving the style/clique barriers I suppose! Way to go!

– Wag

Editor’s note: dig noisy and heavy sounds? Catch Wag on the air every week as he hosts Skewing the Waves, Saturdays from 11pm – midnight. Max listening volume recommended.