Despite the anti-climactic nature of his soundscapes, opener Rene Hell was a musical wash, like a night in bed after a good day swimming in the ocean…
His music is the ocean – steady 4/4 beats and deep, undulating bass anchor the ebb and flow of ambient noise, occasionally crashing like a wave and scattering schools of bleeps and bloops through the speaker channels.
I found myself bracing for Hell to break loose, but his music, like the ocean, has no resolution. It just keeps going and going. For that short set, I was glad to float.
Once No Age hit the stage, the real hell broke loose. Dean, Randy, and some other husker dude on etcetera electronics, performed with blistering energy and volume – igniting, then burning out, then igniting again, speeding through selections from each of their albums. They were so into it, they didn’t notice their constant PA problems, which were pretty annoying, but fortunately, didn’t taint the actual set. Their wistful, feedback pop is refreshingly non-intellectual, a visceral visit to the fountain of Sonic Youth. My personal favorite was Sleeper Hold; its chorus “with passion, it’s true” couldn’t sum up the night any better.
This article appears in 2010.