By Andrew Bansal
November 1st 2013, The Complex, Glendale CA: Following a very successful event featuring Windhand, Pendulous and A’rk at the same venue around six weeks ago, local underground promoters EarSplitters returned to the Complex last night for their next show, an intriguing lineup that boasted of Boise, Idaho based atmospheric doom/drone band Wolvserpent, black/stoner metal quartet Murk Rider from San Luis Obispo, and Los Angeles experimental noise duo Actuary. Fellow Los Angeles outfit Ides Of Gemini was originally supposed to be the main support act but they had to cancel last minute due to some health issues with their drummer, so were were left with three bands and the show started an hour later than the scheduled start time of 9:30 PM. Finally at 10:30, all was in readiness for the event to begin.
Actuary played a 20-minute set of what I could only describe as noise. It merely consisted of two guys sitting on stage and turning a bunch of switches to generate a variety of noise bits. There’s a whole genre dedicated of this style, but I don’t understand it. There’s no structure, melody or expression to it. But that’s just my opinion, and if there are people who enjoy this stuff, more power to them.
Actuary ended their set at 10:50 and there was supposed to be a long wait before the next band’s 11:30 set start, but thankfully, Murk Rider began quite a bit earlier than that at 11:18, and played a set that very much felt like a journey. Black metal is the most prominent element in their music but it’s laden with plenty of stoner rock, clean guitar and spoken word segments. Their lyrics are about Shamans, heroes and mythical journeys, and the music certainly creates the kind of atmosphere to represent that expression. They played for around 50 minutes, and that would be my only criticism of their performance, the feeling that they played for a little too long. Their set had tremendous impact up until the 35-minute mark but began to stretch thin after that. With that said, I was definitely impressed by Murk Rider and all I’d say is, their live show would be more powerful if served in a smaller dose. Get a taste of their music below, with a 2012 live rehearsal demo of a 21-minute track called ‘Descent’.
Visit Murk Rider on the web at:
murk-rider.bandcamp.com
The headline act Wolvserpent took the stage promptly at half-past midnight. The first few minutes of their live performance were spent in building the atmosphere the duo requires to present their music, as Brittany McConnell played the violin, the fog machines were going at full blast, and guitarist/vocalist Blake Green blew on an incense candle-type thing to further enhance the smokey vibe inside this small room. Despite the minimalist approach of the actual musicianship, their performance was extremely powerful and had a strong sense of ritualistic spiritualism to it. Everyone in attendance here had a look on their faces, a look which showed that their minds were being blown away. Brittany switched between the drums, violin and one or two other wind/percussion instruments during the set while Blake focussed on the guitar and very occasional vocals, along with a couple of unconventional instruments of his own.
Never have I seen a band that expressed so much with the use of such a minimal quantity of musical notes. It’s amazing to think that such talent is hidden in places like Boise, Idaho, and credit goes to Ear/Splitters for unearthing them for us here in Los Angeles, along with Relapse Records for signing the band and releasing their new album ‘Perigaea Antahkarana’. I’m absolutely blown away by this band, and just to give you an idea of what it was like last night, I’ve embedded below a 21-minute track of theirs called ‘In Mirrors Of Water’.
Overall, this was an extremely interesting and diverse lineup of bands put together by EarSplitters. The only disappointment was the turnout, which wasn’t nearly as good as what it was for the Windhand show. I feel like I’m having to repeat myself a lot in my reviews when I talk about the turnouts, but I did see a lot of familiar faces in the audience so there’s certainly a small community that supports and will continue to support these shows.
Visit Wolvserpent on the web at:
wolvserpent.com
facebook.com/wolvserpent
wolvserpent.bandcamp.com
Visit EarSplitters on the web at:
facebook.com/EarSplitters
twitter.com/EarSplitters
instagram.com/Ear_Splitters
Visit the Complex on the web at:
ComplexLA.com
facebook.com/ComplexLA
twitter.com/ComplexLA