WORLD PEACE, BERENICE, HELLO KITTY FUNLAND & SLOUGHED
Another evening of quiet, mellow, contemplative music. Or not…
Tonight saw another trip to the Holloway and it was very different to the (excellent) Lande Hekt show yesterday. For tonight, it was power-electronics, grindcore, crust-sludge-hardcore and powerviolence…
Unlike my gig buddies, I quite enjoyed openers Sloughed’s grating power electronics but, if I am honest, there was absolutely nothing remotely resembling a song. Yeah, yeah, I know, songs aren’t the point of this kinda thing but other exponents of the style (Italian Books, for example) make a harsh noise that is still listenable. I suspect I won’t be rushing to see the duo again.
I’ve seen HELLO KITTTY FUNLAND a few times now. The best thing about this young band is drummer Sybie (as she was in her previous band, Queen Dogs). That said, guitarists/vocalists Carlos and Alfie have progressed a lot since I first saw them and, whilst their take on grindcore isn’t anything I haven’t heard before, I do enjoy it.
I’ve also seen BERENICE before and was not impressed. Tonight, however, was an entirely different matter as the five piece played a glorious mash-up of sludge, hardcore and crust. Heavy, grinding intensity of the highest order.
WORLD PEACE played almost certainly the shortest headline set I have seen. The two bassists, drummer and vocalist playing 15 minutes of fierce, cleansing powerviolence. Whilst the brevity of the set was not unexpected, I would have welcomed a (slightly) longer show but there can no faulting the ferocity and commitment.
