No Fun Fun.

No Fun Fest is this weekend. I'll be there all three nights. I've said this before and I'll say it again, Noise in all it's various and sundry forms is more like painting and sculpture than music to me. Some of the racket and glory I'm most looking forward to? First up for the festival is Noveller, aka Sarah Lipstate. Don't have the new record, but what I've heard sounds pretty stellar. No Fun mainman Carlos Giffoni is always a highlight of the festival for me. Really one of the best practitioners of noise EVER. Bastard Noise. Total legends. Heads will roll. Er, skulls that is. Yellow Tears has had a couple great releases on Hospital, including the wonderfully named EP, Piss Mop. I have a good feeling about the live assault. Pedestrian Deposit is one of my fave noise units. Every PD release is essential, and everything he releases on his label Monorail Trespassing betrays a consumate taste. I'm not a total fan of guitarist Rafael Torall, but I do like some of his stuff. The pairing with ever unpredictable (In the best of ways.) C. Spencer Yeh is an inspired one. This could be a disastrous or glorious thing. Either way it's gonna be fun finding out. Can't wait to hear what Mego labelman Peter Rehberg and the ever-mutating Marcus Schmickler come up with. Should be a highlight. Philly's Cold Cave released one of last year's best 7"s, Painted Nails. Difficult to describe what they do, but it's not noise at all. In fact, kind of 80's electrodisco-y, but in a sleazy deathy kinda way. Props to Giffoni for curating them in and to Dom for releasing the 7", so very far off what would seem like both their maps. But if you're listening, not really at all. Emeralds. Oh, my God. Emeralds. One of the strongest performances last year. Muscular drones and galactic voyages. Can. Not. Fucking. Wait. Next to last on Sunday night's bill is the first live performance in the US by Prurient and Kevin Drumm. I've been waiting for this for almost two years. Their meeting on tape, All Are Guests In The House Of The Lord from 2007 was one of my favorite releases from that year and then 2008 and 2009. It is one Southern journey. And I'm not talkin' Georgia. Ooh. And thanks to a last minute cancellation by Merzbow, their set's been extended. Hell, yeah.

There's been some talk this time 'round about this years Fun Fest being "poppier", mostly based on the fact that Sonic Youth and Bardo Pond are on the bill. Oh, stop it. It's gonna be what it always is, a reflection of Carlos Giffoni's taste. And that is a very, very fine and filthy thing. It's on.