There's a first time for everything. This is my first article about my time seeing Melt-Banana.
Lets start with Ay Fast, though, the first musical act of the night. With quick transitions and heavy house bass tracks, Adrian Bertolone went from Sega Genesis space age RPG to crazy acid club tunes and everywhere in between. This is definitely something to check out if you're a fan of Squarepusher.
Although the show's attended was initially light, the next act sparked the interest of a growing crowd. Consisting of only baritone sax and blasting metal drums, the group surprised us all with a truly unique sound that involved heavy droney repetition and Eastern influences. Unfortunately when they introduced themselves, the announcement was so heavily masked by effects you couldn't tell what was said.
Lesionread aka Shawn Lewis, Buffalo's freak out electronic DJ, followed next. Known for bringing something new to the table every show, Shawn Lewis built a 15 ft tall robot, erected off to side of the stage, who interacted with the crowd between songs by talking with Lesionread, only to later be destroyed in the parking lot shortly thereafter. Over the course of his performance, Lewis ordered everyone in the room to run in a circle, gave away the "eat my vag" he wore, and made all of us lay on the floor. Lewis continues to create a new experience for each one of "her "shows.
Finally, Melt-Banana, the chaos from Japan, brought the show to its energetic climax. Playing only as a two piece and controlling the backing tracks with a brightly color gamepad, each song turned those in attendance into quite the agressive, thrashing bunch until everything was just motion with distorted squealing guitar pounding with heavy, out of control percussion. I hate that you missed it but you'll be at the next one.
~ Post by Bryan Johnson
~ Photo by Cliff Parks
"eat my vag"
Would love to know the name
Of the second band with the saxophone and drums. If anyone has any imfo i would appreciate it
The sax/drums band was "Brain Tentacles": Bruce Lamont & Dave Witte. This tour was their first time playing out.