Scene and Heard

Fiasco Release Party at Death By Audio, Williamsburg BK

Photos by Derek Evers » With Aa, Cutter and Turbosleaze

Text by Jeremy Krinsley
Posted on October 15, 2008

While some of Fiasco's key constituency couldn't make it for such a late Sunday night show (even on Columbus Weekend), there was plenty of the usual crowd of devout followers who'd made the pilgrimage from the more cloistered corners of Brooklyn to witness what was easily Fiasco in the best shape I'd heard them for the release of their sophomore LP, Native Canadians, out now on Impose Records. At least, it sounded like the best shape I'd heard them after a few Tecates. Their ambitious cut-up hardcore style requires a serious commitment to musicianship, and while I've heard some messy sets in the past, this showed their chops hard at work, Blink182 cover included.

Aa are also in the shape of their lives, having honed every yelp, yap and cymbal roll down to their most infinitesimal details, but doing so without the lethargy that approaches bands with long-brewed material--the set was the most vibrant and energetic I'd ever heard. While they played without their longtime member Nadav Havusha on Sunday, they were with another old member, Mike Colin, fresh back in New York City for med school, filling in the number four spot.

Cutter. People have a hard time, it seems, extracting the word "loud" from any mention of this offspring of The Fugue. I also find it tough to extend the descriptors into more metaphorical realms because the fundamentals of their decibel levels are sound... heavy, heavy sound, that imperiously stomps over their beet-faced frontman's earnest attempts to overthrow the mix. The real ruler of this outfit is probably Ben Greenberg. The Zs/Little Women guitarist is at his most primal in this arrangement, and the stolid, big bass and drum combo he plays against allows for ample room for hardcore temper tantrums.

As a continuation of The Fugue's style of ratcheted-up hardcore, Cutter probably goes farther in testing the limit of aural depravity and death by decibels. Luckily, I wore earplugs.