Scene and Heard

Noveller record release at Bruar Falls

Drawings by Karen Aragon » Photos by Jacqueline Garet » With Burning Stare Core, Ducktails, and Talk Normal.

Text by Jeremy Krinsley
Posted on September 04, 2009

Sarah Lipstate rang in her Noveller project's Red Rainbows Not Fun Production release in an impressive fashion, performing along with three current luminaries of the outer-psych and noise realms.

It's no exaggeration to say that Talk Normal are playing shows almost every day of late (no doubt in preparation for their own Sugarland due out in October on Rare Books), and their regular outings were evidenced in the deftness with which Andrya Ambro slammed away on her drumsticks at their poor electric guitar, and how ruthlessly their noisy call and response rang through Bruar Falls. Matt Mondanile has largely used Ducktails as a conduit for his ambient instrumental trips with synth and guitar, most notably on his recent self-titled Not Not Fun release, but last Friday saw a song-based Ducktails, replete with choruses, verses, and mainly a flanged guitar for accompaniment.

C Spencer Yeh's Burning Star Core project pushes the outer bounds of both free jazz violin (accompanied by his own organic-sounding drum samples) and sample-skronk, if ever there was one, with tone signals and blathering static colliding and dissipating without any easy reasons. Favorite moment undoubtedly were the five minutes or so in which we were privy to looped takes of Mr. Yeh's vocalized throat noises that to those with eyes closed must've sounded like an epic bout of flatulence, followed, after a quick pause, by "I have one more song," which he did: a tethering six minute violin-layered romp with a disco bass line. Noveller closed the night with her regal ambience on double neck guitar, and all went home sated, ear frequencies buzzing, never to be heard again.