ASPS

Dire Ears, Justin Fuller, ASPS, Multiple Man : Grace Darling, Collingwood, Nov 3rd 2013

Grrrrrr.....got there early I thought, but once again entered a venue while Dire Ears where in full flight, the guy looked different : hair much longer than last time , but that's easily attributed to the hydroponic properties of the lamps..the  P.A volume wasn't up to the job tonight though and there was daylight competing with the halogen so while you could argue it was possible to hear more layers/nuances/parts of the sounds I felt  the overall Impact lost something and it was a bit flat unfortunately.

Justin Fuller is guitarist of Zond (-really looking forward to seeing them  at Paddock Bash 3) but this is the first time Id seen him doing solo stuff, which is quite an achievement since it seems he appears on 8/10 line-ups in melbs......
His set had the closest approximation to dance beats of the night, sort of like 1/2 the fuck buttons (with no space drums (dammnit)) but  twice as much knob twiddling. It was ok but it seemed to go on for ever..im a 20 minute set man these days.....




Id count Chromedome as one of my favourite Melbourne bands (Check out my 2011 phone videos here and here!) , sadly they are no longer around , but one of their vocalist/front persons Andrea Blake is now performing solo as ASPS. The pace is a lot slower, and the energy levels lower than her previous band but unsurprisingly some Chromedome'sh elements remain in the songs. You cant really call this synth-punk...its actually getting close to synth-folk if such a genre has been invented yet.... definitely mood music - where the mood is down ..but not out.
There wasn't enough light so my camera slipped into blurred mode but this song is a pretty good example of the minimalistic cold-water blow-wave siren-songs ASPS do to great effect.

 I enjoyed the short set, but with its unvarying rhythms and not exactly uplifting "haunting" vocal delivery the show was moving into the realm of "Lakes with a frock" by the end and no one wants to go there..

The multiple Men opened with an engulfing wall of noise then swiftly moved on to the industrial bash of one of the many new tunes dished out : dual synth action,  Big Black drum beats and sensible fringes : how can you not love these boys?
I don't pretend to be their no.1 fan but I didn't recognise any of the songs played tonite...its all very different from when I last saw them :  there is guitar on only one or two tracks and the aesthetic is much improved by the twin keyboards..6 strings BAD! 24 keys GOOD! ,,,.the place was pretty packed by the end and there's a single out in December and its hard not to believe good things await them....well better things than  playing in the pokey upstairs room of a Collingwood pub , on a Sunday night. Which  I actually rate as a pretty good achievement in itself, although probly not
what you had in mind when you got your parents to buy you all that gear and spent months writing songs... Any way what is "making it" these days? how do you gauge success?  err where was I? am I arguing with myself again?