Paddock Bash

A Paddock (aka Field) Whittlesea, Nov 9th 2013

Then it was bed time.


Monolith PB2013. Photo by Alyssa McBain.

Much the same as your soul cries out for a bit of guitar after a night on the doof, at 2am I was more than ready for something electronic after a long day of (at best) Avant Garde guitarmanship..
I was in dire need of some beats by the time Monolith arrived and after a nice noisy preamble he delivered big time, rounding off the bash nicely.
Here's a G-Fleck exclusive extract from the performance, it sounds just as good in the cold light of day but was apparently part of a one off  "Techno set".. the "regular" Monolith output is a slightly more minimal noise/drone beast but to me doesn't sound sooo far off this, its  all pretty fucken good and well worth checking out on the Iceage Productions Bandcamp

ahhh those MAD Nannas, I'm no stranger to substance abuse and I know what its like to play when really just standing up is challenging enough...but a set climaxing with the "artiste" passing out on stage after executing two endless atonal "freeform minimalist" ( I'm being kind) pieces will remain the most appallingly entertaining things I've ever seen. Id joked earlier about putting the Nannas on at 1:30 because they probably wouldn't sound any worse when epically wrecked. I was wrong....
How can you fuck up a one note guitar solo??? easy: try and keep trying again and again.

The Gruntled pushed out a well received immersive wash of jam-band drone and were notable for the use of a butter churner, not something you get to see very often in modern rock.

I think Im warming to Encounter Group, they walk that fine line between very cool and very shoddy, its an interesting place for a stroll and tonight they were leaning precariously towards the former, not sure what the Kitchen Floor dude really added with the extra guitar but whatever...

Zond Photo by Rene Schaefer

After the fire was started Aktion Unit did too : seizing their opportunity to have a bash, and a drone...and probably a couple of squeals and a fair bit of whining if truth be known.. they were followed by the mighty Zond who blew what was left (not much) of reality into the sky, best band of the day hands down with extra points for "technical problem hissy fits" too. That was about the time I realised I had bought along a pocketful of flat batteries and would have to be happy with taping a couple of brissie pop bands....so I went in disgust to have a (relatively sane) Nanna nap through the PKE/Gravel Samwidge sets.




Im pretty sure I saw a bit of faspeedelay but things were losing their focus a bit by that time, the bonfire was a monster the likes of which I haven't seen since Guy Fawkes night when I was in the 40th Chingford cub scouts,  it lit up the night and damn near torched one of the aforementioned "artistes" who got far closer than I dared, I swear I saw smoke coming off his jacket as my eye brows singed at a safe distance.

The mid arvo QLD contingent continued with Kitchens Floor and an unlikely and very unruly mosh developed,  indicating some of the bash "artistes" had begun their run at the rider a little early...and what a rider ! a tent full of booze that would put most provincial bottleshops to shame..

Extrafoxx had a couple of Big Star/Teenage Fanclub (depending upon your age/side of the atlantic) moments of bliss and (apparently) a Simpsons lyric, and the sun kept on shining and all was good.

Bodies and Sewers did their stuff.

Unfortunately Map Ends are not so organised, but who cares if your singer and drummer missed the bus? No worries: you can still knock out a swift impro set with a press ganged drummer and a couple of monster-riffs.

More Amazing: Things are running to schedule and Tangrams are in full flight as we enter the paddock.

The Sun Shines.