Skip The Budgie

At last, I think, at last they have somehow managed to force their dark brutal noise onto record! You wouldn't have thought it was possible, this band should only be experienced in the loudest of circumstances and it just doesn't seem right to pigeonhole them into a little plastic disk. Their split 10" inch with hideously slow doom metal band Tractor actually broke my friend's record player when the noise vibrations made the needle jump out of the groove. Tonight I resolve to watch an entire Hunting Lodge set, since I normally run away after a couple of minutes, so this was a chance to be proved wrong, or just deafened, or both. It has been about a year since I did this.

So does it do it for me this time? Well no. The bass sounds great, the drummer is nearly naked and very entertaining, the guitar is shrill and anarchic and the singer, well he sounds like a drunk, crazed lunatic and acts the part. The music veers between messed up fast punk disco and insane noise and I am amazed that any of the band know what is going on, somehow managing to get all the stops, starts and jerky rhythms to synchronise. There are a couple of moments that I quite like, where it all comes together or the guitarist stops his high pitched madness and plays a couple of twisted bluesey licks.

There is comedy here and I appreciate that, especially when the hairy drummer attacks the bass player with a big bear hug. In the last song they all change instruments, the bass player gives his bass to someone in the crowd and lies on the floor with the microphone as a wall of feedback and noise terror marks the end. This is the bit I most enjoy (and not just because I know they're about to finish), because the free noise and feedback seem much more in line with the noise this band makes than the controlled dissonance of their actual songs.

The world's most difficult to Google metal band Thread follow, playing fiercely heavy guitar riffs. They have the world's most stoned drummer and a frontman who stalks the room and creates a semicircle of space in front of the stage as people back out of the way. At the loud screaming bits he tries to lean into the audience but they push him forwards and pretend they hadn't noticed. The bassist has his back to us and shares shouting duties. It's a good noise from just three instruments that develops into more interesting rock breaks with short repeated lyric lines building tension before the next tirade erupts and grabs you by the ears.

When Mugstar take the stage and transport us with wave upon wave of thunderous ostinato rock the energy of the evening steps up a level. They manage to keep the repetition of just one chord interesting and although the actual beat is fast, the harmonies and rhythm develop slowly and create resonances that you only notice because you're expecting future moments to sound like past. A simple riff develops into an extended techno moment, which seems to go on and on, we are all waiting for them to falter, as if the bass player must lose the offbeat at some point - the beat is so fast and he's wandering about the crowd - but he doesn't and when the breaks come they are glorious, the distortion is powerful, each new section driving onwards and upwards. Post rock as dance music? Perhaps. It is a truly uplifting experience anyway.

A cursory glance at my reviews page will show how many times I've seen Geisha play live and a quick read will also tell you that I like them. Lots. It's something about the fast riffing, the volume, the screaming. The way you feel like they are trapped inside your head, on fire and trying to climb out through your eyeballs while the building is falling down. It's the utter madness of it all, the euphoria you feel as if the music itself manages to release endorphins in to your bloodstream. I never go to a Geisha gig and fail to laugh my arse off, albeit a little nervously because it seems rude to laugh when the music is so angry.

Tonight is no exception. Geisha's sound has grown over the last couple of years and is now a lot more than just Fast Thrash Noise With Shouting. There are beautiful moments of clarity and harmony which make the loud parts more satisfying and even elements of more elaborate rock music, complete with delayed-and-effected guitar solos.

There is an 'incident' with Binray, who had been booked to play after the gig. He is kicking off as we leave but the Croft's owner pulls the plug after a few minutes. Apparently people were leaving in droves, mind expansion (or perhaps more fittingly, 'explosion') a bit too much for them or something.

Disappointed at the lack of Geisha albums actually on sale, I take the sampler CD home and am very impressed with the sound. The vocals aren't nearly as loud as I would like, but the overall sound is great. (EDIT: This has now been cancelled: Not sure whether CD's can truly capture the live experience though, which you can hear when they play live on Resonance FM, this Friday the 5th May at 10:30pm.)