Live Music Review //
The Human Fund / Rainbow Knife /
The Sound That Ends Creation /
Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop /
Detcord Noose / Wow Okay Cool
April 20th, 2023
Brown Jug Liquor, Meriden CT
Additional photos can be found in an album here :::
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1231321994264686&type=3
There were a lot of shows happening on this night- seemingly every venue had one- because it was 420, but the one which came to my city seemed to rock the hardest. Right away, I must admit that I enjoyed this lineup going into it because when you have a certain number of grindcore artists on a show it begins to feel like maybe you're going to have a grindcore show. I'm not opposed to watching eight grindcore artists in a row, but the variety with this show just made it feel much more special.
Wow Okay Cool opened up this show and it's still somewhat difficult to define this artist who fit in here a little too well with the grindcore crowd. There is the energy of the music, yes, but it also just also has that distortion and screaming at times where if you were at this show for something loud then this would be perfect for you as it was certainly loud. Somewhere between punk rock and hardcore, the sound of keys make up a lot of this set as well.
To me, music should send good to your ears, yes, but I also think back to when I was younger and I never really said "Their guitarist is so good" and it was more about how the music made me feel. Wow Okay Cool makes you want to get up and dance. It is very in your face. And it is very much connecting on the issues which face our society as we know it today. So, yes, you could connect with this on a musical level, but it's just as important for that rebellious side to also click with you.
Detcord Noose was on second and this was their debut show. A two piece consisting of drummer and guitarist with vocals, somehow they just blew me away. If I hadn't known going into this (thanks Instagram) that this was their first show I never would've guessed it because they were both on the same page delivering murderous metal/hardcore/grindcore noise that had breakdowns which I also really loved.
Musically, to me they just really felt like a sped up version of Liturgy- which doesn't even begin to do their sound justice but was the best my mind could come up with- though they also had a slower song to end on which just showed how complex their music can be as well. Somewhere between Today Is The Day and something on Black Market Activities, Detcord Noose is poised to melt many faces off.
The third set of the night brought us to that halfway point and it was by Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop. This is that pure powerviolence sound where there are beats that can feel like hip hop, but then it gets into short songs that are just screamed out. At one point while banging a metal bowl, some of the metal implements in it came flying out into the crowd and I don't feel like it's a true powerviolence set unless there is that element of danger involved.
There is definitely something about this set that was cathartic to me. I don't know if it's because I've felt this unusual amount of stress the past few weeks and now it's gone, but I really just feel better after hearing this all. I think anyone who has never seen Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop perform live owes to themselves to experience this all at least once because it might just change your life.
The Sound That Ends Creation was up next and was coming to Connecticut all the way from Texas. To think of this in a one-man-band type of sense would be an understatement as this was definitely the harshest of grindcore type sounds. In addition to the sound itself there were also a lot of lights flashing and changing colors at the same time, which made it quite the visual unless you happen to have laser tag ptsd.
Much like my thoughts on Wow Okay Cool, this wasn't just about the music but truly felt like a state of mind. And I don't like to use the word "politics" because I don't think things like basic human rights should be a political issue, but The Sound That Ends Creation seems to have that same sort of mindset about the way things are in this country and how they need to change. The music is there, but this also just really feels like a movement.
Rainbow Knife was on next and this was someone that I had heard of by the name but not heard music from before. This set was very energetic and for some reason reminded me of Horse The Band. I don't always know why I get these influences in my head, but they make sense of some level to me. The sound was very much in your face and by this point in the night, those in attendance were spending time dancing around as everyone seemed really into it.
I also feel like Rainbow Knife had this way of playing music which was not like anything else on the show but also still felt like it was in the grindcore family. It's just so great to be able to hear so much music at once that's so loud but with the artists all being able to stand out from one another as well.
This show was headlined by The Human Fund, who I last saw as a two piece- guitar and drums- but now have added a bassist. Their music was loud and fast, with a cover of "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys in the set early on and then their cover of Daniel Johnston at the end of the show. But I truly enjoy that they seem to have that mentality of just playing it as fast and as loudly as possible and that also helped to tie them in with the other artists on this show.
The end of The Human Fund set also saw a bass drum get smashed, which turned into an impromptu noise set, and it just somehow felt so perfect. All of this music we had experienced this evening, through the words or the sounds, it just felt like something was trying to be destroyed in order to be changed for the better and the physical manifestation of that just seemed to seal the deal.
Wow Okay Cool can be found on Bandcamp here :::
https://wowokaycool.bandcamp.com/
Detcord Noose can be found on Bandcamp here :::
https://detcordnoose.bandcamp.com/album/feb-23-demo
Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop can be found on Bandcamp here :::
https://chop7times.bandcamp.com/album/we-live-as-ghosts
The Sound That Ends Creation can be found on Bandcamp here :::
https://thesoundthatendscreation.bandcamp.com/
Rainbow Knife can be found on Bandcamp here :::
https://bigmoneycybergrind.bandcamp.com/
The Human Fund can be found on Bandcamp here :::
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