Alterity 101: A Weekend Of Krautrock, Psychedelia And Dub

Friday, 7.27.12. Incredible show hosted by the Rat and Raven and booked by Michelle "Mama Casserole" of Comet Tavern booking fame. This tribute to krautrock featured the talents of heavy hitters such as Blue Light Curtain, Midday Veil, Terminal Fuzz Terror, Jupe Jupe, DJ Veins and Explorateur, and a dude from the Low Hums (doing a cover of "It's a Rainy Day (Sunshine Girl)" to open the show). Films were projected on the walls, depicting live concert footage by Can, Amon Duul, Faust, etc, and German themed specials rolled out of the kitchen all night long. Perhaps the height of the night was BLC's cover of "Trance Europe Express" by Kraftwerk, just stunning...
An amazing night of undisputed talent should have drawn a much larger crowd. Heed my words, people, Michelle will be doing this again, and you should be sure not to miss the next installment.
Saturday, 7.28.12, the trip continued as Dull Knife and Peaking Lights took the stage at Barboza, beneath Neumoes. This was my first visit to this newish venue and I was favorably impressed. Small but not cramped, intimate and appropriately lit for a drone dub excursion into otherworldly states.
Dull Knife played what may be the best set I have ever seen them do, trading deep, reverbed drones and hazed out ritualistic vocals, at times reminding me of Ain Soph. The set built layer upon layer of sounds, bass and treble struggling for hegemony, and slowly subsided after reaching peak trance mode. Truly stunning sounds from these local treasures.
Peaking Lights opened with a compelling, head nodding track that sounded like nothing so much as a mash-up of Throbbing Gristle and Lee Perry, dark, dubby, and irresistible. The quality dropped a little after this, and sound problems complicated things, but as much as I prefer their earlier, more drone oriented work, this was a pretty stellar performance from these cats.