Karohemd's World

I'm listening to the EP of Trent Reznor's new project and can't say I'm overwhelmed. It's better than the last NIN album but nothing particularly new or exciting and her voice sends me to sleep. Meh. Then again, it was free, so not much to expect. ;o)

Where to start and how to write it so as not to sound like a complete fanboy? Let's start from the beginning.
I will never be able to understand why it took the UK so long (two years) to really catch on to this superb (for wont of a better word because their music is so much more) EBM band from Germany but they are finally here properly and as the Saturday headliner to boot, at the top where they belong. I wasn't at Infest last year but I'm sure they made a suitable impression on everyone there so that the organisers booked them as headliners.
Their more recent success is undoubtedly at least partly due to the superb track Exterminate Annihilate Destroy with the Dalek sample. The funny thing is that they actually didn't know the source of the sample (Dr Who is virtually unknown in Germany, I only heard about it when I moved over here) - as came to light in an interview on the MissJinny show where they were asked who their favourite Doctor was and they didn't understand the question. ;o)

I'm also glad they were headliner because the sound was perfectly mixed and there were no technical glitches except for the odd feedback or two when Rascal stepped in front of a speaker. I was standing right in front in the center so didn't get the brunt of the main speakers. In fact, psychokatuk's screeches and screams were harder on the ears than anything from the stage. ;oÞ
As with Unter Null, I wasn't sure how exciting the show would be as it's just three people: Rasc on vocals, Gun on keyboards/guitars and Krischan on decks/sequencers and other black boxes as well as backing vocals but they delivered everything I could possibly hope for and more.

Right, the gig: I'm really crap and can't actually remember what song they started with but it took off right away and the audience was up for it from the start, too. I didn't see much of the audience because I was in the front row but there were some serious vibes coming from behind me and much applause and screaming. I do remember they played a nice hard version of Almost Violent (one of my favourites) very early on and there was a really good mix of old and new. Many of the tracks had a remix quality to them so sounded quite different from the CD, even if it was just Rasc changing his singing style.
The frontman is a bit of an animal, anyway, jumping and running across the stage, throwing his furry microphone stand (*shudder*) about, stepping in front the stage and jumping from speaker to speaker (almost kicking kneeshooter in the head at one point) or jumping onto the step on the other side of the security barrier and even jumping the barrier altogether and wander around the audience during one track (argh, which one was it?). Rasc can sing and really connects with the audience and that's exactly what an electronic band needs to distract from the lack of "real musicians" on stage.
If someone asked me which song was the best, I couldn't really tell because they were all performed well indeed but I guess it has to be Storm as the live drumming by Rasc and Krischan added an entire level to the song. They had two electronic drum kits facing away from each other (so the drummers would face each other) and drummed away like mad, Koto style. That worked really well and was a bit reminiscent of Feindflug, although they use real drums. Hm, I wonder what Rotersand would sound like if they added a real drummer like FLA did on the Sunday? Would be cool, no doubt.

Another fine moment was this:
Rasc: "Do you like harsh, industrial music?"
Audience: YAY! *screams* *stomps*
Rasc: "Then this one isn't for you."
Rotersand: *play One Level Down*
which is one of the slow pieces I really like. :o)

Just two photos came out but then again, I didn't really try hard, I was far too busy singing along (literally at one point during Last Ship, when Rasc shoved his microphone into my face and I shouted a "Fiery Skies" for everone to hear - mine was the second as psychokatuk refused ;oÞ):

O.V.N.I.
Although I'm not a big fan of their music, it was good to see them. Their music is coming together nicely now and for Infest, the live vocals made all the difference. There was also enough variation in the songs to keep them interesting. I probably wouldn't buy their CD but I'd watch them again live at another festival or as a support for someone else without fleeing for the hills.
Unfortunately, the only photo that came out is of Daniel Myer who joined them on stage doing stuff with laptop and sequencers to return Steve's favour from the night before:

S.K.E.T.
The first Powernoise act of the festival.
Now, there are two problems with this type of music in a live environment: Watching two blokes bent over a table with black boxes, pushing buttons and twiddling knobs while bobbing along to the beats isn't very exciting to watch (no interaction with the audience) and the average live PA system can't really cope with the dynamic range of Powernoise which means you'll lose out on the intricasies that make this music actually interesting rather than just the thumping beats and screeches.
At least they actually manipulated their music live (unlike Lab4 the night before), i.e. when they pushed a button or twiddled a knob you could actually hear teh change in the music.
Top stuff to listen or dance to at a club but not the most amazing thing live.

Reaper
Harsh Electro/Terror EBM/whatever you call it these days by Vasi Vallis. Not exciting to look at (two "monks" on synths/sequencers and Vasi prancing around the stage like a prat) and the music got boring very quickly. Don't get me wrong, I'd play a track during a DJ set but I probably wouldn't be able to listen through a whole album in one go. No photos because they came out crap.

Unter Null (see separate entry)

Architect
Daniel Myer again, this time with his noise/ambient/electronica project. Unlike Destroid this wasn't much to look at (no vocals, just him and his mate on controls) but the music was ace. Even more than with S.K.E.T. before, all the manipulation was done live and as I understand, there were a few bits that were created completely ad hoc, too. I watched most of it from the back sitting on the stairs as I wanted to reserve my energy for Rotersand so I could watch the soundman who was frantically trying to keep up with all the pitch and volume changes they produced on stage. ;o)
They could have done some more ambient stuff but I guess it was too late in the evening for that and people wanted to dance so that's fair enough.

Rotersand (see separate entry)