Jul22 Oxford/ Nisennenmondai,​ Elapse-O + From Light to Sound

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Please come to my friend's night

NISENNENMONDAI (Japan)
ELAPSE-O
FROM LIGHT TO SOUND

Weds 22 July
Wheatsheaf, Oxford

£5 /4.50 in adv

Tickets available
http:​/​/​www.​wegottickets.​com/​event/​52185

more info
http:​/​/​www.​myspace.​com/​pgnbevvies

/Watch
http:​/​/​www.​youtube.​com/​watch?​v=​ngDTWo2ICbA
http:​/​/​www.​youtube.​com/​watch?​v=​M0MCRBdNRE8
/Listen
http:​/​/​www.​myspace.​com/​nisennenmondai
http:​/​/​www.​myspace.​com/​elapseo
http:​/​/​www.​myspace.​com/​fromlighttosoun​d


NISENNENMONDAI "With walls of distortion and a pummeling rhythmic backbone that fluctuates between krautrock..s repetition and free-rock calamity, bassist Zai, guitarist Ma-Chan and drummer Hime have formed an unassuming juggernaut.” -- Stephen Christian, Dazed & Confused “I am in love with them.” -- Prefuse 73 Nisennenmondai is: Sayaka Himeno (drums) Yuri Zaikawa (bass) Masako Takada (guitar) Smalltown Supersound is extremely proud to introduce Nisennenmondai to audiences outside of Japan for the first time. Nisennenmondai,​ which means “Year 2000 Problem,'' is an instrumental trio of girls from Tokyo who have been playing together for ten years. Visits to Tokyo by Lightning Bolt, Battles, and No Age, to name a few, have discovered these three girls and their colossal sound. Prefuse 73 said in an interview with Dazed & Confused, “John Stanier from Battles had told me they were sick. . . They started to play and the drummer was as big as my hand. She started to play 16th notes on her hi-hat for about 15 minutes. Next thing you know, these three tiny diminutive women were making us look like idiots because they were so incredible.” Also adored by Hella, the band appears in “Concentration Face,” Hella’s tour DVD that was shot in Japan. Neji/Tori is Nisennenmondai’​s first release outside of Japan. It is an album comprised of their two Eps, “Neji” and “Tori,” and it features a cover designed by Kim Hiorthoy. Song titles including “This Heat,” “Sonic Youth” and “Pop Group,” grant insight into the realm of the band’s musical influences. Add in Black Flag, DNA, Neu! and Pere Ubu, and you are pretty close to reaching the Nisennenmondai sound. They play raw and repetitive post-punk instrumentals that are simultaneously wild and groovy with a no-wave/disco vibe.

ELAPSE-O
'Chronic death disco. Sound like a battle to be signed to skingraft records between Swans, Liars and Merzbow' -Room 237

FROM LIGHT TO SOUND
In their words 'Melodic, controlled, uplifting instrumentals, tempered with an edge of aggression'. Feat. members of Ox bands Sunnyvale and The Workhouse
*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​!​!​PGN 4!! *​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​*​ New PGN Compilation on the way for July 2009 /Including tracks from: That Fucking Tank, Elapse-O, Shield Your Eyes, Papier Tigre, Hreda, Don vito, Ice Sea Dead People, Chickenhawk, Pneu and more...

 

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Next Wednesday

 

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REVIEW

House Of John Player, From Light To Sound, Elapse-o & Nissenmondai at The Wheatsheaf, Oxford, UK, 22nd July 2009

Poor Girl Noise is a promotion run by Tom Quarterman that favours bands with an experimentalist, noise slant and has been running for several years in and around Oxford. The two previous events I have attended left me with a noticeable hearing loss the following day and this latest gig was to be no exception.

First up was one-man band House Of John Player - Dean Spencer from Bletchley, UK. He set the pace with a clever looping echo sound over electronic drums that I watched from the middle of the audience amongst some older looking chaps who were feeling the tunes he built up as much as myself. To my surprise, as Dean finished to an appreciative applause, the group in the audience around me moved towards the stage and started setting up their gear. Turns out they were the next act – From Light To Sound.

I moved up to the front of the audience to watch this band as they looked hilarious. At the front, facing towards one side of the stage, stood the singer and keyboardist who filled the room with sub heavy bass sounds. The remaining three guitarists and drummer – all a lot older than the singer – took up traditional positions and the whole ensemble looked particularly geeky and odd. They proved that they could play though and one moment in particular at the end of the second song saw the central guitarist switching up and properly rocking out which genuinely took me by surprise. The rest of the set was decent but not particularly thrilling.

Elapse-o set their Mac laptop and two guitars up next and altogether looked far more appropriate as a cutting edge band. Only two human members make up the group and they form interesting soundscapes together with screeching feedback and marked the moment where my ears took a battering as is traditional at PGN gigs! I’ve seen this group once before and thought they were ok. I’ve been told by people in the know that they are probably the best band in Oxford and they are certainly good but still didn’t really get me as excited as I would like. Perhaps this was deliberate though as the headline act which followed benefited from the sequence of these previous bands’ sounds – something that only became apparent at the very end.

Nissenmondai (which means ‘year two thousand problem’) took to the stage next as part of a series of their first UK gigs. This band from Japan are hotly tipped by fellow avant-garde experimentalist bands who have toured over there and the packed crowd were expecting something special. They were not to be disappointed as the three diminutive girls began playing their instruments – guitar, bass guitar and drums. A long looping guitar echo intro to the first song was broken by the sound of drums and suddenly all eyes were on the drum kit and the top knotted girl behind them. She wowed the whole place with her energetic and original playing which really was a treat to witness. The group performed three long dancey numbers which genuinely sounded like electronic music rather than a band imitating minimal or tech house. Frankly they made the three previous bands look very ordinary and the sound the audience made as they finished reflected this.

Hopefully Nissenmondai will go from strength to strength and play more gigs in the UK at the bigger venues their sound deserves. Drummers and drumming are always the key highlight to all the PGN gigs I’ve been to and successful Oxford band The Foals (whose drummer is the stand out) originates from Tom’s group of friends. As a place to see some of the best drumming in the world you could do a lot worse than checking one of his shows out.

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