Ric’s Cafe - Sat Oct 5

Tonight’s free experimental/noise rock extravaganza at Ric’s kicks off with Canberra free jazz and dubstep-influenced post-rockers Spartak. Opening with a lengthy instrumental improvisation, the two-piece’s music is at times as unworldly as it is alternately ambient and intense. Armed with two Mac laptops and a plethora of effects pedals, singer/guitarist Shoeb Akhmad is clearly in a universe of his own as he generates atmospheric soundscapes and distant, disembodied vocals, while drummer extraordinaire Evan Dorrian cooks up complex jazz and drum & bass rhythms. A small but appreciative crowd laps up every gentle hi-hat brush and haunting guitar sample as Spartak go from quiet to loud and back and beyond.

Following a brief intermission, local noisemongers No Anchor proceed to obliterate the venue with their brand of thick, heavily distorted grooves, delivered with unparalleled aggression. The duo, who describe their music as “your body being cut in half by sound alone plus revenge,” waste no time in demonstrating the formula. Flailing around the stage like a man possessed, Iron On alumnus Ian Rogers grinds out super-fuzzy bass riffs that range from slow and droning to fast and furious; on tracks like Drone Me Out Pt.1, he screams “Bloody hell!” like a banshee while sticksman Alex whacks his kit with clinical precision and power. No Anchor’s debut CD Fire Flood And Acid Mud has already been named among the standout Brisbane albums of 2008 and tonight, we are reminded that the city’s pressure and heat produce little rough diamonds (to paraphrase John Birmingham) that shine in a live setting.

DENIS SEMCHENKO

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