PARIS SHOW REPORT
by Hicham Chadly

Hicham Chadly is from Cairo, Egypt, but he lives in Paris, France, and here's his first ever "show report about shit happening in Paris"!

SONIC PROTEST – Les Instants Chavirés – Paris
March 5th : Pelt / Jérôme Noetinger / Noxagt
March 6th : Mainstream Ensemble / Blood Stereo / DDAA

I spent the few days preceding this ‘mini-festival’ (organized by two of France's finest: Textile Records and Bimbo Tower Records) wondering who came up with its title. Sonic Protest? Protest against what? By the time I arrived to the venue on the outskirts of Paris, I was ready to be handed some sort of ‘manifesto’, especially in these days of steamy controversial debates about the ‘Islamisation’ of France, War(s) on terrorism, bla bla bla. There was no such thing and the first set started on time (a rare thing in Parisian underground ‘spectacles’). People in the audience were still chatting when Pelt took off with their brand of hypnotic post-folk ethno-improv drone utilizing Tibetan bowls, tablas, electric guitars, etc… This being the first time I witnessed this trio live, I had my hopes set quite high, especially after enjoying their last few releases. The set was very pleasant even though it lacked the thickness or depth (psychedelically speaking) I was hoping for. In fact, there’s no way one could watch these guys without thinking of the Sun City Girls and what they would’ve delivered with this set up of instruments (and in an Algerian neighborhood of Paris).

Jérôme Noetinger, the man behind the label/distributor Metamkine and apparently the French noise artist with the highest number of releases (I thought it was Costes…) came up next and delivered a dizzying improvised electro-acoustique set. Slabs of head-spinning noise sounding like the Eiffel Tower collapsing ended the performance with an emerging, triumphant, Metal Urbain sample. I was mesmerized and sick so I found my way to the toilet.

Tight, tight, tight and HEAVY is one way to describe Noxagt’s sonic attack. I was actually excited to finally see them live but feared that they’d lose my attention after two or three numbers. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the sound as the bass seemed somehow 'buried' but they still rocked and delivered a truly crisp set that made some (drunken) giant, in the audience, scream “BLACK METAL”. Oh oui!

JÉRÔME NOETINGER: "Slabs of head-spinning noise sounding like the Eiffel Tower collapsing ended the performance with an emerging, triumphant, Metal Urbain sample."

Day two was inaugurated by the Mainstream Ensemble. A Parisian combo of six ‘nice guys’ that made me think of how happy my mother would be to see me attend a concert by such neat performers. Their ‘sound’ can only be described as post-rock/drone/ambient (or whatever) that brings to mind TNT-era Tortoise. However, I don’t see the point of involving two guitars for the parts played nor the two laptops (maybe they were playing a network game on stage or something…. Which would’ve been fantastic!). Anyway, their set (despite being very boring) sounded fine (and they looked like nice guys).

Blood Stereo featuring Professor Dylan Nyoukis, Karen Lollypop and Milche Grand invaded the stage and spat a half-hour of pure sonic bliss. They offered an onslaught of ‘hydrostatic’ sounds that made both my constipation and blood circulation problems avoid the need for any form of homeopathy. The French noise intellectuals present seemed staggered and I caught a couple making reference to Charlemagne Palestine (?) who played this same venue a few weeks before. I would agree that the common element would be the teddy bears. At least conceptually... Interesting, as Mr. Nyoukis’ label, Chocolate Monk, recently subject to a “Free Nerve Reconstructive Reanimation”, has gone on a releasing spree with some stunning records these past few months.

Déficit des Années Antérieures – DDAA dropped the curtain on the festival with a half hour of highbrow improv that got me yawning and thinking of my bed at home. In fact, these guys are respected veterans of the French free music scene since the late 1970’s and have apparently reached a true cult status with the intellectuals referred to earlier. The set up was actually interesting and provided some true moments of sound innovation via a vast array of instruments including guitar, bass, synthesizer, mandolin, percussions and texts but I still wasn’t totally happy so I missed the end in order to jump on the last metro and reach my bed.

DDAA: I couldn't find a picture of Blood Stereo . . .