wow. this was the most intense show i have ever seen.
people are talking about silencio in columbus, and it is no wonder - they are easily the most talented band in the columbus area, and just a few years out of high school. they played about 40 minutes of music with more time changes and insane drum fills than most bands could manage in hours. they went from improvised jazz abstractions to speed metal riffage without any member missing a beat, then pursued even more unusual musical avenues. silencio is far removed from almost every other band making noise today, but upsilon acrux is a fairly helpful reference point, as are (to a lesser extent) the flying luttenbachers. for musical talent, innovation, and excitement, this band is hard to beat. go see them on tour with valkyrie - to do otherwise would be a mistake.
the second act (and the last that i was able to catch due to my need to get home and my lack of interest in the headliner, trans am) was dälek, a hip-hop trio signed to mike patton's ipecac records. typically, i am not a fan of hip-hop, but the expressed approval of mike patton (the twisted genius behind faith no more, mr. bungle, fantomas, tomahawk, and collaborations with john zorn and merzbow, among others) got me interested. i am glad it did. dälek (that "ä" character is alt-1-3-2, in case you were wondering) made some of the most intense hip-hop imaginable. for that matter, it was some of the most intense music imaginable. think chuck d. at his most ferocious rapping over the most punishing beat the bomb squad ever created with cock esp destroying any pretense of melody in the background. the fact that this crew opened for the dillinger escape plan should be enough to silence the naysayers. crazy things were going on onstage that i lack the technical ability to describe, and the sound itself was probably the loudest in my esperience. a sight to be seen, for those who can handle it.