 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
|||||||
|
 |
Wolf Eyes, Sonic Youth Side Projects Dominate No Fun Festival
Catherine Lewis reports: Appearing at the festival are noise-rock superstars like Wolf Eyes, Sightings, and Double Leopards; bands who have risen from the ashes, such as To Live and Shave in L.A.; and absurdly-named bands you've probably never heard of, like Japanese Karaoke Afterlife Experiment. In addition, almost every member of Sonic Youth is playing with his or her side project: Lee Ranaldo with Mission of Burma's Roger Miller and drummer William Hooker; Kim Gordon and Jim O'Rourke with Ikue Mori and DJ Olive; Thurston Moore and O'Rourke with frantic percussionist Chris Corsano and veteran saxophonist Paul Flaherty. The festival is curated primarily by Carlos Giffoni (whose band, Monotract, is performing), with assistance by Russ Waterhouse (of the legendary tape label White Tapes), Matt Redman, and Breathmint label head Bud Newton. Giffoni cited events like the Sonic Youth-curated All Tomorrow's Parties in Los Angeles and last year's Destijl festival as his inspiration for No Fun. Bands will play on both of North Six's stages, with the upstairs and downstairs acts staggered. The downstairs events were Giffoni's "way of balancing out things by having an outside point of view in the curation, and also to give a chance to bands that otherwise would never get a chance to play this kind of event." The No Fun name was inspired by an off-handed comment made by Thurston Moore, and gives a nod to the "No" prefix that is so common in New York (e.g., No Wave, the No New York compilation) as well as an admission that this music really is "no fun" for most people. As Giffoni said, "for about 90 percent or more of the world population, this will be considered terrible music to listen to. And you have to be completely insane to try to organize this kind of event by yourself and the good-willed help of a few friends." If all goes well with the festival this year, Giffoni hopes to coordinate a similar event in the future, possibly even in South America. Lineup:
Friday, March 19th:
Saturday, March 20th:
Sunday, March 21st:
.: No Fun Fest: http://www.nofunfest.com
|