|
 Our prime pick for this week’s musical outing is the NoogaPalooza festival at Rhythm & Brews on Thursday. Of course, part of that is the fact that The Pulse is a sponsor and that two of the masterminds behind the show are our pals over at thenoog.com.
But even if we weren’t involved directly, how could we pass up on a lineup that features The Dylan Kussman Band, Taxicab Racers, Jettison Never, The Hey Kids, I Am Band, Sex Head Loosey, Roger Alan Wade, John Myers of Black Diamond Heavies, members of Up With The Joneses, New Binkley Brothers, Butch Ross, Arlo Gilliam, Nathan Farrow, Dana Rogers, Noah Collins, Gabriel Zane, Ben Scoggins, Ernie Dempsey, Amanda Cagle and Tommy Davis.
Let’s face it, that’s an incredible lineup of local and regional talent. So what could possibly top NoogaPalooza? Well, “top” may not be the appropriate word, but phrases like “decidedly different”, “a change of pace” and “are you out of your mind?” are more appropriate to describe AIDS Wolf, playing at JJ’s Bohemia on Friday. When asked to describe the sound of his band, legendary ’70s rocker Captain Beefheart explained it was akin to “a squid eating dough in a polyethylene bag.” The Canadian foursome of AIDS Wolf not only has embraced the Captain, but have moved sonically into the musical realm better known as “noise rock”.
Noise rock came of age in the turbulent underground music world if the mid-’80s as part of the post-punk movement. It has all the typical trapping of rock bands—guitars, drums, colorful stage clothes and so forth—but incorporates atonality and most especially dissonance and quite often utterly discards conventional songwriting.
AIDS Wolf comes to Chattanooga from their home on Montreal this Friday as part of a quick round of North American shows before they depart on a extensive tour of Europe in support of their second full-length release Cities of Glass. They bring with them a reputation for unusual stage shows combined with a fondness for odd stage clothing and unexpected musical interactions with their audience. As to the origin of their name, it comes from an urban legend wherein wolves carry AIDS and pass it to house pets who then pass it on to people.
“We didn’t come up with AIDS Wolf as a concept. The idea has been floating around in the public psyche for a while,” explains lead vocalist Chloe (who sometimes adopts the stage name of “Special Deluxe”). “In urban legend, wolves transmit AIDS instead of rabies; in depressing college towns, street gangs spray-paint ‘AIDS Wolf’ on the side of buildings. My partner and I were on a road trip in Ohio, and it just came to us. It was a universal message. It’s a combination of our spirit peers in An Albatross and The Sick Lipstick. It fits, because we’re a little bit no–wave and a little bit hardcore, like each of those bands. It’s also a message that we as humans must take care for our animal siblings as their health is a barometer of our own survival.”
Their sound has been described in a variety of colorful ways, such as “a mangled siren of sounding off while a distraught woman screams bloody murder”, “two bass guitars thrown into a trash compactor while still plugged in”, and “a pack of neon-purple, pixelated mega-wolves—complete with ring-wraith shrieks—chasing down a super-squeaky mouse of the future (also neon purple).” It is definitely not a style for everyone, especially those looking for finely crafted melodic tunes with songcraft and deeper meaning. However, if you’re in the mood to just say “to hell with it all” and immerse yourself in a sonic assault, then an AIDS Wolf experience should be in your immediate future.
Trackback(0)
 |
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
