Vaz is one of those timeless bands.
There's the frenzied pace, the taunting, chaotic guitars, and the
occasional odd digression that challenges your feet to keep pace with
your head. They're cassette-tape muddy and fanatically precise.
As an old dude, I look back at
Hammerhead as one of the bands who steered me toward the lovely abyss
of what bears the unfortunate moniker of "noise rock." If
there's a musical space that I linger in more than others, it's here
(in spite of the ambiguous name), and, to me, Hammerhead separated
themselves from all the masculine bravado that is / was associated
with the sound. They supplanted the narcissism with a pummeling,
self-effacing sound that never allowed itself to be pigeon holed.
Vaz, to all of our delight, carries this on. Although Vaz is a little
less bombastic at times, their sound hearkens back to some nebulous
past, reconstructs the present, and plods through the ashes toward
the future. There's a wonderful bleakness to it all, where the lyrics
and vocal harmonies duel with the onslaught of guitars and drums.
Throw in some wonderful, tempo-challenging, experimentation, you're
left with your chin on the floor.
To me, Vaz epitomizes everything I love
about Total Fest. There's an obvious joy for what they do, a
relentless DIY aesthetic, and a blistering sound that paces our
collective paranoia. After a few decades of playing music, Vaz
remains fresh and challenging. If you're on the fence about that, check out Pink Confetti on the link above. Blissfully dark. We're lucky to have
them help light the pyre this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment