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FUN FROM NONE
So maybe it's a bit pointless to write about something that everyone who reads this knows about and will seek out regardless of my blather...but I'm just too psyched about the
Fun From None: Live from the No Fun Fest 2004 & 2005 DVD (a two-disc set with a disc dedicated to each year) not to drool about it here. We can all agree that
Carlos Giffoni's
No Fun Fest has been an unmeasurably immense stimulant in all things noise over the past few years. I was only able to attend the first one, which was just about perfect (my only complaint would be too much moshing for my achingly old frame to endure, but I'm not gonna stand in the way of any adrenalized/testoterized youth so into noise - considering all the horrid stuff that their peers are into, I can forgive them for shoving me if it means they might become noise lifers).
As burned into my brain as all the great sets there is the image of
Chris Habib stalking around the stage, aiming his jealousy-inducing Panasonic
AG-DVX100 at every act. I've always been curious to see what Chris would make of his shooting, especially once I got an DVX100 of my own and realized how limited it is in rock-club low-light (still an amazing cam though) - whether he'd get overly gimmicky or just leave in all the whip pans and disorienting bounces as he changed positions, etc. The answer is that he solved all those problems really fucking well. Each 10 or so minute segment uses simple solutions, like freeze frames, modest digital effects, and off-sync editing, to basically remember, rather than replicate, the performances. I especially dig how Habib didn't fuck much with the color, instead letting the off-key, faded-pastel look of the high-gain mode persist, a nice reverse-psych counterpart to the music. If I had to find something to criticize, I'd say I'm not totally enamored of the drably b&w
Hair Police segment, which I think plays a little too dramatic, but then I thought that of their set too (which sounded amazing regardless). But otherwise, Habib has nailed every segment.
My faves are the
Nautical Almanac section, which captures their groping, awkward-pause-loving live set really well; the
Wolf Eyes segment, which is pretty straight up and similar to the band's own
Covered in Bugs DVD; the
To Live and Shave in L.A. section, for which Habib's strobing slideshow perfectly captures
Tom Smith's striated exhales, which even in person seem like stop-motion freeze frames; and, the Giffoni-
Nyoukis duo, which is kind of a mini-miracle - I wouldn't have guessed Habib could truly capture the power of that great set, but exclt editing and a stark visual effect which makes Giffoni and Nyoukis bleed electronically into fuzzy white do the trick.
I haven't even made it to the 2005 disc yet - too much great stuff to watch and re-watch on Disc One. I can say that the titles and transitions are amazing (glitchy rotation of faded-xerox looking slates), and the bonus mp3's and iPod videos of every segment are also quite choice. Habib talks in his liner notes about wishing he could include more groups (no Sightings, Pita, Burning Star Core, Massimo, Fe-Mail, etc - just not enough room), and I wish he could've too, but there's enough in this package to spend a lifetime sitting still and staring at.
mp3:
CARLOS GIFFONI & DYLAN NYOUKIS from Fun From None