Sonic Youth Gossip - View Single Post

Moshe · 12.12.2006, 04:56 AM

http://www.fakejazz.com/fake/archive...rom_none_l.php

Fun From None : Live From the No Fun Fest 2004 & 2005 (Chris Habib, 2006)

To those who attend, No Fun Fest is often as much about the people as it is the music. It’s sometimes like a convention, with a large chunk of the audience musicians or otherwise involved in “the scene” in their own right, communing with people they’ve played alongside, booked shows for, or corresponded with in the past, as well as meeting new co-conspirators in their endeavors, transcontinental acquaintances that might’ve never met were it not for No Fun. The festival functions as a focal point for hundreds of performers, label heads, fans, and, commonly, the people that are all three. And while it’s no Woodstock, there’s a deeply positive vibe amongst the harsh sounds, chaotically catapulted bodies, and outbursts drunken bravado.
For those who missed the first two installments of the festival, Load’s Fun From None: Live From the No Fun Fest 2004 & 2005 is a chance to revel in at least some of the fun. The more social aspects of the No Fun experience, of course, can’t be conveyed through a television, but this double dvd set does allow the viewer a window into the mayhem that ensued during both of the weekends in March, focusing mainly on the heavies of each weekend. Editing almost forty hours of nearly continuous performances surely wasn’t an easy task, and the inevitable exclusion of acts too numerous to name is an issue referenced in the liner notes by videographer Chris Habib, whose attempt to distill the energy of six nights of music into three hours of video is a laudable effort; though he’s sure to have left out a few of the favorites of everyone who views the dvds, Fun From None fairly successfully collects the big names, outstanding performances, and otherwise notable sets that marked the years’ events. The basement sets, often the site of the nights’ most raucous activity, are largely missing, though it’s easy to understand, simply gaining entry to the lower level was problem enough, staking out a prime vantage point amongst the mass of bodies was even more difficult. Footage of Air Conditioning’s performance in 2004 (and the mass craziness that ensued in the crowd) would have been nice, but that’s a situation even the most intrepid National Geographic cameraperson might have been wary to enter; the life expectancy of a camera amidst the flurry of activity could easily have been shortened from years to seconds in no time.
Fun From None won’t ever likely enter the pantheon of seminal live film/video releases, but its not for want of quality. Habib’s videos, however, aren’t always simply digestible, wholly objective records of each band’s set. Instead, they’re often artworks of their own, altered and edited, documents that echo the music they contain, appealing in their difficulty, products of a purposefully imperfect aesthetic. Even many of Habib’s most unmolested bits are filmed in a grainy black & white grit, and while the relative clarity of Borbetomagus and their epic, late-night set is a godsend, there’s something very fitting in the way Habib treats some of the other sets. Magic Markers are presented in a pleasing slow motion, Alan Licht’s 1970 in still frames, mid-action. Sixteen Bitch Pile-Up’s basement dog pile is shown in double exposure, the throng of bodies rendered abstract in a kaleidoscope of band, audience, and the quickly demolished line between the two. Hair Police, rendered in a seemingly random sequence of slo-mo clips, is a cruel withholding of their realtime performance, but, by and large, even if through only his camera angles and editing, Habib’s clips are thoughtfully constructed and visually interesting, even when their subjects remain largely stationary.
Video footage of an ascent of Mt. Everest can only impart so much of the experience, and on a less grand scale, Fun From None can only do so much for No Fun, both for the memories of those in attendance and the curiosity of those who weren’t. These dvds, however, with Habib’s visual touches and an audio quality that’s often surprisingly good, are as close to the peak as one’s likely to come without making the trek firsthand. The bulk of No Fun’s 2007 line-up was recently revealed, and March 17-20 will offer another chance for brave souls to take in the sights, sounds, and smells of the festival on their own, for no dvd will replace actually being there, and surely isn’t going to make you as many new friends.

12.12.2006, 04:56 AM	#99
Moshe Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 5,866	http://www.fakejazz.com/fake/archive...rom_none_l.php Fun From None : Live From the No Fun Fest 2004 & 2005 (Chris Habib, 2006) To those who attend, No Fun Fest is often as much about the people as it is the music. It’s sometimes like a convention, with a large chunk of the audience musicians or otherwise involved in “the scene” in their own right, communing with people they’ve played alongside, booked shows for, or corresponded with in the past, as well as meeting new co-conspirators in their endeavors, transcontinental acquaintances that might’ve never met were it not for No Fun. The festival functions as a focal point for hundreds of performers, label heads, fans, and, commonly, the people that are all three. And while it’s no Woodstock, there’s a deeply positive vibe amongst the harsh sounds, chaotically catapulted bodies, and outbursts drunken bravado. For those who missed the first two installments of the festival, Load’s Fun From None: Live From the No Fun Fest 2004 & 2005 is a chance to revel in at least some of the fun. The more social aspects of the No Fun experience, of course, can’t be conveyed through a television, but this double dvd set does allow the viewer a window into the mayhem that ensued during both of the weekends in March, focusing mainly on the heavies of each weekend. Editing almost forty hours of nearly continuous performances surely wasn’t an easy task, and the inevitable exclusion of acts too numerous to name is an issue referenced in the liner notes by videographer Chris Habib, whose attempt to distill the energy of six nights of music into three hours of video is a laudable effort; though he’s sure to have left out a few of the favorites of everyone who views the dvds, Fun From None fairly successfully collects the big names, outstanding performances, and otherwise notable sets that marked the years’ events. The basement sets, often the site of the nights’ most raucous activity, are largely missing, though it’s easy to understand, simply gaining entry to the lower level was problem enough, staking out a prime vantage point amongst the mass of bodies was even more difficult. Footage of Air Conditioning’s performance in 2004 (and the mass craziness that ensued in the crowd) would have been nice, but that’s a situation even the most intrepid National Geographic cameraperson might have been wary to enter; the life expectancy of a camera amidst the flurry of activity could easily have been shortened from years to seconds in no time. Fun From None won’t ever likely enter the pantheon of seminal live film/video releases, but its not for want of quality. Habib’s videos, however, aren’t always simply digestible, wholly objective records of each band’s set. Instead, they’re often artworks of their own, altered and edited, documents that echo the music they contain, appealing in their difficulty, products of a purposefully imperfect aesthetic. Even many of Habib’s most unmolested bits are filmed in a grainy black & white grit, and while the relative clarity of Borbetomagus and their epic, late-night set is a godsend, there’s something very fitting in the way Habib treats some of the other sets. Magic Markers are presented in a pleasing slow motion, Alan Licht’s 1970 in still frames, mid-action. Sixteen Bitch Pile-Up’s basement dog pile is shown in double exposure, the throng of bodies rendered abstract in a kaleidoscope of band, audience, and the quickly demolished line between the two. Hair Police, rendered in a seemingly random sequence of slo-mo clips, is a cruel withholding of their realtime performance, but, by and large, even if through only his camera angles and editing, Habib’s clips are thoughtfully constructed and visually interesting, even when their subjects remain largely stationary. Video footage of an ascent of Mt. Everest can only impart so much of the experience, and on a less grand scale, Fun From None can only do so much for No Fun, both for the memories of those in attendance and the curiosity of those who weren’t. These dvds, however, with Habib’s visual touches and an audio quality that’s often surprisingly good, are as close to the peak as one’s likely to come without making the trek firsthand. The bulk of No Fun’s 2007 line-up was recently revealed, and March 17-20 will offer another chance for brave souls to take in the sights, sounds, and smells of the festival on their own, for no dvd will replace actually being there, and surely isn’t going to make you as many new friends.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|