Live review: Slavescene, MLU, Horrid Cross and more at Stardust.

stardust

Slavescene, MLU, Nazi Dust, Horrid Cross, Honed Bastion, Lesson Lesson Lessen Relearn.
@ Stardust. Winter Park, Florida. Sunday December 27, 2009.
Review, video and pictures by Jeffrey Howard.

This was another cool show at Stardust that scene veteran Josh Erickson organized this year. He also organized that Diet Cokeheads show last October I wrote about. He's bringing harsh sounds to an otherwise mellow venue and this is a good thing. Not to mention serving a little mayhem on the side.

Opening were two solo "noise" bands. Lesson Lesson Lessen Relearn, Nelson from What's Yr Damage?, played sounds through all kinds of electronic gear on a table. Following that was Honed Bastion, from Portland, whose table setup was full of analog and digital gear with pedals and some kind of Nord sequencer. It was a swell of sounds that shook the concrete walls. It was pretty neat- reminded me of "older" noise stuff like some of those post Flying Saucer Attack projects like Amp and Crescent.

Tampa band Nazi Dust punked things up a bit, even starting the first mosh pit of the night. I can't say they were any good. Between the running around and sloppy playing I couldn't tell what was really going on with them. Then came two piece My Left Uterus, aka MLU, who are based in Nashville but originally from Tampa. They were pretty awesome. They were loud and had a lot of effects on the guitar to make it sound like a incoming spaceship colliding with a passenger train.

Slavescene, also from Tampa, came to Orlando in October. There was a lot of talk about that show so a lot more people came out to see them this time. Once again they tore up the place starting with a blistering Nirvana cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit that had the crowd enraptured from the first riff. This band smashed together at full force a mix of volume and energy to incite a rowdy crowd into tearing down an overhanging art project made up of plastic items. It was torn to shreds and the contents made a garbage litter of the room. People will be talking about this show for time to come. Slavescene are making a name for themselves. Deservedly so. Watch the video below.

After the room was wrecked there was still one more band to go. I didn't think anyone could possible follow up the wreck Slavescene left but Horrid Cross managed to scare the shit out of everyone. Another two piece band- drums and loud otherworldly guitar sounds with the shrill echoed shrieks and yells. I was left shaking. That was some scary shit. What the hell is going on in Tampa?

Pictures:

Honed Bastion.