[logcabinrecluse]

Originally Posted by chabib

their set was weirdly lit and for the most part, mellow. i also only had one camera for most of it. i really liked what they did sonically for the segment of music i picked, but the actual images that went with that sound had very little energy. to mittigate everything, i picked the images from their whole set that i liked best and played a little game where i tried to match something about them to the music. i slowed the footage down to make it clear that it wasn't supposed to sync to the sound. it was more of a deconstructive exercise than a performance edit. some people enjoy it some don't. that's fine with me.

but yeah. dom's set was great.

sightings got dropped cos i agreed to only include it on the festival edition. it was actually one of my favorite things on the first disc, but the band requested that it not be on the commercial release for what are more or less obvious reasons that have nothing to do with the video or the music. they said i could use anything from their set from the following year, but that set didn't have the same ragged energy that i loved so much in the first year. i left them in the interstitials to insure that people will always ask where the hell their set is.

chris - thanks for the reply. i was just excited to have some mm on video - i really love seeing them live and then i did not get what i was expecting. ho hum. it was one of my favorite times seeing them play and was excited to see it again. plus i'm vain and i wanted to see if me head-butting elisa's guitar was on there!

but yeah, you really got dom top notch! i haven't seen him play in awhile but i've been amazed every time i have - for me, he's gotta be the most intense/passionate dude out there and i really feel like everything he does is done for the right reasons. i have trouble saying what i mean about him, but the best way for me to put it is that there is no bullshit with him. he does what he does because he wants to or maybe even "has" to. anyway, sorry to ramble.

[Moshe]

http://noiseweek.blogspot.com/

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

[PAULYBEE2656]

prurient footage is awesome.................. agreed

[PAULYBEE2656]

doh, i was wondering where the sightings were. i thought they were gonna be on it alright. arrived in gold is one of my fav purchases of this year..............

[krastian]

Here's a link to the DVD for only $12.09 plus free shipping (in the states at least). I just ordered mine.
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=CAR000087

[Moshe]

We should all buy a few sets of it and give them as xmas presents. If it will be a "bestseller" it might convince Chris Habib to release his Diskaholics film

[whorefrost]

just ordered mine from VT... totally stoked to see it... bummer about the dropped Sightings footage tho... i'm sure i saw it online somewhere tho..

[PAULYBEE2656]

Originally Posted by Moshe

We should all buy a few sets of it and give them as xmas presents. If it will be a "bestseller" it might convince Chris Habib to release his Diskaholics film

a d.a.t. film... chris man, release the mother !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Moshe]

Originally Posted by whorefrost

just ordered mine from VT... totally stoked to see it... bummer about the dropped Sightings footage tho... i'm sure i saw it online somewhere tho..

I think I did post a youtube link to that once. Have to look for it.

[Moshe]

http://www.brown.edu/Students/INDY/c...t/view/352/31/

Fun From None: Live at the
No Fun Fest 2004 & 2005 DVD
Directed by Chris Habib
[Load Records/Visitor Design]

It is tempting to hate this sort of thing—three hours of live music lazily but understandably called “noise,” presented raw, without any sort of exposition or respite. Even the most open-minded of outsiders will likely require saintly patience to sit through the whole knob-twiddling, free jazzy, improvisational electronic affair that is Fun From None, a highlight reel of performances from the first two years of the No Fun Fest.

Since its initial run in 2004, the No Fun Fest has become the premier venue for all things beatless and atonal—festival founder and organizer Carlos Giffoni prefers to call it “extreme”—gathering the old guard (Borbetomagus) and current stars (Wolf Eyes, Hair Police) of experimental music in Brooklyn for a weekend of, well, funlessness. It’s certainly not for everybody, but this film may prove a delightful tonic for those who think there’s nothing interesting happening in music anymore.



Keep in mind, naysayers: your three hours is pittance compared with the three days of eardrum shredding that actual festival-goers endured. Just look at the happy faces and good-natured moshing in the sold-out crowd: these bands must be doing something right. Perhaps the material is more appealing if one views it as performance art. To wit, one member of the Nihilist Assault Group does nothing but sip wine idly while his bandmates have at it with stomp boxes and a turntable. Say what you will about the music; the festival succeeds tremendously as mere spectacle, and the varied treatment of the video footage (grainy high-contrast black and white, slow motion montage, etc. handled by videographer/director/editor Chris Habib) accentuates this fact. The deafening scrape of one song may sound indistinct from that of the others, but without visual aid you’d never know that the one was created by strumming guitars with crushed beer cans, the other by dutifully clicking away at a laptop.

That said, the bands featured in Fun From None put on an impressive show. Dominik Fernow, alias Prurient, kneels shirtless before an amplifier, tweaking a dog whistle squeal while grimacing like a 10-year-old on the verge of a tantrum, only to leap up and thrash his microphones around like a schizophrenic battling invisible demons. Later on, while guest starring during Macronympha’s set, Fernow becomes so absorbed in throwing screws and contact mics around in paint roller trays that he lapses into a fit of dryheaving that may or may not have resulted in actual vomiting. Then there’s noise as punk, best embodied by the guitar- and trumpet-wielding three-piece Heathen Shame, whose members turn in an exhausting performance marked by lightspeed fretboard antics and a bit of shameless stagediving thrown in for good measure.

Lest you think this is little else than art school fallout, keep in mind that Sonic Youth members Lee Ranaldo and Kim Gordon, who make separate appearances, are major label recording artists, and William Hooker, the drummer in Ranaldo’s combo, began his career backing Dionne Warwick and the Isley Brothers. Tied to their day jobs though they may be, these guys prove that improv and noise are not merely the in-joke of trust fund kids with a working knowledge of electronics. Fun From None’s dispatches from the experimental music frontier reveal honest-to-goodness musicianship behind the general battiness.

-- Kevin Sparks

[chabib]

Originally Posted by Moshe

I think I did post a youtube link to that once. Have to look for it.

if you guys can't find it, let me know. i'll youtube it.

[Tokolosh]

Does anyone know where I can order a PAL (Europe) version of this DVD?
Can't find it anywhere.

[whorefrost]

geezus, this DVD is a blast. Nihlist Action Group is intense. Other standout is Macronympha. Very creepy. Kim G and the Sweet Ride is really cool as well, really digging Kim's guitar playing.

[chabib]

ok. here. i don't have a youtube account. if someone wants to post it, go ahead. i'm gonna delete this file from here in a day or two.

[porkmarras]

Originally Posted by chabib

ok. here. i don't have a youtube account. if someone wants to post it, go ahead. i'm gonna delete this file from here in a day or two.

Look mate,your art is really shit as it is.You have advertized some of the worst SY artwork that is on sight and if i say so,it is true.You pretty much get undeserved respect just because you work for this band and this bunch of idiots would never disagree with anything you choose to do.To this pounding sound i still say that your art is rubbish.You are way too up there to take this into consideration but way too crap to worry me on the art scale and for that alone,thank you.

[chabib]

Originally Posted by porkmarras

Look mate,your art is really shit as it is.You have advertized some of the worst SY artwork that is on sight and if i say so,it is true.You pretty much get undeserved respect just because you work for this band and this bunch of idiots would never disagree with anything you choose to do.To this pounding sound i still say that your art is rubbish.You are way too up there to take this into consideration but way too crap to worry me on the art scale and for that alone,thank you.

aw, did i leave your cute little asshole all red and bloody the last time i pulled my cock out of it?

grumpy, grumpy, grumpy.

i haven't made that much art for sonic youth. i'm not sure what you're whining about.

[m^a(t)h]

i would love to see some of that dead machines clip, if anyone ever youtubes some of it, do the dm part....

[krastian]

Originally Posted by Moshe

....it might convince Chris Habib to release his Diskaholics film

That would be great.....I'd love to have a Diskaholics DVD.

[Moshe]

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.

[boydrowning]

so, um, i don't seem to have the mp3s on my copy...