First off, they manage to fuse what seems like pretty disparate elements in a way you've likely never heard before. Musically, it's the mastery of DJ Alphabethead's battle turntable, the furious punk drumming of B. Michael Knight, and capping it off, the grunts, barks, and Mongolian throat singing of Jonny Marks. It's some pretty insane noise.
Don't be put off if those elements don't sound like your thing. The trio pulls it together in a way that really works. It's challenging at times, but it also delivers many of the same pleasures as a big punishing metal band or a shamanistic experimental act. It's a very mechanical and futuristic sound, too: the instruments and voice grinding in sync like the cogs of a production line, or evoking the sound of Michael Bay's transformers transforming.
Live, it just gets better.
For their Dunedin show, the trio will be performing with, and inside, ''the blob''. A costume that fits all three members during a performance, the blob is a writhing, blood and guts-covered nightmare inducer. It's a great piece of hallucinatory performance art, meant to scare, confuse and excite, which pushes the musical experience even further.
Joining the All Seeing Hand is soaring avant-folk performer Seth Frightening, and, opening the show, Alphabethead will perform solo.
Eye to the future
New Zealand, and Dunedin in particular, has a rich tradition of producing internationally well-respected and influential drone, noise, experimental and ''non-standard'' music (see the work of H/Corp, Xpressway, Metonymic, Lines of Flight, Flying Nun and many, many others).
Nearly every independent record store I visited while travelling through North America on hiatus from Suitable Alternative was well-stocked with records from Dunedin trio the Dead C, and I encountered many music fans excited to talk at length about the work of NZ musicians such as Christchurch's chiming and cinematic composer Roy Montgomery. About to release their debut album Winterwork on limited edition LP through Scottish label Nyali Recordings, Dunedin trio Eye has many connections to this legacy, in sonic style and membership.
Formed in 2003, the band comprises Peter Stapleton on drums (The Pin Group, Scorched Earth Policy, Victor Dimisich Band, Terminals, Flies Inside The Sun and co-founder of Metonymic), Peter Porteous (Altmusic Dunedin) on guitar, and artist/video-maker Nathan Thompson (Sandoz Lab Technicians) on guitar and samples.
To my novice ears, Eye's music is a stormy and dense experience: cascading down into the depths of violent noise, then surfacing into smooth, oceanic and spacious calm. Its players feel like masters of the form, which is likely because they are. There is plenty of beauty, and plenty of violence.
Winterwork is available on 140gm LP with liner notes from the Dead C's Bruce Russell, and Eye celebrates the release next week at Chick's Hotel.
See it
• The 91 Club presents: The All Seeing Hand with the blob, Seth Frightening and Alphabethead, Thursday, June 19, at Chick's Hotel, Port Chalmers. Free entry with your 2014 Onecard, $10 on the door without. Transport to and from the show on the Chick's Hotel bus is free with your 2014 Onecard. Bus departs at 8.30pm from Countdown Cumberland St, and 8.35pm outside the University of Otago library entrance, Albany St.
• The All Seeing Hand, Seth Frightening, Wolfskull, Cracker Jacks, and Lady Lazerlight, Friday, June 20, at None Gallery (26 Stafford St).
• Eye Winterwork LP Release Show with support from Gate (Michael Morley of the Dead C) and Little Deaths, Saturday, June 21, at Chick's Hotel, 9pm doors. Chick's Magic Bus leaves Countdown at 8.30pm, University library at 8.35pm, returns to town after the show, and is free to ride with your 2014 Onecard. Winterwork is available on 140gm LP (limited to 250 copies) from nyalirecordings.com/
