On 26 October, the noise rock series during the 20 Years of Magasin4 anniversary events brought on the spot three excellent bands for an exquisite evening.

It It Anita (BE)

“We are a rock band from Belgium.” says their facebook page. And “Band of Four. Gang of Forces. Post-nineties.” announce the event description. Indeed, this band from Liege brings a veritable feeling of post-90s but with originality, intensity and very much attention to detail despite the intentional garage fuzz sound.

Mike (guitar and voice), Damien (guitar and vocie), François (drums) and Christophe (bass) approach the post-rock sound but, at the same time, enhance it with noise-rock structures and long jam sessions. Very dinamic music, a mix between attractiveness in sound, characteristic to the 90s, with very good instrumentation, special remarks for all band members. If we had more bands like them back then in the 90s, maybe the music would have taken a much better direction after year 2000.

This is their second year of live touring, the Belgian dates are almost over, they are now heading to France. To promote their eponym EP, whose art work by the way is worth mentioned: http://plmd.me/ititanita/

An interview with the band members on how did they chose their name, more on their musical style and influences and the music scene of Liege can be found here on Culture Remains.

POINO (UK)

POINO is a special gem from London - Gaverick de Vis on guitar and vocals, Ross Blake on bass and John Greenhorn on drums. They are, at the same time, awesomely good and difficult to digest. Situated on the edge of jazz metal and math rock, their landscape keeps moving from one riff to another, mixing everything that ever came out on the rock music scene since the 70s, which puts them in a special avant-garde place which can not even be described as avant-garde.

Unpredictable songs structures, a catharsis of dementia kept under control, with a bass which keeps the songs on the track, strange vocals and fragmented drumming. Highly original and very challenging.

Their second album "Bon Ick Voyeur" is out since this summer: http://poino.bandcamp.com/

VAZ (US)

When Hammerhead dismantles in late 90s, Paul Erickson (bass and guitar) and Jeff Morridian Jr (drums) started Vaz. In the meantime, Hammerhead reunited, but Vaz still goes on, now in a trio formula.

The two guitars layer each other. Paul Erickson’s guitar is a combination of bass and guitar, covering a wide sound range. Their sound is noise, but with a good balance between rawness and structure.

Drums are rarely the focal point of a show, but with Vaz it’s definitely different. A drumming style like you never seen before, when the guitars stop playing, the drums keep both the harmony and rhythm further.  Jeff Morridian Jr is a machine, half human half robot master of sculpturing sounds with beat, tempo, cadence. The pace is so accurate and so perfect that gives the feeling of the never-ending.

Called back for encore, they played beyond curfew to our delight. There is always time for one more song with Vaz.

Video section:

It It Anita in Botanique Brussels, 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc6YauQiPgY

Poino live in the the Czech Republic, October 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxVHbXgrNWI

Vaz playing Instants Chavirés in Montreuil Paris, 2014

https://vimeo.com/109985265