BY:LARM NIGHT #3 - 4AD PARTY + SHOW HOPPING

Fuzzy. That's what it was, very very fuzzy late night at SENTRUM SCENE when SERENA MANEESH took over the 4AD party at By:Larm on evening #3 of the festival. The place was wall to wall for SM's wall of sound that obviously bows at the alter of 'Loveless'. Dropping many news songs off their latest effort, 'S-M 2: Abyss In B Minor', I felt like someone slipped me a mickey. Also on the 4AD bill were highly-touted EFTERKLANG and OH NO ONO. Efterklang rolls eight deep on stage, part electronic, part folk, part orchestra. I can't say it was remarkable but the intent was well meaning. Oh No Ono on the other hand, ohhhh noooooo!

Jumpin' Joe from WOXY and I decided to see as many venues as possible, despite this place only getting colder by the minute. SEABEAR did their thing at GAMLA, a great venue that feels like some old vaudeville joint, and I liked what I heard from THE RUMOUR SAID FIRE at the By:Larm Tent. KATHINKA has lots of potential, the fuzz is there. There was also a quick stop at Stratos for the STEREOGUM party, then we caught acts like PHONE JOAN, TWINS TWINS and got to see the band I'm stalking, THE MEGAPHONIC THRIFT again, without my earplugs and in the front row. What??