Venue: Menza pri Koritu, Metelkova, Ljubljana
Concert date: 03.06.2009
Attendance: 100
Moonlee Records has been around on our scene for quite a while now, with a pretty impressive roster of quality underground acts from all corners of the map. Their Moonlee Fest on Metelkova has been stirring things up on the Slovenian music scene for ages, and the label is practically a guarantee of quality. This time they put together a show with Slovenian alternative rockers Nikki Louder and Czech post-rockers/metallers Lvmen.
The name Nikki Louder is obviously a joke on the name of the famous Formula One driver Niki Lauda. The gag would’ve been even better if it hadn’t already been used in the computer game Grand Prix, which is as old as the hills. But the name isn’t just a joke, it also sums up their music nicely, which really is louder. Louder than what? Okay, that’s relative, but the fact remains that Nikki Louder lean heavily on guitar distortion and assorted effects, and not so much on sheer playing chops. But that’s what you’d expect, since they describe themselves as noise rock. And as far as noise rock goes, they really delivered the goods: top-notch guitar squealing, distortion and everything that comes with it. Underneath it all was a solid rhythmic foundation, topped off with aggressive vocals. All fans of this kind of music had a blast, and Nikki Louder threw a proper party, which is something a young band like this deserves nothing but congratulations for. Their music has balls and it’s uncompromising.
Nikki Louder warmed up the crowd well, maybe even too well, since the somewhat less aggressive Czech outfit Lvmen came next. Lvmen aren’t some huge name in post rock/metal circles, but those who know them know that the Czechs don’t lag behind the likes of Isis and Red Sparowes in the slightest, who build similar hypnotic patterns to Lvmen. What’s typical of post rock is the gradual build-up of melodies to a peak, where all the valves are loosened, all the brakes give way and you get a release, a kind of catharsis. Lvmen surprised us a bit, since even the opening was pretty aggressive. But that was just a feint. Before long we were hearing those typical post rock patterns, where a song starts out slow until it hits an orgasmic explosion of sound, which is even more obvious with Lvmen because they play a pretty hard version of post rock (you could almost call it post metal), with guitars in the lead role and the keyboardist’s screaming vocals rounding it all out. In the first part of the set they presented their new album Heron (released in 2008), and at the end they played a few older pieces. Their performance was full of anticipation and the payoff of that anticipation, with the sound constantly building to a final burst of emotion and then dropping back to gentler motifs again. On top of all this musical drama they added outstanding visual projections, which only boosted the already remarkable musical expressiveness.
So, the Czech legends gave us an excellent show that ran a little over an hour. Quite a lot of people came out for both Nikki Louder and Lvmen, as Menza was practically packed. It’s great to see such a big turnout for such “unknown” bands.
Moonlee Records have once again delivered a great night full of quality music and guitar distortion. Nikki Louder are really good at what they do, and I wish them nothing but the best going forward. Lvmen are already pretty well known in the underground music scene anyway, and it was clear they’d deliver a good musical and visual show. Lvmen didn’t disappoint, and they conjured up that true post rock ambient and hypnotic feeling that only the best bands can pull off.
Photos: Mojca Perdih
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