Wondering what to begin with three words came to my mind and I can’t help stating that OFF Festival Club in Katowice actually can be described in these three words: noise, darkness and smoke. Festival took place in a different localization that it was initially planned, namely in Gugalander Theatre. What is characteristic of this place is its specific atmosphere. It is quite gloomy and brings to mind the phantom of the opera. Interesting place but not necessarily adequate for this kind of event. Lots of fans gathered in not really spacious room, lack of air conditioning and loads of smoke made it hardly possible to breathe and to see anything.

Firstly, the musicians from Niwea appeared on the stage. Their performance began in complete darkness. A few seconds of uncertainty whether it is a proper performance or just tuning and those whose performances were called "painful psychodrama", created the atmosphere of depressive self-expression intensified by half-light and billows of smoke. Quite hypnotic composition ended their set. Technical break – the audience desperately searching for oxygen – a little bit more light.



And then the return of darkness, smoke and people. This time it was Zs who ruled. This performance was a considerable dose of energy and mixing sounds. I decided to focus especially on the saxophone but to be honest I managed to catch its sound only once. I don’t listen to such music on the regular basis and that is why it was quite intriguing experience for me. Although it wasn’t really appealing for me I found it worthy enough to let my brain be ‘cut’ in this way, just to let it rest from everyday matters. There were also some sacrifices during this performance, I mean - broken guitar strings, which only proved musicians’ utter commitment. Anyway, the audience enjoyed it and wanted more.

One more break, the search for oxygen, coming back and here it is, Kid606 on the stage. Definitely more dance rhythms, which could be noticed also in the audience’s reactions. People tried to synchronise their moves with rotating sounds but it wasn’t easy due to the fast rate and unexpected changes of the rhythm. While analizing the faces of some of the fans I can say that the aim of drawing the audience into the maelstrom of music was achieved.



After quite a long break Masami Akata with his project Merzbow appeared on the stage, drawing all listeners who were hungry for surrealist cacophony of sounds. It’s hard to describe Merzbow’s concerts – you simply need to take part in one and see and hear this psychedelic mix of sounds pouring out of the loudspeakers. Equally indescribable are the hypnosis and trance into which mad audience falls. An average observer would say that the crowd is under the influence of something, however, in this case it’s possible to say that the audience was under the influence of Merzbow’s music which provides amazing effect as well...



The truth is that festivals of this type are not public-oriented, they are rather intended for inner circle, however, those who appreciate this kind of music should be fully satisfied. Although the localization of the festival was not the best one, the diversity of music saved the day and provided me with an interesting experience.. However, I’m not quite sure if I would like to participate in such an event once again...