At the end of the evening, I got surprised once again, very positively I must say. Ataraxia was an invigorating stream that appeared unexpectedly and let me break free from the slight trance I'd been put in by the previous band. Ataraxia is an Italian project playing neo-classical music, getting inspiration from various sources and indeed, you could see that on the stage when they started their gig. The variety of instruments: violin, drums, trumpets and highly theatrical performance constituted a show, which for me personally was the best of the whole Festival.
The show stuck to the stylistics that evoke the reaction 'oh la la!' The band has recently released ab album "Paris Spleen" that reflects an atmosphere of Parisian macabre cabarets of the 20s, but even not knowing this it would be hard to escape the associations...The musicians emerged wearing bowler hats and fantastic costumes; the vocalist was often wearing masks and using props (can't figure out why the musicians didn't accept the heart she was offering them...had she tried amongst the audience the effect would've been different, I'm sure, as the people were entirely enchanted:) which stood for a highly amazing spectacle itself. The whole made impression as if of an "Invisible Circus", unreal, fabulous, mad, circus imagery. .. it was hard to realize where we actually were: in a cabaret, among street actors, in a den or among gamins or maybe conservatory students playing truant?
It's hard not to mention an exceptional scenic manner of the vocalist – appealing, astute voice, highly emotional, balancing between irony and tragedy, it represented an emotional depth, mood richness and it was really heart rendering. I must admit that I was standing by the stage completely enchanted...or perhaps bewitched...surely, Ataraxia is a band of magicians who perfectly organize the scene, smoothly passing from jesting to bitter notes. It was a great show which is hard to describe in words for its colorful theatricals, and a great dose of prepossessing music which was simply overpowering.

Setlist:
Ou vont les chiens, Le Saltimbanque Decreipt, Mon cher Toutou, Rue Bleue, Tony/diamanda, Tango, ninnananna, Toujours Ivre, Moon of Alabama, Migratio animae, Wings

www.ataraxia.net

SATURDAY

The second day of the Fest was quite different from the first and honestly speaking worked a bit more slowly.

The first project to present their music on Saturday was Ben Zeen from Lodz. It was established by Maciej Ożoga (SPEAR) and Paweł Cieślak in 2005. The result of the co-operation is irregular, harsh, neurotic, violent, unpolished structure made by means of modular synthesizer and laptops plus a great amount of samples of various origin. I must admit that as far as this kind of music is concerned there's still much for me to learn, because the extremes that Ben Zeen reached that evening didn't evoke many associations, aside from, say, the idea of 'after-war-landscape' (not necessarily nuclear or military, but also emotional and psychical). Moreover, it stimulated the impression of total estrangement, the strangeness of the sounds and their quality of unusual, aggressive, strengthened concentration. It was some sort of highly transformed wave creating a vision of totally unfamiliar soundscape. The vocal appeared rather rarely so the whole remained an electronic brainwash. If you are fond of such avant-garde kinds of industrial, then Ben Zeen is something to suit your taste.

www.myspace.com/benzeen

Emiter, that entered the stage some time afterwards, is a solo project of Marcin Dymiter (electronics, guitar, generator, loops, tapes). The scenic dimension of the concert was literally speaking non-existent; the atmosphere was built only by gentle red light (still, the table clothe patterned in palm trees and little elephants was cool:).
As to the music – it was a rather gentle soundscape, pulsating, repeating sequences and moody elements encouraging to silencing and concentration. The pacifying concert demanded concentration and careful listening from the audience.

www.emiter.art.pl

The last concert, namely the one of Red Sparowes, was probably the clue of the evening for most of the people (and no, I'm not thinking of the hair length of the gathered:).
RD was formed in 2003 in LA as a kinda playground for the musicians who were also members of such bands as Isis, Neurosis, Halifax Pier, Samsara and Pleasure Forever. Started as an entertainment tool, the band soon changed into a regular rock making. We had a chance to see the effects of their activity in Wroclaw and the audience seemed satisfied: hard sounds of guitars and drums supported in creating an atmosphere by dim red light of little lamps set at the sides of the scene and visualization in sepia colour had a magical effect upon the listeners. It was a purely instrumental concert of a great energetic load, totally different from the atmosphere created by the previous bands. As for the end – it was a very strong accent highlighting the eclecticism that has characterized Energy of Sound so far.

www.redsparowes.com
www.myspace.com/redsparowes

And so the Festival came to an end and it has to be said that it went smoothly; no technical problems appeared, there were no stops and the atmosphere was really fine. The next edition, as we hope, will take place next year, and one thing is sure – the organizers will definitely surprise us with something.

www.industrialart.eu

The text published under permission of yesternight.pl