When a townie friend recommended the Providence-based Viennagram to me, I assumed his description of a “f*cking crazy time” to be a blend of hyperbole and local loyalty. After witnessing their show myself (Sunday, 28 September at AS220), I can attest that it was, if anything, an understatement.
Except “show” doesn’t do Viennagram justice. How can I better describe this experience to an absent third party? Glam-thrash-vaudeville-noise-core; an ecstatic spectacle of carnival masks and confetti; a phantasmagorical orgy of boogie-down bass-lines; an anarchic frenzy of free cookies and flying bananas; an unstoppable parade in warning of – no, in spite of – no, in celebration of some psychedelic apocalypse. If Ziggy Stardust, James Joyce, Death From Above 1979, and Edgar Allen Poe started a band together, they would be trying to sound like Viennagram.
But Caveat Auditor: this freak show is not for the faint of heart. If you attend a Viennagram show (and I strongly encourage it), come prepared to have your ears assaulted, your squeamishness affronted, and your feet hypnotized into raucous rhythms. Even with a moderate turnout, the energy seemed endless.
The night was not without its disappointments, however. Unfortunately the tuba player and Berklee-trained trumpetist were not very well miked and positioned far from the action, almost like an afterthought. And even when he appeared to be trying to sing intelligibly, frontman/ring-master Dan White was difficult to understand. That is, his words were difficult to understand. His message, though, was clear: Viennagram came to make some noise, and you’d damn well better dance.
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