NOTE: All photos are copyright of Dean Keim 2025
Ye Gods started off the show with some dark sounds, occult themes, and devilish perplexities. This menacing sound is the product of prolific producer and composer Antoni Maiovvi, who performed solo perched high above the crowd as he created some great alien soundscapes. He hovered above his very uniquely tailored soundboard as though he was a wizard crafting wicked spells over his caldron, and he did prove to be quite mystifying.
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Then came an extremely special treat for me, as some hometown heroes of mine by the name of Brainiac played second, and I didn’t think I’d ever see them play again. As they exclaimed loudly multiple times during their set, “We come from DAYTON, OHIOOOOO!”. I grew up just outside of Dayton and, when I was a kid, we had few real rock n’ roll heroes to choose from outside of Kim Deal, who was making a splash in the Boston band The Pixies in the late 80’s. I left shortly before the alternative music scene blew up in the early 90’s, which brought this rust belt town some rockers like Guided By Voices, but then there was the extremely experimental sounds of Brainiac. They formed in 1992 but, after just three albums, they disbanded in 1997 after their lead singer Tim Taylor died in a car accident. In 2019, a documentary entitled Transmissions After Zero was released and their UK tour with Mogwai in 2022 was their first real official outing as newly reformed experimenters. Now they’ve brought their wonderfully absurdist sounds to the states with the lineup of original members including guitarist and former backing vocalist (now main voice) John Schmersal, bassist and vocalist Juan Monasterio, and drummer Tyler Trent, along with recent addition, guitarist and keyboardist Tim Krug. Among the aggressively heavy set I did catch some of their classics like “Vincent Come on Down”, “Pussyfootin”, “Go Freaks Go”, and the massive closer of “I Am a Cracked Machine,” as well as a very Brainiac version of Nirvana’s early track “Breed”. It was all done with their uniquely experimental craziness that seemed to have lost none of it’s intensity over the last 30 years, and I can’t wait to hear them slay all those eardrums again soon.
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Mogwai came out to a very bare stage with very few lighting effects, but they clearly were all about the audio effects and not the visual splashes. They were slower in tempo, and the songs would often take longer than ten minutes to start cooking but, when that crescendo would hit, you needed to be prepared. Their new material has more of an electronic and pop infused sound but they still rocked extremely hard. The quartet of original members were all still there with guitarist & vocalist Stuart Braithwaite, guitarist and keyboardist Barry Burns, drummer Martin Bulloch, and bassist Dominic Aitchison. They all really pulled in an impressively awe striking show. The set was heavy on their terrific new album The Bad Fire, but they performed lots of classics as well, including “Auto Rock”, my personal fave “Mogwai Fear Satan”, “Christmas Steps”, and “My Father, My King” which closed out the show with a roar of noise.
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