When it comes to books, then i tend to trust authors but also publishing houses, editors and translators. When it comes to music it is the same: There are bands i trust but also venues, bookers and tour organizers get a similar credit from me.
And because of that trust, i get to see pairings like on this cold Friday evening.
Who else than Fab, booker at the Hafenklang, would entertain the idea of pairing a a young French cold-wave, electro and/or synth-punk band with an old (all the way from 1978) and in some circles legendary punk and/or power pop band from Canada`?
As wide as that mixture was also the audience, clearly split in half (and a mere 50 odd people upstairs at the Hafenklang).
First Blind Delon from Toulouse, France. A home & solo project that turned into something bigger and live shows.
They set the scene like this:
In their black granite spaceship, the cabin crew moves in slow motion, freed from weightlessness. Sinking into the dark depths of the universe, the members of the Techno Finale 666 mission are watching with fear and resignation our galaxy moving away until it becomes a tiny point of light.
In the large empty halls of the machine, the synthetic and freezing hymns of Blind Delon resonate.
And then they surprised me big once they entered the stage: What initially felt like them tuning the effect boards and instruments turned actually into the first song, much like an intro, that in the end sounded like a soundtrack to said space movie.
Wow, two guys with a Mac, massive effect boards and plexiglass guitar & bass throwing out soundscapes that with closed eyes almost felt like coming from an orchestra.
Blind Delon (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.11.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)
From there they took it into a territory that i normally do not savvy too much, someone more in the know mentioned Cassandra Complex as a reference but only the love of my life knows that kind of mu-sick.
Within that, they also had short and fast bangers like this:
Checking them out in the internet (damn internet, never forgets) this seems to be typical for the more recent output that is seeing the band moving in a new direction, approaching post-metal from their post punk roots.
On the other hand they also have these lengthy and dark soundscapes too:
All of that with “only” two guys manipulating strings? No, far from – though i am not a musician i sense that the two massive effect boards they sported help with that. The sheer look of those again is very … SciFi!
Effect Boards of Blind Delon (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.11.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)
Now try their stuff over at Bandcamp to find out if it fits you:
As said, half of the audience liked it, moving silently and slowly to the sound, some actually admitted they hated it. I did dig it, despite that it ain’t my style but i had to recognize that they did their stuff very well.
And thus they surprised me, big time.
Pointed Sticks, haling from Vancouver, BC, outta Canaduh (and a mere 7.706 KM away from Hamburg) took the stage next and kicked off like this:
For those grown up on 1999s Pop Punk covers of “Out Of Luck” that must have been way too Pop, way too much harmony. But that is what they always have been, a real cool power pop band originating from the Punk and New Wave scene in Vancouver.
Pointed Sticks (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.11.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)
And they still feature every one of it’s original members, well aged and still in-tune to provide a more than decent entertainment: Multi-vocal harmonies, nice guitar overcast, keyboard to provide some extra width in sound and a solid back line of drum and bass to keep it going forward.
Pointed Sticks (Hafenklang, Hamburg, 07.11.2024 (c) gehkacken.de 2024)
This time round the other half of the audience got to move, a wee bit more extrovert. And for a finishing touch they closed their set with … Out Of Luck, as wanted by the lot:
As much as in 2019 at the Molotow the Pointed Sticks delivered a completely unpretentious power pop set, for some maybe too much grounded in simple rock – but that is what they have been doing all of their life.
As i had great companionship with Luke of Spitfire Stevens fame i stayed on for another sip, some free floating associative thinking and discussion about corpses in flight cases and consequential cold cases.
And, whilst strolling uphill & home, i was thinking about how successful Fab paired two bands with a style wide apart – without that, i would not have experienced something completely new.
And that is why i trust his choices!
Much appreciated, sure as much as both bands appearing on our shores in the first place. Without touring, there would not be fun.
