Recording: Cetacea

Artist: Cetacea

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Steady Cafe & Bar (Kulture II), October 13, 2015.

Cetacea - [excerpt]

Kulture is culture, but louder. This occasional noise night was expertly assembled by David Jones (who performed this night as Hexzuul, but is also a member of Manticore and Bile Sister) and took place in the somewhat unlike setting of the backroom of The Steady, which feels a bit like a joint that got stuck somewhere in mid-transition from a diner to a tiki bar. This solo project from Gates' Bryan W. Bray closed out the night. Cetacea seems designed to give Bray an outlet for sounds that don't fit into Gates' heavy-doom aesthetic, but sometimes heaviness creeps in — seemingly despite himself, to gauge by his reaction to this set.

Recording: Hexzuul

Artist: Hexzuul

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Steady Cafe & Bar (Kulture II), October 13, 2015.

Hexzuul - [excerpt]

Kulture is culture, but louder. This occasional noise night was expertly assembled by David Jones (who performed this night as Hexzuul, but is also a member of Manticore and Bile Sister) and took place in the somewhat unlike setting of the backroom of The Steady, which feels a bit like a joint that got stuck somewhere in mid-transition from a diner to a tiki bar. Backed by some cool glitched-out visuals, Jones offered a mix of sputter/crackle, ominous hums, piercing buzzings, and explosions of static, all offered up with a slow-motion sense of restraint. That doesn't mean that something wasn't going to be thrown from the stage area into the audience.

Recording: Hybrid Frequency

Artist: Hybrid Frequency

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Steady Cafe & Bar (Kulture II), October 13, 2015.

Hybrid Frequency - [excerpt]

Kulture is culture, but louder. This occasional noise night was expertly assembled by David Jones (who performed this night as Hexzuul, but is also a member of Manticore and Bile Sister) and took place in the somewhat unlike setting of the backroom of The Steady, which feels a bit like a joint that got stuck somewhere in mid-transition from a diner to a tiki bar. Syd Ortega's set was split down the middle, beginning with some of the night's quietest, most subtle sounds and transitioning into strobelit harsh noise, which he let run as he slowly raised his arms aloft to clasp his hands together in front of him, as if offering a noise prayer.

Recording: Mandelbrut

Artist: Mandelbrut

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Steady Cafe & Bar (Kulture II), October 13, 2015.

Mandelbrut - [excerpt]

Kulture is culture, but louder. This occasional noise night was expertly assembled by David Jones (who performed this night as Hexzuul, but is also a member of Manticore and Bile Sister) and took place in the somewhat unlike setting of the backroom of The Steady, which feels a bit like a joint that got stuck somewhere in mid-transition from a diner to a tiki bar. I've seen Luis Hernandez's Mandelbrut project in collaboration before, but never as a solo effort. it turned out to be the sound of shit going wrong — of entropy, of things breaking. There was a stronger performative element at play in this set, with Hernandez clashing with the physicality of his noisemaking implements, including the very struggle to keep all of the cables plugged in where they should be.

Recording: Ruin

Artist: Ruin

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Steady Cafe & Bar (Kulture II), October 13, 2015.

Ruin - [excerpt]

Kulture is culture, but louder. This occasional noise night was expertly assembled by David Jones (who performed this night as Hexzuul, but is also a member of Manticore and Bile Sister) and took place in the somewhat unlike setting of the backroom of The Steady, which feels a bit like a joint that got stuck somewhere in mid-transition from a diner to a tiki bar. Ranging from modular staticbursts to gunshot percussion, this fairly unremitting set began the night.