EXTREMECLOSE-UP of me in my HEALTH tee.
I saw HEALTH at the Old Blue Last about a month ago, and recently (twice in two days...fangirl, much?) with No Age and Lovvers (replacing the silly, passport-losing Dan Deacon) on the 11th August at Scala, and the 12th August at a Rough Trade East free in-store gig.
HEALTH do experimental noise-rock, but they don't entirely fit into that category because they throw in all kinds of weird and wonderful electronic bits and bobs.
There is something primitive and primal about the music these boys make. Not horny-monkey-rattling-the-bars-of-its-cage-because-its-balls-are-as-big-as-space-hoppers kind of primitive. Nor is it the kind of primal you envision epitomised by large, loutish, bawdy chauvinistic males watching rental porno with the Match Of The Day theme tune accompanying jiggling tits in the background whilst making fart jokes.
They do yowling and howling softly over hard, fast, unpredictable beats. Their music is weird, testosterone-fueled, and aggressive - pumped up to pulsating eyeballs with adrenaline so much that they're almost bleeding, yet seeping a kind of human self-consciousness - this quality caressing their music, making it original and unique. It's a kind of paradox: sophisticated emotions are unfurled and mixed with the primitive side of human nature at the same time. It's like something has been whipped out of your subconscious and this thing has been assigned a noise and you're so completely mesmerised you forget the band's there and get lost in a train of thought and forget to dance so end up looking like a bit of a weirdo. (Without getting too deep).
Just imagine Fuck Buttons having a panic attack whilst tripping on DMT but kind of masochistically finding relief in it at the same time. You should be frightened but you're not. Their music slips you into an eerie kind of trance, or suspense. It's like when Luigi Galvani thought he could galvanize dead frogs. There's a sense of excitement, foreboding, suspense, and guilt at this primordial desire at the same time.
This is a pitcha of the HEALTH gang. They're just a little bit pretty close up...
(from the HEALTH Myspace.)
I have no idea how they do more than one show a week. It would tire the fuck out of me. But these guys are from L-fucking-A (well, actually that's technically where they're based). They throw so much energy into their performances. They're without a doubt one of the best bands I have ever seen live. Performance-wise they are incredible.
They're mates with Crystal Castles too; they did a split with them (Health vs. Crystal Castles - Crimewave) which is worth buying on vinyl. And it has a well pretty cover.
Oh, and you have to listen to them very loud. The remixes are good too.
In Other News...Twins banned from farms.
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