(Chris Luedtke wrote the following come-on for a fest set to explode this coming weekend in the Seattle area. Check it out and come if you can.)
For those out in the Pacific Northwest, specifically those in the Seattle area, if you are looking for some blasting, thrashing, grinding live music, look no further than 206 Blast Fest.
What’s 206 Blast Fest? A grindcore, noisecore, hardcore festival featuring twenty-two bands. Some you may recognize, some you may not. I’m not going to give a complete breakdown of everyone playing, so I encourage interested parties to investigate anything not covered here. And I encourage you to go if you possess the ability to support live and underground music. The festival is presented by Audio/Violence Productions and is also the medium where you can get tickets to the fest. A link will be provided at the bottom of this article, but first an overview of a few bands playing.
Friday roster:
Tax Evader is a Seattle-based noisy, powerviolence/grind band. The three-piece has been around since about 2016 and cranks out tunes that sound like they’re redlining. Their tunes walk a fine line between leaning more into hardcore/punk and more into the grindier side of things. If you like chaos, this band is steeped in chaos.
Florida Man, despite the name, is also based in Seattle. Describing themselves as “post violence”, even naming their latest release Post/Violence. The approach is very different, trading blasting for a more dissonant approach of melodies and drawn-out screams. It’s something of a mix of Agoraphobic Nosebleed‘s Domestic Extremity tracks and the bands Greber and Blackwater Sniper.
One more from the Friday roster we’ll highlight is Impulse Noise. Another Seattle local, they play a more straight-forward vicious style of grindcore mixed with hardcore. Think bands like Mother Brain or a more punked-out version of Nasum. It’s no bullshit straightforward in-your-face grind done right.
Saturday Roster:
All I should have to say for this one is Noose Sweat. The headliner of the Saturday lineup, yes, but if you’re into grind or powerviolence this name should be no stranger to you. If it was, thankfully it isn’t anymore. The Vancouver, BC unit plays fast and mean. Tracks generally fall well under a minute and the entire production is raw as hell. Think bands like WORLD PEACE meets Wound Man or Brain Tourniquet.
Tacoma, WA’s Sidetracked deserves a mention as well. Another band that plays ridiculously short tracks. The fact that they released an actual twelve-inch is something of a divine miracle; that’s a compliment, not a complaint. The band has done splits with seemingly everyone under the sun save for Agothocles. It’s not unusual for Sidetracked to put out whole releases with tracks under ten seconds each. And it works. Sidetracked is an insane project that probably doesn’t work like this in any other universe. They have a ton of material and if you’ve got a few minutes you can get through most of it.
For a final twist, we have Nudeconsumer, one more from Seattle. Nudeconsumer is neither grind nor hardcore but lands itself snugly in the noise category. Oscillating between ambient and harsh noise, Nudeconsumer is ugly and gnarly and probably going to blow a few eardrums live. It is dense and intense.
You can get tickets here: https://venmo.com/u/xbigbirdx