To close Ball of Wax 52, Seattle multi-instrumental dronemonger Kole Galbraith and Austrian drum-pummeler Patrick Wurzwallner bring us 5 or so minutes of joyful, improvised noise. I always think it’s funny when people use the term “noise rock” to describe bands that have singers and choruses and song forms, but just turn up pretty loud and enjoy the use of dissonance. This, my friends, is noise rock. Wurzwallner seems to hit all of his drums all at once all the time, but maintain an artful cohesion all the while. Galbraith plays barely a discernible note, wrenching unholy combinations of feedback, pick scrapes, and other noises from his instrument with gleeful brutality and merciless precision. Wurzwallner and Galbraith’s sonic explosion makes Lightning Bolt sound like AC/DC. (No insult intended; I love Lightning Bolt. And AC/DC.)
This performance was recorded live in Austria, so I have no idea if we’ll get to experience this delightful ruckus live here in Seattle any time soon, but if you keep your eyes and ears peeled you’ll probably see or hear Kole playing somewhere before too long.