Sad Vicious

Noise shows can be a dicey proposition. At their best, they clear the air from the Western musical forms and melodies we're so accustomed to. At worst, and in a majority of cases, they can be an uninspired mess, with a well-meaning but clueless introvert hunched over thousands of dollars’ worth of effects processors as a bored, fitful crowd totters about. Many musicians in the Bay Area have started a noise project at some point (including Thee Oh Sees’ Jon Dwyer), but few have the heart to maintain them. An exception is House of Low Culture, the relatively long-standing noise outlet of Isis alum Aaron Turner, abetted by some of Oakland’s finest hunched-over abstractors.

It's probably owing to Turner's reputation that the tiny West Oakland space where the band was set to perform filled quickly on a Wednesday night. As the scruffy, friendly young man accepting donations on the artists’ behalf put it, “This isn't the kind of music that plays in bars." It's true — noise doesn’t exactly sell drinks.
Improbably, the evening opened with musical comedy via San Jose’s Sad Vicious. It was a hilarious meta performance in which Scott and Stew, ostensibly Best Buy clerks, fumble through the protracted process of setting up their own performance. As with most good comedy, it completely evaded explanation. Please see Sad Vicious any chance you get.

- East Bay Express