Scene Report: Live in the Depths 89

LIVE IN THE DEPTHS 89: Official Website

Venue: Mississippi Pizza & Atlantis Lounge – Mississippi Ave, Portland, OR

Disclaimer: Time is a slippery bastard. What you’re about to read happened in some kind of order, maybe not the one you’d expect. Dialogue has been trimmed, warped, and occasionally shoved through a meat grinder for clarity. Reality remains mostly intact.

When is it officially spooky season? I wrestle with this question throughout most of the summer. I’m always searching for September, and tonight I think I officially found it. It’s only 68 degrees outside, the DJ (penpointred) is playing some ominous records and everyone is wearing black – well, they always wear black, but tonight it feeds the story in my head. It was in that moment when I caught a glimpse of Wet Mango serenely swaying and eating a slice of pizza in the middle of an empty dance floor with the sunshine shining through the top back-window at the Atlantis Lounge in that perfect way. Those who go to Live in the Depths early in the evening know what I’m talking about. It’s a thick light beam with just the right frequency – dust particles flowing through it, giving it that quality – that Ridley Scott lighting. This moment just confirms my suspicions – it’s spooky season.

Environmental Studies is up first. As stated in previous scene reports, the vibe at LITD is rarely ever the same. You might get the same cast of characters attending each show, but every show is a different chemical reaction. Environmental Studies is from L.A. and just released a new EP (Planet!) and I’m fairly convinced their incantations are sending a subconscious message about preserving our precious environment. I’m really into this kind of music – laced with slow-bloom minimal synths, stereo sweeps curling like smoke, and flanges that whisper in dark places. It gave me hints of that movie “Legend” – like if Jack ate a mushroom and stepped into an even more surreal world than the world he was already living in. I swear I heard a melodic unicorn cry deep in the background. It was capped off with some very insane woodwind work. SPINES was sitting next to me, leaned over, deadpan and said: “I feel like they’re playing the electronic clarinet. Or a recorder. Or a saxophone. Or a recorder.” It was, in fact, a clarinet. Very experimental and weird – absolutely loved it. Here’s some of their set below:

It was about that time when I saw Maximum Strength show up in a Casual Decay shirt. It’s when I went to greet him that I noticed just how many people were at this show. Faces everywhere, stacked in layers, the air thick with body heat and anticipation. I’d been ready to scrawl some half-mad notes about my own overstimulation, until my favorite Roman Snake Goddess, Pepper, materialized at my side and unfurled their plan to supply the masses with prayer wheels. You read that right – prayer wheels. Apparently, each prayer wheel is going to have 100,000 mantras, so each person should have a robust supply of spiritual awakenings. Just then SPINES jumped in front of me. “I was just attacked by a Darth Vader mask in the bathroom.” Yep, it’s definitely spooky season.

Speaking of spooky season, XXU & UXX is playing. I asked them before the show about any new albums coming out and they we’re a little non-committal, mentioning something about September, and again, it fits in the theme of the night. Searching for September. This music is dark, slow and heavy. It sounds like the voice of a soul locked inside the bowels of an ancient mountain, sealed in a stone coffin and howling for no one to open it. Not a plea for freedom, but a celebration of the tomb – reveling in being in this dark place. It’s almost tonal, but still very ancient and guttural. I’m an ambient FIEND, so stuff like this always a nice change of pace. Here’s some of their set below:

God damn, this place is packed – easily a hundred bodies pushing the walls out of sheer presence. Man, I was overstimulated. Luckily I spot Dhug in the drink line, and before I can even say a word, he’s wrapped me in one of his famous bear-trap hug embraces. At the right time of night, Dhug’s hugs hit with the same force as a freight train and somehow fix everything at the same time. Exactly what I needed.

“This is awesome!” he yelled as we broke apart, grinning like a madman.
Yes it is, Dhug. Yes it is.

Speaking of awesome, Production Unit Xero is just starting. And my god this place is a sea of humanity. PUX makes music for crystal villages balancing on the edge of a planet. Jungle breaks smash into IDM precision – it’s just fun. The crowd, who were seemingly like the fire and plasma inside Godzilla’s mouth charging up during the first two sets, were now turning into full fledged radioactive fireballs. Molten churn to a full detonation – pure heat, pure release, a blast wave of bass and light. Top-tier production. This kind of music begs the question: where does your spaceship take off from? One of the best moments was this powerful beam of energy in the form of a bass line that bounced and resonated, swirling around breakbeats that snapped and ricocheted through the room. It left the crowd moving as one organism, riding it until the last note burned out. One of the best PUX shows I’ve seen live.

Wait – what’s that smell? A sharp, unmistakable smell cut through the haze. Something is burning. Heads start to turn, eyes scanning the room for confirmation. Everyone’s doing the same silent check, the unspoken agreement that this could be bad. We all sobered up immediately trying to find the source of this madness, until Todd shuffled from the bar area to let everyone know that someone had just burned their hair on a candle. We all sighed collectively – but we were ready though. I love this scene.

Last up was Wet Mango. I asked them before the show about this set, and they told me they were reworking a couple of pieces I had heard them play at an Ambient Garden Party recently, so I was excited. Wet Mango’s music always reminds me of some of my favorite kind of music ever – 8 or 16 bit ambient/electronic music. A lot of their music hits like a ghost of an 8-bit dream, the kind of loopy, shimmering sound that feels like it would leak out of old consoles long after the screen has gone black. But let’s not be reductive, they incorporate this with wonderfully tight basslines and ominous drumlines. A true dreadnaut plowing forward with zero hesitation. There’s this one beat they drop – a strange, deliberate thump that hits and leaves a quarter-second void in its wake almost like an android’s deep breath before the big plunge. It was insanity. Just so we’re clear, if Wet Mango’s playing a set anywhere in this city in the future, you need to fucking being there – adjust your Google calendars accordingly. Amazing end to the night.

Spooky season is here, no question about it. The air has that bite, the nights feel like they’re leaning in close to listen, and the shadows are staying just a little longer. But under the flicker of old dance lights and basslines built to rattle your ribs, this community is holding its ground. We’re in the premiere act of our country’s full-blown cyberpunk phase – crypto-fascism morphing into balls deep oligarchy. And yet, in this room, the gears grind differently. People show up, lift each other up, swap hugs, share slices of pizza, and push sound through the air like a counterspell. Out there, the machine’s getting meaner. In here, we’re sharpening our own teeth.

You can listen to LITD sets on S.P.A.Z. Radio here: https://spaz.org/