Scene Report: Live in the Depths 91

LIVE IN THE DEPTHS 91: 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.}

The wait is over, it’s officially October. I said this aloud at my table, and Dhug, ever the optimist with a beer in one hand and stim hand flipping in the other, immediately corrected me. “It’s ROCKTOBER,” he declared, like a man calling down thunder. And hell, maybe he’s right. As many times as I’ve come to Live in the Depths the word “rock” almost never comes to mind- wait is that fucking Sheila E. I’m hearing over the speakers? The DJ booth is under the command of Public Access Archeologist, better known to the uninitiated as TODD, so I should expect nothing less from him. Starting the night with Dhug yelling happily and hearing, “The World Is High” by Sheila E. slightly time stretched blaring over the speakers is the exact right frequency for a Friday night in Portland.

First up tonight is AK-B. And honestly, I’m never heard of them. Tried asking around, but then after a couple of seconds of trying to be a good scene reporter, I just decided to listen to the music and melt into the moment. Better to let the sound take over. What’s great about October is that it frames everything as spooky and macabre. Live in the Depths isn’t always lowkey, but tonight definitely was so the music fit perfectly with the evening. It kind of sounded like a cosmic amusement park and some odd frequency of old capitalist technology – the speakers seemed to be humming out the ghosts of commerce. A relic of some dying technology, spinning endlessly in the dark. Check out some of their set below.

Casual Decay was sitting across from me eating a slice of pepperoni pizza spinning the tragic tale of their doomed beef fast. They thought pepperoni was their safe haven, their meaty methadone – a chewy, greasy compromise. But then one day they Googled or were told something and that hammer fell: pepperonis do, in fact, contain beef. What a sad story. Just remember kids, pepperoni is a meat monster.

Next up was 1stname Lastname. Who the hell are these people? Did I venture into an alternative Live in the Depths universe where I’m the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on? Okay, full disclosure, Arson Rivvers snuck up behind me before the show started and told me, “I’m 1stname Lastname.” Why the hell didn’t you just put yourself on the bill as Arson Rivvers? The mysteries of life. And what kind of set did they have for us tonight? Vaporwave of course. Everyone love Vaporwave. Arson is usually behind the visuals, summoning ghosts through pixels and lasers, but tonight they stepped into the audio world. Glossy loops, faded memories, and elevator music stretched thin like taffy until it turns alien. Anyone want to slow dance? It was weird, romantic, and a little warped.

As that set was closing out, Akemie informed me that you can play indoor soccer until midnight in Portland. Well, of course you can. But what I found more amazing than that, was the fact that Occurian has never seen the movie Face/Off. A crime of cinematic neglect so egregious it demands a public reckoning. Please, everyone who reads this and knows Occurian, make sure you message him on all of his social media platforms and remind him to watch Face/Off.

Next up was Pr0xima and I was really psyched to check out their set. I reviewed their album The Ugly a few months ago and it’s a gem if you’re a fan of warehouse techno. Going to be honest, it was giving like a deep groove Underworld. Seriously, I’m Dade Murphy in the movie Hackers locked into the terminal, fingers flying with that weird first-person flight sim flashing across the screen as I closed in on Libby’s high score. This set is a lot different then I thought it’d be – pleasantly surprised. Dense, pulsing, and deliberate. If you’re in a concrete jungle, this is the kind of music that sustains you through a long night of dancing. Absolute banger of a set.

“You tore my face off!”, proclaimed Dhug. A fair reaction to that Pr0xima set. I was mid-conversation with D. Phono about his Air Jordan 12 fixation (no time to explain that one) when I caught it: a flicker of chaos from the speakers. A breakbeat. Then another. Holy shit, it’s an old school breakcore set. Statas was absolutely ripping it. This is break. Fucking. Core. Railgun breakcore. It’s giving Venetian Snares without the Welfare Wednesday. Dhug and Production Unit Xero (who provided the videos for this scene report) looked like kids in a candy store. When PUX sat next to me, we both agreed this was Aaron Funk territory. Precision chaos, railgun tempo, every snare like a steel ball ricocheting through the crowd. I have really got to check them out next time they head down here from Philly. Here’s some of their set:

Such a great Live in the Depths. It was one of those nights that helps you to forget the poison in the air outside. Everyone glowing, a little frayed from the week, a little wired from being alive. That’s the thing about this city – and about this scene. It keeps moving, no matter what shape the darkness takes. The empire may be cracking, the republic may be dragging its feet through the swamp of fascist theater, but here – right here – people still believe in something.

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