Canes and Criminals

So recently I've been listening to a band/solo project called Black Unicorn.

Black Unicorn is Curt Brown from Cane Swords, a synthy noise band from Akron, Ohio.
Prosper Drift ∞ is "a story about a spaceship" and Brown's debut.
It's filled with spacey, Eno-esque instrumentals that may border on kraut-rock (without the rock).
The ∞ version includes an extra track called "Epilog: Quartz Proton Zipper."
Apparently this version was only available on a limited cd-r and isn't available anymore, at least not online.

I acquired my version a month or so ago when I played a show with Cane Swords at new Pittsburgh venue, Steal City, a stand-in for the original venue, Helter Shelter, which had been shut down by police a few days before.

Cane Swords surprised everybody with their crazy outfits.  It must be an Akron thing...

Locals on the bill were myself, White Reeves, and Night Stalker.
I was super happy with my set; everything went really well and basically turned out just like I wanted.  Ryan Emmett reviewed it as, "Last time he really impressed the room. Guitar stuff that sounded like a young Pinhas in training mixed with a little Matthew Bower/Skullflower mentality!"

The audience seemed to agree, and you can see for yrself.

After me was White Reeves, Micah Pacileo and Ryan Emmett from Hunted Creatures.
They played noise for what seemed like an eternity, but turned out to be around ten minutes.
There was nothing especially distinct about White Reeves set, but it was engaging and sounded fine.

Night Stalker's set was almost a complete turnaround from the last one.
Josh and Kurt unleashed white noise like a broken TV left on all night.
Apparently they had numerous problems with their equipment and some people left.
I got some good pictures though, and it was fun to be in all of the confusion.

After all the locals and Cane Swords had played the final touring act, Criminals set up.
They had some crazy homemade electronics, a violin, and vocals soaked in reverb.
There was a humorous bit of confusion when they tried to announce that they had a second song.  Ryan Emmett should never go spelunking in space.

You can check out their set here and buy their music here

That's all for now.  Tomorrow we investigate Quiet Sound Night VI and find out if it was worth it to not go to Voice of the Valley.