GG RAMONE’s JOURNAL @ Milhões de Festa 2018, Day 2: Mirrored Lips, Decibélicas, Sereias, CIRCLE, Warmduscher, Squarepusher.

Mirrored Lips © Renato Cruz Santos

MIRRORED LIPS – The two female Slavs Mirrored Lips (this time with a male drummer as a third element) performed under an abrasive and demolishing sun at Palco Piscina, on the second day of Milhões de Festa. Mirrored Lips are like a sort of up-to-date crisscrossed upgrade of a political and social protest female rock diva, mostly in the rebellious performative comparison of a more literary tone – of Lyusya , the singer, Viv Albertine, Poly Styrene or even Patty Smith with a guitarist who must have learned to play within all the influential, possible and imaginary sources of free-punk and New York’s noise, via Glenn Branca. Sound wise, the trio is clearly placed within punk noise, but with a very strong nowave penchant. In their extremely atonal and apoplectic music there is almost no margin for melody-oriented pop or rock. They are therefore an iconoclastic band, that with remarkable form and without any contemplation exterminates any standard rock model, inside punk’s typology, like sonic terrorists. And they are also deeply embedded within the ideological context of the riot grrl movement; the two Mirrored Lips exuded that attitude in their acting and attacking their own music and how they confront the audience. I found the band's concert too lukewarm for my taste and requirements, considering their rupture musical genre. It seemed to me that palco Piscina was not the most suitable for them – in mine opinion Taina have had been more appropriated - and I thought the band showed some of this situation, playing for an audience of tanning and diving bodies into the pool. I even thought that they might be living a nightmarish Summer afternoon. However, one thing I liked ... considering that the trio's music drifted between obscure, depressing and political feelings, is that they played as if they did not care much about the sun, the heat and the surrounding joy. The icy Russian winter reigned majestically and loudly at Milhões.

Decibélicas © Rafael Farias

DECIBÉLICAS - This new Braga’s group gave a promising concert on palco Taina. Following what I mentioned earlier about Mirrored Lips, the Decibélicas are also practically in the same musical championship as the Russians. Punk of chaotic-jazzistic noise and an anarchic and rather intense performance. The only difference being that their themes are more of a glaring and distressing clipping about realities television commercials, vaginas and the capitalist consumer society and its related problems, through a delightful adolescent perspective The group gave clear indications that there was still a good margin of progress to be made, but already had something that seemed honest and intense. The the band’s punk riot grrl is honest for being primitive and still poorly executed, but it has everything good that sooner or later, be it the collective's desire, will come to shine brightly. To conclude, I'll say that I prefer ten thousand times more debuging bands like Decibélica than hundreds of other very musically accurate punk-rock bands, but which sound is almost always the same and uninteresting. Lovers & Lollypops chose well when it come to young promises for palco Taína.

Sereias © Rafael Farias

SEREIAS – This is the band that I've seen most live in a year here and there. That means that as long as there is an opportunity and available time, I do not miss the call. Because Sereias are a unique group and above all because I do not know what to expect from their concerts, but I already have some confidence that something memorable will always happen. They are, currently, one of the most demential bands on the planet, and that, alone, is already immense. For those who do not yet know them, their sound is no-wave that punitively annihilates no-wave itself; very briefly it is the theater of madness. The collective has a shamanic capacity to put much of the audience in the same register as the chaotic intensity of its performances. They are mentally violent by the force of the recited and shouted word of its singer, poet and writer António Pedro Ribeiro. On palco Taina the band started brilliantly with the theme Quero um PrimeiroMinistro pra mandar pró caralho, where it was perceive that they are increasingly more "organized and involved" its own distilled chaos. From there it there onwards it was total alienation until the end.

Circle © Marcelo Baptista

CIRCLE – These Finns, a cult band in their country, who performed on palco Miçhões, offered the audience a very pleasant and solid concert. Pleasant in the sense that they are undoubtedly excellent musicians, playing much of their repertoire, which is heavy - set in hard /heavy metal latitudes, with a tendency towards progressive/psychedelic and equivalent solos, but also with incursions into folk music and krautrock - can play loud and with superiority without hurting the audience’s eardrums. In this regard they are exemplary and therefore very good as a fusion band. The Circle, are also much to their singer and keyboard player, Mika Rättö, an empathetic band that, within its typology one can easily like. Because the ban has a little bit of everything from powerful riffs to sensitive themes, somewhat troubadour like, with a very good balance between voice, instruments and silence. During the show, and at the end of one of the themes played, Mika Rättö offered the public one of the most surreal and fun moments of the night, speaking slowly and calmly in Finnish (obviously to tell something), but enough for the national audience to if the man thought he was going playing in his native country. Something like "speak Finnish, or die". They’re friendly guys, very capable of giving decent and quality concerts, with a little bit of everything to be enjoyed. Smart devils.

Warmduscher © Marcelo Baptista

WARMDUSCHER – Within my musical taste, they gave one of the best concerts I've seen so far in Milhões. British, or at least referenced as such, they are a very recent band, started in 2015 that already has two recordings, the las tone, called Whale City, released late June, served as a motto for an expedition to Milhões’ natives. It is a very solid band solid live and fun enough, almost only because their singer (Clams Baker Jr.), a lovely figurine, like the Legendary Stardust Cowboy, but with less class, owner of good voice, street preacher type, a mix of a pot bellyed sequined cowboy with the face of weirdo moron. As a band mate he has a brilliant guitarist in the economical form he uses the strictly necessary on an electric guitar ... called Adam J. Harmer and ... bollocks, the man dresses well, very well. Elegantly, like a sloppy prince in an impeccable suit, as all rock guitarists should wear and do not. In his way, he is the last of the Mohicans, therefore precious. The bass player and the drummer are seemingly simple boys. Warmduscher are a rock band, then of many other rocks (read sub-genres). They perform songs that resemble Iggy Pop's Lust for Life period (the themes lost on the B side, almost by the end, with female backing vocals), as they throw themselves into other registers, some more danceable and rhythmic Motown like, and others that are a pure demonic and nervous rock'n'roll exercise ... that always turn out well. The singer was exuberant and pleased with the concert's progress by the audience on palco Lovers, that showed clear signs of great pleasure ... and always thanked between songs. The concert wasn’t fully fulfiling because it could have been longer, but maybe that was the right recipe to have been very good. Not much, right and on point. Come back shortly to Portugal.

Squarepusher © Rafael Farias

SQUAREPUSHER – Briton Tom Jenkinson (aka Squarepusher) played on palco Milhões with all the scenic equipment that is the brand image of his live performances. His music is a happy combination of a lights game and images that evolve to the rhythm of the intensities and speeds of his themes. The artist's music is essentially a very well crafted and clever drum & bass, There is a feature in it that lies in the enormous complexity of rhythmic variations, which are usually at mind-boggling and intricate speeds, but which allow us to interpret his music in a jazzy way. Another detail of his style is to be able to let it be seen (by virtue of the repetition of its stylistic model) an almost analogue reading of something that is digital in nature. In that regard, I will say that he has the gift of humanizing a completely digital language. The audience effusively displayed appreciation for the show at the end and Squarepusher thanked it with several bows. It was a great concert.

Words: Guilherme Lucas (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Marcelo Baptista, Rafael Farias, Renato Cruz Santos.

original text: https://www.facebook.com/events/880971952100146/permalink/955864401277567/