Photo: Laal Shams

The annual electronic-noise convocation No Fun Fest—featured in this week’s TONY—will probably always have to grapple with the stereotype of the staid, emotionless knob-twiddler. And though there was a bit of that going down at the fest’s concluding gig on Sunday at Music Hall of Williamsburg, no one who attended could argue that there wasn’t also some seriously visceral performance on display, courtesy of Black Pus (the incredible solo project of Lightning Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale, pictured above), Prurient/Kevin Drumm and Emeralds.

Click past the jump for a recap of the night, complete with live videos!

The night started slow with Conrad Schnitzler Con-Cert. (Regrettably, I missed the opening set by Peter Rehberg and Marcus Schmickler.) Schnitzler himself—an early member of pioneering krautrock groups Tangerine Dream and Kluster—wasn’t on hand. Instead we got an unidentified acolyte sitting cross-legged in the center of the stage and, yes, twiddling knobs, offering a live mix of Schnitzler-furnished sonic material. Some nice, spacey soundscapes, but nothing all that special. Same goes for the U.K. trio Jazzfinger, whose members erected a wall of guitar noise with their backs to the audience.

Things heated up considerably with Ohio’s Emeralds. The two-synths-and-guitar trio switched on and immediately summoned a jet-engine roar. Even though there was no beat to speak of, stocky keyboard player John Elliott pumped his fist and headbanged wildly. His gestures at first seemed at odds with the music—cosmic vistas of drone seasoned with sparkly synth sounds that perfectly evoked the band’s name—but ultimately they felt like the perfect complement to such an enveloping performance.

Lightning Bolt’s Brian Chippendale was up next with his solo project Black Pus, the evening’s clear highlight. The sound he summoned—via drums, vocals, amps and a ton of pedals—actually rivaled the famously frenzied art-thrash of his main project. Since Chippendale usually sets up on the floor, it was killer to see him onstage here—all the better to appreciate his virtuosic flailings. There’s probably not another drummer on earth who so effectively balances fluidity, power and groove with sheer spazziness. Onstage, he was an endearing cut-up, air-guitaring along with the piped-in riffage. Everyone seemed thrilled by his set, including Thurston Moore (read a No Fun–themed TONY Q&A here), who was lounging stageside—as you can see at the end of this video:
The last full set I caught was by Prurient’s Dominick Fernow and Kevin Drumm, who offered the kind of inspired ear-laceration that No Fun is famous for. There wasn’t much variety to the set, but its wired physicality was impossible to dismiss. Here’s a clip of Prurient in freak-out mode:

Final act Skullflower wasn’t doing much for me, but I left exceedingly happy: No Fun Fest continues to teach the valuable lesson that just as there are 1,001 subgenres of rock, there are as many ways to make an unholy experimental racket.