Last Saturday was the 84th Gifgrond party! I had left my body at home and flew to Gifgrond in my odorless and see-through soul form: ideal to be the observing fly on the wall, with the freedom to move around without being spotted as an obvious reporter.
My disguise got me in early and being an early bird provided quite some interesting backdrop information. Here are a few highlights from my findings: one of the performers named Pakkyōne had accidentally ripped the front bit of the pants that this artist was wearing at a previous gig, but luckily, the befriended people at the legendary “Sam Sam” clothing shop gave a good family Gifgrond deal for two indestructible pants without peepholes! This was the solid reason that there wasn’t any crotch-less indecency at this feast, but more focus on the actual sound and playful entertainment! Which I would be glad to inform you about later…
As there seemed to be a common theme of bad luck turning into good luck! Not just a hole in the pants resulting in two new pants to the rescue, but also Erik Alalooga would have a bit of bad luck to start with. Erik Alalooga’s flight to Gifgrond (and Extrapool) from Estland had a 10-hour delay, but luckily the artist was flying a day ahead & all the gigantic luggage had been allowed in without a hassle. Erik Alalooga would have enough time to refurnish the Gifgrond space into an Erik Alalooga home away from home, or perhaps it’s better to say: a mad lab of sound!
The beloved Gifgrond cooks named Marcelle & Hans were not in gifgrond kitchen, but they and their food were still the unseen heroes of this colorful behind-the-scenes backdrop. Marcelle was unfortunately sick, but still battled on with Hans at home, cooking a wonderful meal to fuel these artists with the right kind of delicious energy that was so needed! I was lucky to find it good soul-food, so I could also nibble it freely: it certainly was delicious!
When the Gifgrond doors opened at 20:30, guests were greeted by the always fun & challenging musical journeys coming from the record collection of this joyful DJ Rikkert. He created, as always, a very warm welcome with twinkling rhythms and pleasant oddities that felt like one of the finer drinks in music form.
When the intoxicating sounds of DJ Rikkert faded, it was time to head down into the laboratory of Erik Alalooga. I say this without exaggeration: Erik Alalooga really transformed Gifgrond into the place that many mad scientists would turn green from jealousy! A big part of the floor was filled with remarkable home-made constructions, industrial DIY machinery that all created fascinating sounds, rhythms and even music.
Wheels click, screws would slide down iron, wheels were turned like a science project with an intriguing audio/visual trip as the ongoing result. I kept thinking how this all suited the Gifgrond environment so well, that its historical industrial looks suddenly seemed to be given a respectable new life by this genius inventor named Erik Alalooga. Absolutely fascinating!
After a moment of DJ Rikkert doing his thing, it was time for Pakkyōne to take over. The new pants seemed to have done wonders as the confidence of this artist was big enough to fill up the entire space. With an unchanging strong facial character undisturbed by nothing, Pakkyōne took the Gifgrond visitors through a sonic journey that was clearly made for listening. With tonal sounds and special vocal cords on the throat singing spectrum, Pakkyōne made this set into something that would take the previous laboratory scene into one that would feel like being in the realms of an ancient mysterious temple, with Pakkyōne as the leader of the sound ritual.
With music boxes being mangled, the imagination stretched, I certainly felt as if my (and probably also other attendees) soul was rinsed by this performance in which voice, noise and music boxes were successfully mingling together to open the mind! It felt like cleansing!
The last show at this Gifgrond event was the one that would bounce my soul back to the dance floor. It was time for Miss Tetanos to unleash the powers of energy upon the people. With a never-twirling whirlwind of sound, Miss Tetanos had the sound to open up portholes to other dimensions or simply blow everyone away into a pulp.
This Belgian alternative electro trance fusion spectacular gave the drums an enormous beating, their machines a finger-tip knocker! Never in my life did I witness a theremin being played so well and yet being as punk as it could get! You could see that the musician had clearly had been sick of piano lessons and voted to never touch a keyboard again!
With music that was blasting out like a wildfire, the trio kept it all under their control, while at the same time surpassing insane boundaries of power! They kept going stronger, without any sign of tiredness, they battled their set out with incredible force of cheerful success!
With all this newly generated energy, DJ Rikkert took the night away, letting his fans dance and twirl happily until the end of the night. What a full on experience this 84th episode of Gifgrond was! From being in an intimate sound laboratory, a ritual of throat and noise, to the excursion of ballistic bombasticness; this Gifgrond had it all! It was time for my re-energised soul to go back to my body again, making sure to bring it along next time…
The next Gifgrond will be 27th Jan! Don’t miss it!
Www.gifgrond.nl
KN
Yeah I Know It Sucks 
Prachtige omschrijving. De beleving is voelbaar. Zo toch nog wat genoten.
Maria