Noiserv @ Subscuta, Barcelos
It's hard to please when you're a one-man band. Let's face the facts: after the five minute moment of novelty and amusement, few find one-man armies interesting enough to keep ears fed. Noiserv is different, though. Keep reading.
As you entered the small and cozy auditorium, things started to feel a bit more artsy than in your average garage project, with David Santos literally surrounded by all kinds of real and toy instruments and Diana Mascarenhas, David's cousin, sitting with a laptop and a drawing tablet.
As soon as the show started, the tablet was put to use and during the whole of it Diana (who is responsible for all Noiserv's artwork) kept on drawing some Radiohead-esque scenarios, projected on the wall. In fact, as odd it may seem, there were glimpses of Radiohead's depth and sonority here and there, even if caused by a single person with a looping pedal - B.I.F.O being the epitome track of it all.
Quite an amusing show, David made it clear that with the right ideas everything can be put to sound: even an old, analog photographic camera was made an instrument, along with several toys, retro keyboards and the likes. Besides the interesting fact of being able to cope with the dictatorial layering loops live, it was clear this wasn't just a concept showoff: the result was indeed music, the kind you'd likely hear on the radio without ever thinking how many members the band had playing.
Be sure to check out Bullets On Parade (probably the most well-known song of Noiserv) live at Cinema São Jorge - and pay attention to the background drawing!
