OnlyFuckingLabels

It's no news, despite the naysayers, that music in Italy remains alive, kicking and wonderfully diverse. There are artists who have developed their own language with the backing of indie labels, and when those labels disappear, the same musicians go on to create their own record company, promoting their personal work alongside that of fellow artists they admire.

Over the summer there was talk of the excellent convention No Lebol, which brought together in Rome industry insiders, bands and fans of Italian indie music straddling post-punk, noise, experimentalism and wave. Now, over the Christmas period, it's Macerata's turn to host another important initiative along these lines: OnlyFuckingLabels, a showcase now in its second edition, once again held inside Csa Sisma.

One could only hope for a good turnout, but here it must be said outright that it was a triumph: the audience showed up in force, and the quality of the various bands who performed was on average high, across a non-stop bill with two stages in two different rooms, running from around 7:30pm until roughly 1:30am.

There were also stalls from labels that often find support on our site too, such as Boring Machines, Macina Dischi, De Ambula, From Scratch, Robot Radio, Lemming, Hysm Records, Bloody Sound Fucktory, Burp, Irma, Mukkakke, Sonatine Produzioni, Bar La Muerte, Death Crash, Human Feather and Seahorse, all with their catalogues proudly on display, drawing in curious onlookers and diehard fans alike.

The real main course, as it should be, were the bands, who took turns performing on the two stages, both expertly run by an organization that never let a dull moment creep into the event. Kicking things off — or rather, assaulting the ears — were Topsy The Great, a trio from Prato who immediately hit the crowd with technical, noisy and uncompromising math-noise. The drummer deserves special praise for his inventive way of filling the sound with blows that were both violent and dynamic.

After the set, agreed with each band to last thirty minutes, everyone immediately moved to the second room, where the spotlight fell on Be Invisible Now and their dark-ambient electronic performance, backed by charming visuals referencing old Commodore and Atari games from the '80s.

These dark, nocturnal atmospheres were countered by the fire of the equally devastating Bogong In Action from Taranto. The trio, made up of two guitarists and a drummer (also active in Cannibal Movie), delivered a scathing, infernal sound made of scraping electric notes, hysterical screams and dynamite-charged drumming.

The same aggression came from their fellow townsmen Hysm?, a duo who are one of the most active names in this area of sound, behind which also lurks a love for the most frenzied and heterodox jazz.

There was of course no shortage of representatives of the "sick" and crazed Veneto scene, here embodied by the Padua duo Kelvin: guitar with effects, tortured vocals and a wig on his head à la Buzz Osborne of the Melvins, and a sweet girl who, once seated behind the drums, turned into an absolute demon.

Despite a few technical hitches, including a "painful" shock that occasionally travelled from the microphone to the singer-guitarist's mouth, Lanciano's Marigold cut a fine figure with their mix of wave melancholy and visionary psychedelia, which on this occasion they chose to crank up even further, favouring a formula that was as "sonic" as it was percussive.

Aedi played on home turf, and the crowd packed the room to hear the new songs due out in 2013 on their second CD "Ha Ta Ka Pa", released by Gustaff and produced by a heavyweight figure like Alexander Hacke of Einsturzende Neubauten. It's not hard to imagine a bright future for them, not least because live performance is their strong suit. Their energy was remarkable, a real punch, combined with the vocals of Celeste Carboni, who skilfully handles complex melodic passages, with high notes and screams, recalling Kate Bush in places and Lou Rhodes of Lamb in others, as well as Janis Joplin in her stage moves. Their formula is an indie-wave-pop with psychedelic touches that gains muscle live compared to the studio recordings, where that power doesn't always come through to the same degree.

Room was then made for an institution of more research-driven noise experimentation, Milan's Paolo Cantù (formerly of Uncode Duello, Shipreck Bag Show, A Short Apnea, Six Minute War Madness and more) with his new solo project Makhno. The artist alternated between two guitars, a loop station and various other gadgets to lead the listener into dark post-punk territory, with a hypnotic use of voice thanks also to his use of effects. A true band embodied in a single, expert musician.

The Milanese interlude then continued with Ovo, featuring Bruno Dorella and Stefania Pedretti, yet another skewed performance that demonstrated the duo's high level of professionalism and experience, always able to guarantee a terrifying effect without ever losing control of the situation. Anyone in the crowd who hadn't seen them on stage before was left literally open-mouthed.

A digital show followed with the combo 122h, a collective straddling hip-hop, industrial and electropunk about whom little information still circulates. Their sound hits hard, right in the gut, and numbs the mind.

More Macerata natives and more crowds packed in for Drunken Butterfly, who confirmed the excellent form shown on their latest album "Espilon", a raw, wild record that is nonetheless well crafted in its fusion of electric and electronic sounds. Live, they were utterly devastating, with a set that was moving in its intensity, pathos and cathartic noise, yet still made room for danceable rhythmic dynamics — so much so that plenty of people found themselves moving to their sound, truly irresistible for anyone trying to stand still.

With hearing almost gone, but pleased that the promise of a great evening had been fulfilled, it was time for the final sets from Florence's Jealousy Party and Jesi's Lleroy. The former, in an unusual duo formation, entertained with their always special blend of avant-jazz, minimal electronics and visionary cut-ups, offering yet another spot-on trip before falling into the arms of Morpheus.

The latter drained away whatever energy was left with sounds that were once again frenzied and steeped in furious rage, in the name of the best noise school in the vein of Unsane and Melvins.

That's how the second edition of OnlyFuckingLabels wrapped up, with plenty of enthusiasm from organisers, bands and audience alike — an across-the-board success that serves as a vital spur for a third edition still to come, one that promises further intriguing surprises.

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