This was an all day local lineup in the lovely gig space at The Rum Shack. It ran from 2:30 to 11 PM and included 9 bands, which was crazy! There was an interesting variety of approaches from indie pop to pop punk, post punk and new wave to emo, that made it feel like it went fast, though! I really liked it, kind of like Urgh! A Music War irl.
The bands were:
(With Wine Moms
They were like speed shoegaze!
I recommend: Swamped
(With freddie murphy)
It was like being abducted by a UFO, entrancing and blissful!
I recommend: Being
(With Spatial Awareness)
They were hot melted wax... then letting it rip!
I recommend: Sports Authority
(With Slept On and Trauma Bonds)
They were pure jagged energy!
I recommend: No Trust
(With Thank)
They were a ruckus!
I recommend: unpopular parts of a pig
(With H Hawkline)
She was perfectly melodic!
I recommend: Mother's Mother's Magazines
Core is always a really wonderful and really jam-packed weekend, though my partner and I only ever plan, based on our endurance levels, to do one day. #old. We went on Saturday this year and saw Gout, Lights Out, No Known Weakness, Moni Jitchell, Roman Candle, Ditz, Pest Control and False Reality.
Every day of the festival is a great grab bag of bands if you love an assortment of punk, hardcore, noise and metal music; the festival itself is also just really fun (Hug & Pint doing pizza by the slice all day is great, also hope there's another custom radler brewed up for next year). However I want to give a special shout out to Gout, whose show felt like going to a gig that would be background to a scene in a Gregg Araki movie, and Ditz, whose set was entrancing, life-affirming noise chaos that broke into an impromptu cover of Dracula Mountain for the finale underneath swinging 70s light fixtures; the absolute high point of the festival for me.
(with Isabella Strange and CEEFAX)
They were funky, with a pit not for the faint of heart!
I recommend: The News
They were bringing the old man swag (and trombone swag) hardcore!
I recommend: This is My Life
(With Container)
They were raw power, for what felt like hours... (had the melancholy feeling of enjoying it so much, why don't I go to a gig every night? Thursday morning, I figured out why lol)
I recommend: Withered Hand
(With Wendell Borton and Julia's Bureau)
They were definitely superior to the Susan Sontag novel on the same subject... (Couldn't resist joking, but really, I was pretty mind-blown)
I recommend: The Hand That Did The Deed
They were trance-inducing!
I recommend: Time Garbage
(With Half Time and Dragged Up)
They were totally shredding!
I recommend: Little Egg
They were relentless!
I recommend: Ass2Mars
They were TRANSCENDENT!!
I recommend: THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN'T DO
They were rad!
I recommend: Escape