Pitchfork

Just when you've run out of conversation topics for the beer pong line, here comes the No Fun festival and its reign of aural terror, kicking off tonight in Brooklyn. The fun-free fest, now an annual extravaganza, features an international selection of noisy sound. This includes modern composition, free jazz, no wave, and People Who Swallow Vocoders and Make Your Eyeballs Bleed.

Featured performers include Japanese noise pioneer Merzbow, Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon with Boredoms/OOIOO phenom Yoshimi, Gordon hubby Thurston Moore, and Sweden's Enema Syringe, who will be playing their first show in over twenty years. There are also several collaborations afoot, including noise/destruction groups American Band with Air Conditioning, Burning Star Core with Zaimph, Mouthus with Axolotl, and Hive Mind with Damion Romero.

Other highlights: Carlos Giffoni, Hair Police, Sissy Spacek, and the a DJ set from the Olson Twins. Oh, if only it were that Sissy Spacek and those Olsen Twins.

No Fun Fest sprawls from this evening (May 17) through May 20-- provided your ears hold out that long-- and all shows go down at the Hook in Brooklyn. The full schedule lies ahead.

No Fun Fest:

Thursday, May 17:
Pain Jerk
Hair Police
Yoshimi + Kim Gordon
Hive Mind + Damion Romero
Lambsbread
Evil Moisture
Crumbling
Orphan Fairytale
Tony Rettman (DJ)
Mike Simonetti (DJ)

Friday, May 18:
Incapacitants
Sissy Spacek
Carlos Giffoni
Raionbashi & Kutzkelina
Anti-Freedom
Mouthus + Axolotl
Grunt
Princess Dragonmon
Charlie Draheim
Jackie Oblivia (DJ)
Nautical Almanac Sound System (DJ)

Saturday, May 19:
Merzbow
Keiji Haino
Tom Recchion, Ju Suk Reet Meate and Oblivia
Religious Knives
Slogun
Sickness
Demons
The Rita
Gastric Female Reflex
Andy Ortmann, the Olson Twins (DJ)
The Harbinger Sound Plastic Punk Explosion (DJ)

Sunday, May 20:
Thurston Moore
Burning Star Core + Zaimph
Aaron Dilloway
Enema Syringe
Leslie Keffer + Rodger Stella
Stegm
Hacky Pack Sac Sac
Deathroes
American Band + Air Conditioning
Joachim Nordwall (DJ)
Lambsbread Sound System (DJ)