By virtually any measure, Saturday's Avant Fairfax festival was quite the success. With a lineup full of relative obscurities and a location far from the center of metropolitan D.C., success was never a guarantee, but thanks to consistent and wide-ranging publicity efforts on the part of its organizers, Avant Fairfax managed to draw a diverse crowd of over 150 people. Midway through, I asked co-organizer Chethan Kenkeremath if he had expected such an impressive turnout. The response was immediate and emphatic: "Fuck no. I thought we were each going to lose a thousand dollars out of our own pockets, 30 people would show up, and they'd be all the usual Velvet Lounge regulars."

Did he know most of the people in attendance? "In the beginning, most of them were friends of mine. But at this point it's way beyond that."

More photos and brief thoughts after the jump. There's also a full photo gallery here.

I arrived a bit late and missed Layne Garrett and Insect Factory, to my dismay. The first set I caught was Kuschty Rye-Ergot (above), with local guitarist John Stanton and former Velvet Lounge curator Scott Verrastro on electronics and percussion. Despite some feedback issues, this was a highly enjoyable, low-key set perfectly timed with the slowly fading ambient light in the Old Town Hall space. By the time the next act, Stag Hare went on, it was dark outside and the music – a densely textured noise/drone piece – once again fit the mood.

Avant Fairfax's musical palette was pretty diverse, and surprisingly accessible. Perhaps the most straightforward act of the evening was Outpost, a three-piece band whose psych-rock was the most song-based music that I heard all night. They were followed by Anduin (above), another one-man act whose dark ambient music was accompanied by compelling visuals: in particular, a video of a crackling fireplace that, rather than being comforting, became strangely ominous in the context of the music. Anduin was probably my favorite performance of the night.

The most warmly received performance of the festival was Mike Tamburo (above), who performed a lengthy and apparently fully composed piece on solo hammer dulcimer. In a festival that generally placed thoughtful improvisation and deliberate playing ahead of sheer chops, Tamburo's piece was a tour de force of brilliant musicianship, and his composition ebbed and flowed gracefully while still throwing in the occasional suprising twist to keep things interesting. He seemed somewhat bemused by the enthusiastic standing ovation that he received, but it was well deserved.

Kohoutek, above, is a band with which many in D.C. are already well-acquainted. For their half-hour improv at Avant Fairfax, they were a quartet of guitar, drums, electronics and voice/various weird wind instruments. The result was a pretty representative psych-rock jam, much more out there than Outpost's material but still grounded and accessible, mostly thanks to John Stanton's relatively melodic explorations on electric guitar. Although they were under pressure to end their set quickly as the show was running extremely late, their improv seemed to progress and wrap up at a logical point, ending just when the musicians seemed to run out of things to say, no earlier and no later.

Kohoutek's Avant Fairfax performance is already available for streaming and download at District of Noise.

Headliners Cheer-Accident did not get started until nearly 1:45am, at a festival that had an advertised end time of 1am. As a result, they had to play a very truncated set of only about half an hour, some of which they whittled away with idle banter. At the outset, multi-instrumentalist Thymme Jones (above, on trumpet) said something like, "This has been a great festival so far... it's too bad we're going to ruin it with some rock music." Cheer-Accident's music is indeed more prog-rock than much of the more improv- and drone-oriented material of the earlier performers. But they are no retro group celebrating the glory of the 1970s; instead, their avant-rock remains fresh and unpredictable, and even in the course of a 30-minute set one was never sure what was coming next. The set seemed kind of disorganized and crowd had thinned out greatly by the time Cheer-Accident was forced to finish up at 2:15, but I really enjoyed a lot of their choppy, proggy avant-rock.

All told, the only real complaint about the evening was that it failed completely to run on time. For a first-time festival thrown together on a relative whim, that's hardly a damning criticism. And the word from organizer Andrew McCarry is that he is not ruling out further similar events in collaboration with Fairfax Spotlight on the Arts. Looks like Sonic Circuits and the Velvet Lounge have a new ally in the suburbs.

Some time ago, Fairfax City Parks & Rec employee Andrew McCarry handed me a glossy flyer with the words "AVANT FAIRFAX" splashed colorfully across the top. I had heard of this event before, but I'm sure he would have forgiven me if I'd done a double-take. As someone who treks into the District several times a month to get his live music fix, McCarry would be the first to say that Fairfax is not the first place in the D.C. area one would go looking for experimental music. But he's used his connections with the city to set up a seven-hour festival of the avant-garde that kicks off at 6pm tomorrow evening. The benefits of collaborating with the city are immediately apparent: Avant Fairfax will be a nice, seated affair in Fairfax's Old Town Hall, with a suggestion donation of a mere $5.

Combining improvisational whimsy and ambient noise that will appeal to the Sonic Circuits crowd with a headlining act from avant/prog label Cuneiform Records (Cheer Accident), there's a bit of something for anyone with a keen ear for this stuff. See the full lineup and other information after the jump, or visit Avant Fairfax at Myspace.

Information from the Avant Fairfax promoters:

Avant Fairfax Festival 2009
6PM-1AM
Old Town Hall
3999 University Dr.
Fairfax, VA 22030

Featuring:

Cheer-Accident (listen at Myspace)
Kohoutek (listen)
Mike Tamburo (listen at Myspace)
Stag Hare (listen at Myspace)
Outpost (listen at Myspace)
Anduin (listen at Myspace)
Insect Factory with The Plums (listen at Myspace)
Kuschty Rye Ergot (listen at Myspace)
Layne Garrett (listen at Myspace)
Bolmongani and ezeetiger (listen at Myspace)

Food, Drink, Art, and DJs upstairs!

Artists on display:
Adam Lister
Jenny Drummey
Matthew Langley
Stephanie Rivers
Katie Hoffman

Accessible by Cue Bus from Vienna/Fairfax Metro Station
Shuttle provided to Vienna Metro after the show

Suggested Donation: $5

Supported in part by:
Fairfax City Spotlight on the Arts
Cuneiform Records
and
District of Noise

"Prolific" is almost an understatement when speaking of Los Angeles-based John Wiese's absurd body of work in the realm of confrontational electronics and subterranean weirdness. Check his page on Discogs, or browse his bio on Wikipedia for a look at his impressive resume, which boasts ongoing mayhem through Sissy Spacek and LHD among collaborations with the top names in the noise game: Wolf Eyes, Merzbow, Bastard Noise, Lasse Marhaug, and Sunn O))). His most recent release even chronicles two improvised live sets with Burning Star Core's violinist extraordinaire, C Spencer Yeh. But as his extensive solo output proves, Wiese is much more than just a noise-gun for hire. His 2007 full-length, Soft Punk, was an opus of mangled punk rock bathed in digital deterioration—a taste of the laptop deconstructions he regularly displays onstage.

Equally exciting for the night is Bulbs, a duo comprised of San Fran residents William Sabiston (ex-Axolotl) and John Alamraz. Their sound could be likened to the gnarlier side of Black Dice's techno perversions fed through dismantled punk ramblings and lysergic rattles. They've got a relatively new record called Light Ships out on Freedom To Spend, the newly-conceived label from Pete Swanson of the now defunct Yellow Swans. Foxy Digitalis has a pretty decent review of the record that's worth reading. I'm particularly interested to see how these two manifest themselves live; hopefully, their borderless gurgles will solidify a tad for entertainment's sake.

Local jams will be provided by Kuschty Rye Ergot, the nebulous psych-ensemble led by area multi-instrumentalist John Stanton. Rounding out the bill is Fairfax-based Nick Henry's Silvum moniker, bringing frigid drone lurches to dip your toes into. Sounds like a promising showcase for those with a taste for the abrasive, cosmic, and bizarre. If that sounds a little too harsh for your mellow, then maybe you should play it safe and see Pineapple Express for the third time instead.

Photo of Weise by Dustin Fenstermacher