You’d think there was a rave going on or a sequel to the movie “Hackers” being filmed on East Main Street if you saw what MACHINE GIRL had in store for The Nile last week. With help from KILL ALTERS, LIGHTNING BOLT, and a sold out crowd, they all took the famous Mesa venue by storm, and for the first time that I have personally witnessed, barriers were put in front of the main stage.
KILL ALTERS wasted no time introducing themselves. As soon as they took the stage the duo began causing audial anarchy. This is what your eMachines computer from 2001 sounds like when you try to make it run a modern version of Ableton; your internal components trying their hardest to avoid melting under the demands of the resource-hungry applications before finally giving in.
If you’ve ever watched “Robocop 2,” there’s this evil, fucked up Robocop that had a screen in which it displayed the crudely 3D-rendered consciousness of the main villain, Cain, as it was unable to communicate with words and ended up going berzerk.
KILL ALTERS is the audio version of Cain’s consciousness; except replace Cain with CASEY ANTHONY.
If Leatherface from “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was a JO-ANN’S rewards club member, he’d look like the BRIAN CHIPPENDALE of LIGHTNING BOLT. The opening drum sequence matched the speed of a blazing machine gun. As the tempo kicked up, moshing became more intense and beer was thrown amongst the crowd. The low frequency sound of his headset threw me off at first, as I didn’t think he was actually saying anything until I listened to him speaking between songs. CHIPPENDALE makes a book recommendation somewhere in the midst, but his microphone was so distorted that I couldn't understand any of what he was saying.
If you have ever seen the movie “Birdman,” you would recognize the constant drumming throughout, courtesy of composer ANTONIO SANCHEZ. LIGHTNING BOLT sounds like ANTONIO SANCHEZ if he got really into cybergoth and “Johnny Mnemonic.”
Two years after their first appearance on The Nile Underground stage, MACHINE GIRL returned, once again sounding like a 2003 PowerBook G4 that contracted rabies. When MACHINE GIRL began playing, flashing strobes assaulted the senses and the crowd immediately erupted with high energy. If Shodan from “System Shock” was banishing you to the ninth virtual Circle of Hell inside of the Meta Quest headset for pirating Ableton, the song playing as you would be plunging down into digital purgatory would be “The Fortress.” During a break in-between songs, MATT STEPHENSON described getting food poisoning from a gas station hot dog. I should’ve told him to stop eating from Flying J’s/Love’s/Buccee’s. Shortly after, a fan at the barricade handed STEPHENSON anime fanart to him personally before playing the song “Grindhouse.”
STEPHENSON may have not had a surfboard, but he didn’t need one as the hands of the crowd guided the singer all throughout the venue. He began singing at the merch booth, then at the bar, and at one of the booths at the side of the venue before jumping down to the crowd again. STEPHENSON was still singing as they were lifted by the crowd and at one point sunk into the audience. The crowd gathered around him with their phones in their hands pointed directly at the singer before hopping back on stage to play “Cicadas” and “Scroll of Sorrow" to end the party.
Someone got really excited about finding their shoe at the end of the show. It almost sounded like he won the lottery. I hope I can hear a sampled clip of his jubilance on the next MACHINE GIRL album.
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