June | 2015 | Katie O'Neill

This post is long overdue. So much has happened since, already, but I cannot get my mind off the amazing weekend that was Berry Feast No. 4, in St Pölten, Austria. 15 acts, two beautiful days and a hell of a lot of super cool and interesting people. I met Ulrich, the organiser, two years ago at Hunter’s Moon, in Leitrim. I immediately fell in love with his beyond chill demeanour and incredible knowledge of music. Uli plays a variety of instruments and has a plethora of interesting projects, most notably Bird People, who play hypnotic psych-folk which could be described as The Incredible String Band meets Swans. He also runs a label, Feathered Coyote. Long story short, the man is a legend, the world’s coolest Dead Head, and I’m glad he’s my friend.

I took a shit ton of photographs of the acts and the venue, which deserves its own post, ‘Save the Place’ is a gorgeously lush complex that facilitates art and music. Look it up, or better, go there, before its gone. Surrounded my wild tress, flowers and a river, the building is a hub for creativity within a disused public park. Walking into the building, the first thing you notice is the walls are covered with photographs of people doing strange and wonderful things – passionately enthralled in a sax solo, working together on some circuit bending, wailing on a guitar. Its clear this is a place for weirdos, creative outsiders.

Bird People opened the fest with a beautifully droney, percussive, freak out jam. One of the best parts was Steffi Neuhuber playing on her Harry Partch-esque oversized recorder, an exciting addition to the crew. They were also joined by Roy ‘From Illinois’, Culbertson III, as he affectionately introduced himself, who early in the day curated an awesome contact mic and found environment work shop.

The acts that followed eased everyone’s hungover brains into a really relaxed trance-like state. Being someone who usually attends very high energy gigs, this was a welcome escape. I lay on the grass nursing my sore head from the previous night’s campfire session and let the music wash over me.

Salah Addin & Ré Sukre were next. This duo were one of my favourite acts. Salah’s laid back blues guitar and hopeful lyrics, sometimes leaning toward a lamentation of a failing Capitalist fueled society, left my mind reeling. Ré’s sparodic and at times manic cello added adds an essential layer that brings their sound to another plane. A sick pair.

Next up was Least Carpet, who has perfectly named is act, as it is a blanket of soothing tones that wash over you for what seems last forever until suddenly its all over and you realise you’ve become too relaxed to open your eyes.

What followed was one of the coolest performances I’ve ever seen by new friend Steffi Neuhuber. Steffi’s set was harsh, trippy, power and demonic. She sits at a table with her various pedals, mixers and samples and completely fucks your mind with her voice. Using her signature recorder as a mouth pieces, she babbles in her own unique language, a sight worth seeing, you could swear she’s being posessed by some kind of demon and being used as a vessel to cast a spell on you. Steffi is not for the faint at heart. She’s an absolute pro. What she’s saying is a mystery, but you can tell she means it and in her chaotic, commanding delivery. Chills.

The insane drone commander in chief that is Hellvete took us from light to darkness as the sun set. Everyone’s mind boggling from the insanity we just witnessed, we headed indoors for the second phase of the fest. There was a sense that the relaxed part of the festival was ending and that things were about to get to a deeper level, even more beautiful madness was about to occur.

Eric Arn started the evening off with a torrent of guitar genius. I was too engrossed in Arn’s axe stylings to take a photo, but believe me, he was arresting. This dude was born to play guitar. Arn was followed by a super cool act called Torùn, which consisted of a hyperactive and unpredicatble bass hero paired with an awesome sax player. The two of them played a crazy symphony of crashing beats and rewarded the crowd with crests of noise and grooves which woke everybody up after a day of deep listening.

Next up was my favourite act, MS Mutt. I met the Joanna just before she played. I was grabbing some food and taking a break from the party when I heard a woman practicing guitar. I couldn’t help but sit and listen to her free jazz-esque riffs and noisey licks. It comforted me to know I’m not the only noise guitarist who sits and practices some jams before going on stage. I’d only met one other female noise guitarist in my time, so I was eager to talk to her. I approached her and we chatted. I was super happy to discover we have a ton in common and she is the coolest woman on earth. Turns out MS Mutt runs a label called Aubijope Records and teaches Girl Rock Camp, which facilitates guitar lessons for young women. Mutt’s guitar set was a meeting of analogue tapes field recordings, layered guitar loops and solos. She blew me away and I can’t wait to see her play again.

Next up, my very dear friend Luxury Mollusc brought the no compromise harshness to slap all of us freaks in the face. Spooky, horrifying loops, vile, disgusting electonics and a red light bulb – no escape. A highlight – a loop of my cat layered in reverb filling the room. Truly animalistic shit. We were left in a sufficently demonic headspace after Mollusc’s nightmare-scape bulding set.

After this I retired to bed because I was simply noised-out and overwhelmed with emotion after such an excellent day. Unfortunately, I didn’t cover all the acts here, as it would take me a hell of a lot of time to give each one the attention they deserve. Every single participant at the fest was dripping with raw, brutal talent. I’m not a writer or reviewer, so please keep in mind these are just my highlights and retellings. Playing Berry Feast was a super important gig for me. It was my first show outside of Ireland and it was thrilling. I feel so lucky to have made so many cool new friends and learned more about how people are pushing the bounderies of noise and experimental music.

Here are a few more shots from the trip. Can’t wait for next year.

What a trip.

An interview I did for Headstuff in February about the art project I’m working on, which I never posted up, for some reason.

“In 2013 myself and Noelle collaborated to transform Eternal Light from its original form as small handmade book to a solo exhibition which included screen-prints, text and photography. Both of us had applied for the Amharic Fhine Gall graduate award, Noelle on the curating end and me on the artist end. Noelle was picked as the curator and in turn picked me as the artist she wanted to work with. Noelle, with an impressive academic background and wealth of experience in curating did a wonderful job of helping me take this somewhat personal and layered work from the privacy of my social circle out to a wider public sphere…”