The Beths, Current Joys, and Skiing took to the stage at arkaoda on Saturday as part ofย the Warm-up party for next monthโs Puschenfest (November 16 and 17). We love all threeย bands, but were really there to see Current Joys (aka Nick Rattigan), who delivered an intimate
and vividly emotional performance.
Nick Rattigan comes from a city in Nevada that is close to Las Vegas but not actually Lasย Vegas; heโs developed a cult of fans devoted to the haunting, haunted beauty that maybe springsย in part out of that space and maybe has nothing to do with it. There are by now legions of sad kidsย from all over the world dumping basement rock on bandcamp; a lot of it gets lost in the noise, butย some shines through, and Nickโs stuff is resoundingly in the latter category.
Its not always easy to know what it is that causes certain artists to stand out, but when heย played as Current Joys over the weekend (heโs also put out music as Surf Curse), it wasnโt hard toย tell. He came onstage in a Sonic Youth shirt with a big hole in the underarm, tuning an old guitarย covered in stickers, and apologized to the sound people when he started playing over theirย intermission music, and apologized for the guitar, and apologized for acting nervous and shy โย but Iโll get warmed up, he promised.
He shouted and thrashed around the stage and mostย likely cried
That was true, though warming up didnโt mean he mellowed out or made anyone moreย comfortable in any of the ostensible senses. He shouted and thrashed around the stage and mostย likely cried. He also gave Berlin a lot of love, particularly the fact that people were smoking inside, which, yeah, is pretty cool right?
He ended his set with Here’s to the Afterlife. At almost eight minutes, the recordedย version is longer than most of Current Joysโ songs, and live it stretched out towards eternity (in aย good way). โI WILL NEVER DIE,โ he screamed, at one point stumbling off stage, and collapsing
onto the ground when he stumbled back, repeating the line. Which is a pretty shell to put aroundย whatever core thing it is that makes Current Joys so good; itโs sad and honest and who cares aboutย the rest.
P.s. Puschenfest proper is going to be awesome and honest and sad and all sorts of otherย things too. It happens at Festall Kreuzberg and is totally stacked, with performances by U.S.ย Girls, Cindy Lee, Saba Lou, Klaus Johann Grobe, and a bunch more. Come! Get your tickets! Getย em while theyโre hot! Carpe Opportunum! Make hay while the sun shines!