With traffic snarling our drive into the city, my girlfriend and I missed opening act, (Angel) Deradoorian of The Dirty Projectors. Milling around, I checked out the merch tables and scooped up whatever HEALTH had on vinyl due to it’s vague scarcity in the tri-state area.

Next came the Baltimore duo Videohippos, who’s lo-fi noise pop reminded me a bit of The Death Set and Matt and Kim. As their name may imply, the due had a video projection displayed over them and the stage during their performance; it showed random things such as Ang Lee’s The Hulk smashing things within some acid test of colors and cartoon images; or high-contrast flips and timed nods of the alien undead in They Live. I really liked Videohippos and I’ll definitely check them out the next time they’re in the area.

So HEALTH just one night prior started their tour in Atlantic City opening for Nine Inch Nails (and apparently were booed off stage?), but tonight they were the headliners. I’m sure the dudes were happy to get a night to shred for devotees before being subjected to the myriad of stubborn and impatient NIN fans the next night in Connecticut.

After vying for a spot in the upstairs balcony, Courtney and I waited for the sweet noise of Los Angeles’ HEALTH to emit from the stage. The stage lights dimmed and they just launched right into “Crimewave” like a T.V. spitting out white noise over a neo-tribal blast beat. There is something so oddly danceable about their songs; HEALTH’s near-primal foundation is most evident when you watch them hack away at their instruments and piles of effect pedals. There was an older gentleman on the balcony that I noticed slowly getting into their set, song by song. By the time they started playing “Triceratops,” this man was in a smiling, rhythmic head-nod.

HEALTH are something you just need to experience for yourself the same way The Locust were in their hey day. Yes, it’s easy to pass them off back as merely a noise or grind band or whatever label you wanted to scribble on their heads. But HEALTH isn’t so much about the genre or even the music itself as much, but execution and stagecraft. This is a passionate phenomenon, but becomes something more, and rare; it becomes art. A dizzying blur of tribal drums, hushed/shrieking vocals and a syncopated wall of noise. And I love it. No boos were heard this evening, so I hope the good vibes will help them power through the rest of the NIN tour.

Tags: Deradoorian, health, knitting factory, show review, videohippos