Photo Gallery: Kaleidoscope / Zero Charisma / King Of Herrings at Awful House

Shiva Addanki of Kaleidoscope

West Bottoms DIY fortress Awful House prides itself on its tendency to book performers that stray from punk's beaten path, so it was no surprise that Thursday night's show offered a refreshing amount of variety and experimentation. Kaleidoscope is a New York band that exists in the extended family of Toxic State Records, a New York DIY label home to the city's biggest punk bands of the 2010's. They're usually the most unorthodox band on any given show they play, but even if that wasn't the case on Thursday, the band's brief set was still exceptionally unique. The trio employed a series of circular, psychedelic rhythms in their songs without forfeiting an ounce of aggression. Vocalist/guitarist Shiva Addanki's hurried shouts punched through these dizzying compositions, delivering tasteful commentary on modern civilization, its decline, and overarching strangeness.

Tony Manganaro and Brad Highnam, together comprising Zero Charisma, spent their set hunched over a folding table, manipulating a series of dials and devices, taking turns shouting into a muffled microphone. The melodies and rhythms of the distorted guitar lines and breakbeats they cranked out hardly ever shifted and were rarely brought to any sort of climax or crescendo. In addition, the sounds they were blasting out through their guitar amps weren't exactly dynamic either; the addition of a subwoofer could've injected some jarring energy into the largely lifeless, treble-heavy set.

The night's first set came courtesy of King Of Herrings -- the experimental music/performance project of Amos Leager. Leager's performance consisted mainly of synth compositions and sound collages that he spoke and softly sang over. These highly creative bits of storytelling ranged from Leager playing a strange woodland creature in a ghillie that robbed him for his music equipment, as well as a man with a lampshade on his head robbing a mansion, and a more conceptual piece where he was a personified frost. Leager's set seamed to be strung together on a working musician's income, so one can only imagine what he could come up with if given the proper amount of resources.

Full photo gallery here.