Synapscape and Asche: Los Angeles, CA 3-10-06

On tour to promote their new split-CD Scenes From A Galton's Walk, Asche and Synapscape stopped in Southern California on Friday to play at venerable Los Angeles industrial institution Das Bunker. First up was Andreas Schramm, better known as Asche, treating the downstairs noise room to his brand of "distorted disco."

Hard, fast and loud, Schramm had the crowd on their feet with irresistible dance floor power noise. The highlight of his set was an extended mix of tracks from his last full-length album, Distorted DJ, that had the audience sweating even as Schramm himself -- head shaved except for some impressive sideburns and grinning from ear to ear -- doffed his shirt, pumped his fists and lip-synched along with the samples.

Synapscape's performance was less exuberant, a lot less disco and a lot more distortion. Although there was still plenty of rhythm along with the noise, Tim Kniepp and Philipp Muench teased the audience with long segments of rumbling bass drones and screeching feedback before triggering the drum patterns. With slower tempos and less dance emphasis, this made for a brutal onslaught of sound, and the crowd's behavior reflected this; fans didn't bounce and pogo as much, but there was a lot of pushing, shoving, crashing and falling, leaving Kniepp and Muench's fans pummeled but satisfied.

Visit Das Bunker, Asche and Synapscape's websites at www.dasbunker.org, www.ant-zen.com/asche and www.ant-zen.com/synapscape.