A great philosopher (and high school truant) once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." In October I took that advice, skipping most of my Too Much Rock tasks to enjoy some outdoor shenanigans with friends. Now that it's November, those neglected documentarian duties haunt me, but I find my recollections are unsurprisingly thin. Still, I feel compelled to document them for posterity. Let's see what remains.

NVM (aka Nevermind) must've started at 7:30. I didn't expect that. Actually, I didn't expect them at all because they weren't even on the flyers. The quartet was screamo with the obligatory anguished howls coming from shirtless and tattooed drummer McCabe “Mickey” Johnson. Cleaner backing vocals were provided by bass player Ryan Rogers, but most of the vocal work rested on the lungs of guitarist Austin “Stino” Mariano. Vital guitar work came from Chad Roundy. Fans of the genre's rulebook weren't disappointed by the band's crunch or its antics. Mariano tried to move the crowd, shouting "Kansas City!" a few too many times and wondering aloud if the audience "had the balls" to circle pit. Later Mariano jumped into the crowd, crashing into fans. When he returned to the stage, he sought post hoc approval saying, "I hope that was consensual." That's not how it works. That's not how any of this works. Thankfully, for those who prefer gauzy atmosphere to performative machismo, the act's modernized sonic palate was quite enjoyable. I suspect its upcoming album will be a good headphones experience.

Faetooth are "fairy doom" from Los Angeles. Is that a genre now? It is if it's useful to you. The band is comprised of Jenna Garcia (vox/guitar), Ari May (bass/vox), and Rah Kanan (drums). Kanan's drums set the doom tone, plodding along slowly, with their snare popping brightly. Garcia wasn't a riff machine – she's more of a rumble factory. May's bass followed along nicely, fattening up the compositions beyond comprehension. Clean lead vocals (albeit often heavily processed ones) came from either musician, though it was only May who offered the black metal shrieks. After two numbers, the "fairy doom" delineation made much more sense than mumbling the word salad of "witchy post-doom blackgaze." I don't recall anyone saying anything to the audience during their short seven-song set – they seemed to be lost in the performance. Garcia and May often played facing one another – the weight of it all sending Garcia falling to her knees more than once. I suspect the next time the group comes through it'll be at the Granada, and it will be just as wonderful.

Between acts, almost half the audience left. Those that remained pushed forward in anticipation. I watched the migration from the mezzanine, calculating my chances of returning to my photographer's perch at the lip of the stage. I deduced that the odds were not in my favor.

Headliner Slow Crush is a shoegaze quartet from Belgium. Isa Holliday provides vocals and bass, Jelle Ronsmans and Nic Placklé guitars, and Frederik Meeuwis drums. The house kept the stage dark and, often, enveloped in fog. Lasers searched and surged from the back of the stage, illuminating the room, but not the musicians. Shoegaze can be like that sometimes. Holliday felt out the crowd early, engaging in the classic "you can do better than that" routine. After that, there wasn't much discussion. That's fine, the music did plenty on its own. Most of the ten-song set followed a familiar pattern. Two twinkling guitars made beautiful music over dreamy, languid rhythms. Then pedals would be stomped, one guitar would join the rhythm section for a cathartic wall of sound, and the lead guitarist could really go off the rails. That guitarist often rode that sonic wave, letting it propel him about the stage. The best tracks (like opener "Thirst") left space for theatrics, for vocals to cut through, for drum rolls to build, and for guitars to punch. Unfortunately, my favorite track from the band's just-released album (dreamy closer "Hlýtt") was scratched off the setlist, but that's a small complaint in what I recall was a wonderfully enveloping and satisfying set. At least that's how I remember it now.